From Prank to Princess

Sophomore Whitney Kropp was siting in her geometry class on September 13th when the results of the homecoming voting were announced. She is not one of the popular girls in the small Michigan town a ways down the road from me. Imagine her shock when her name was called.

Total shock.

Then happiness.

But soon this darling girl realized it was all just a big, bullying prank.

The beautiful and loved Whitney Kropp.

Classmates elected her as a joke and planned to laugh and boo when she was announced as class rep at the big game.

But her town has come to her rescue. Instead of letting her be laughed at, booed and humiliated when she walks out on the field this Friday at halftime, they are making sure she is treated like a princess.

An account was set up to cover her expenses for a dress, shoes, hair, flowers, etc…. But it wasn’t needed. Countless businesses in town offered to donate services, money and the items needed.

The incident has prompted many from the town to talk about their own high school bullying experiences, some going back as far as  the 1960’s.

A fan page on Facebook was created that has already drawn over 80,000 likes.

Her town of West Branch only has 2,100 people!

And those townsfolk are planning to show up to the game in masses to fill the concrete bleachers with posters and t-shirts (in Whitney’s favorite color of orange) and cheer like crazy to drown out any of the taunts and jeers of the students.

In an age of cruelty, looks-are-everything emphasis and young girls feeling they don’t measure up, I am thankful this town has stepped up to the plate to show sweet Whitney she is beautiful and loved and treasured.

JUST. THE. WAY. SHE. IS.

Oh precious Whitney, may you and ALL teen girls know you are beautiful, loved and treasured by God.

He thinks you are a princess.

“The king is enthralled by your beauty;  honor him, for he is your lord.” Psalm 45:11

*Would you take a moment to head over and “Like” Whitney’s fan page? Click here to do so. And if you have a teen girl who struggles with feeling unloved, check out my friend Lynn Cowell’s two books for teen girls (including her just released devotional) by clicking here. 

25 Comments

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  2. Thank you Karen! What a powerful woman of God you are! You have the same heart as your heavenly Father :)The prophets are saying that the nameless & faceless ones in this next generation are going to be noticed They are saying from the Lord “Inspire a Generation” It was the Olympics slogan Unknown young adults lit the petals on the torch This next generation is going to rise up You will see this as with darling Whitney :) Thank goodness that community helped Whitney rise up!! By the way she is beautiful The Lord will take her many places to testify His love for her & that He gets all the GLORY It is about time that the church & communities come together & fight the good fight! Being bullied isn’t just for the young We have grown men & women who are constantly doing this in businesses & it effects all ages! We must all remember to do the Golden Rule ” Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” I believe bullies are hurting deeply on the inside & though it is wrong they are defending themselves in unhealthy ways :( They want to be accepted so they will stop @ nothing to feel good & accepted even in the wrong places So sad & so distorted Thank you dear Lord for this next generation Let our floors be their ceilings I ask this in your Holy & precious name!

  3. Glad to see people do something nice for this girl after what could have transpired. Not sure what God has to do with it but that’s OK

  4. I was bullied in high school, not to the extent of Whitney but I remember walking down the hall hearing “moo”ing and calls of “who left the gate open”. It’s been 27 years and I still feel the pain of it. Whitney, you are beautiful., and I am praying every day for you and every girl who is bullied.

  5. This could have been me many years ago. I was made fun of and reached the point that I hated myself. Even as a senior adult, I still feel the rejection everyday and have never felt acceptable.

  6. This is a great story! Love to see when others have the heart and compassion to take a stand for others. My son was bullied in High School, 9th and 10th grade by several grown men who professed to be Christians “maning him up” for the varsity soccer team. He was shamed and humiliated on a daily basis at practice and at games. Being new to the school in 9th grade he was viewed as the awkward kid as he withdrew into a shell… This lead to bullying from students as well. He finally asked to be taken out of the school when all my efforts to stop this shameful behavior failed. It was a life changing experience for my son. A once confident, happy, passionate kid, is now withdrawn, angry and insecure. It is Heart breaking how cruel and self serving many can be… Yeah to a happy ending for this young lady! It will make all the difference in the world. And what an amazing little town. I think I would like to live there!

  7. My son in law is half Honduran so my grandchildren have beautiful tanned skin and dark eyes. My grandson is called racial slurs all the time. I do understand how hurtful this is.

  8. What a great post!!! I was bullied in school as well, and it never felt very good at all. To this day, I don’t like being the center of attention (even though it naturally happens.) I also struggle with self-esteem issues and loads of insecurity.

  9. I am not on face book but I am praying Whitney is totally blessed by the love and support of her town. I can not believe the school is allowing such a thing! I pray God deals with whoever is responsible for this cruel joke in such a way that they all apologize and give their lives to Christ.

  10. A very beautiful story, it is a shame that we live in a culture of bullying. Please pray we have lost four teens (Luzerne county PA) in the past week to suicide, it is very sad and unacceptable. I am just sick over this, those poor families. We need to encourage our kids that they are special and beautiful and many God given gifts. Thank you

  11. Karen, thank you so much for letting us know…..I can’t believe kids would be so cruel…..it just sickens me! I so hurt for Whitney but I pray God’s love will prevail and that the students involved will be remorseful and will be positively changed through this experience.

  12. Thank you for sharing this story Karen. I just went to FB and “liked” her support page. I wonder when her Homecoming celebration is? Would love to see pictures of her at her big event. It is great to see God’s people coming forth to support and love this beautiful young lady.

  13. An additonal sadness to this is, as many of these bullies age…..they don’t change.
    Yeah, a football in the head is being kind for what they planned to do, but I’ll take it.
    :0)

  14. My heart is sad that people would do this my I am glad to hear of the response.. If, as Melissa, points out, someone gets knocked in the head with a football, maybe it will knock some sense in to them and the school faculty.
    How did so many people hear of it. How brave of her to let the story be in the papers, or did she have no control? I would have dug a hole and crawled in it.

  15. I live up in the Upper Peninsula and this heartwarming story was in last night’s paper. My thanks goes out to the the people of West Branch who have stepped in to show Whitney how truly beautiful she is!
    I know about bullying….my 49 yr old son was horrifically bullied in middle school by kids he trusted as well as those he didn’t. I only learned about this 2 years ago! I had absolutely NO clue and he told me, “Mom, you never would unless I told you because we (the bullied) become pros at hiding it!” I was mortified and feel a deep guilt that I didn’t know. He was finally diagnosed as having PTSD, instead of bi-polar, which has allowed him to start healing and he is doing fantastic. Praise God we found him in time after his 4th and last suicide attempt as he was very close to death and suffers brain damage from the carbon monoxide poisoning…..but he’s doing great and is a new grandpa!
    This is about Tiffany, not my son, but the reason I touched on his story is to let people know how devastatingly horrible bullying can affect these kids even into adulthood! My son hid his for 35 years and it nearly killed him, literally!
    Shame on every single kid who was in on this terrible prank….I think the school should prohibit as many of them as possible from going to the game or the dance and I hope they do, but more than that, I hope their parents seriously step in!
    God is good…..and I hope some ‘dashing’ young classmate(s) will step up and let Princess Whitney dance, dance, dance the night away….

  16. And where is the school faculty in all of this? I mean come on, you have to have some rules and standards of etiquette for things like this!! If everyone else knows about the prank, surely the school knows??

    Kudos to the town for rallying together to support Whitney.

  17. Karen,

    Reading this made me feel sick to my stomach. I just cannot fathom the cruelty of some people. I just don’t get it. At all. It makes no sense why anyone would just want to be so mean. Breaks my heart. I am going to start praying for Whitney, who by the way is so beautiful. I’m also going to pray for the people who did this. I hope that the school could find out all who wrote her name as a prank. Personally I believe that they need some intervention. Not so much punishment, but a real life counseling intervention. At least the prank was discovered and I pray that Whitney will walk across the field feeling beautiful and like she fits in. (and if anyone boos her, I hope they get hit in the head with a football during the game. Just sayin’.)

  18. Karen,

    Reading this made me feel sick to my stomach. I just cannot fathom the cruelty of some people. I just don’t get it. At all. It makes no sense why anyone would just want to be so mean. Breaks my heart. I am going to start praying for Whitney, who by the way is so beautiful. I’m also going to pray for the people who did this. I hope that the school could find out all who wrote her name as a prank. Personally I believe that they need some intervention. Not so much punishment, but a real life counseling intervention. At least the prank was discovered and I pray that Whitney will walk across the field feeling beautiful and like she fits in. (and if anyone boos her, I hope they get hit in the head with a football during the game. Just sayin’.

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