Topsfield Girl Writes Anti-Bullying Song
TOPSFIELD (CBS) -- She's only been playing guitar for a couple years, but Gina Marsh knows how powerful music can be.
In just a day, the 13-year-old wrote a song about being true to yourself, standing up to peer pressure, and ignoring other people's insults.
It's a powerful anti-bullying message, especially right now during National No Name Calling Week.
"I felt like I could kind of relate to the song a little bit," explains the Masconomet Middle School eighth grader. "So it wasn't that hard to write because I was just kind of letting all my feelings into the song and stuff."
"The words are kind of about being yourself and not caring what other people think about you," she says.
WBZ-TV's Jim Armstrong reports.
Gina's guitar teacher is Danvers-based Ryan Dupont, who runs the website homeguitarlessons.com.
Dupont says he has never had a student bring him a near perfect song before; he didn't change a word.
"The whole structure was together, which is unusual," he says. "Normally the student will come back and we'll kind of co-write it together. But she came back with a complete and 100 percent ready-to-go song."
Gina's inspiration is her uncle, who committed suicide three years ago.
Ever since then, she and her family have been active fundraisers for The Samaritans of Boston. Gina and her family believe that supporting the Samaritans' suicide awareness and prevention programs is important, and can help people of any age.
The song, titled "As I Am," is now for sale on iTunes. She plans to donate all of the proceeds to Samaritans' suicide programs.
Gina's musical message is for kids being bullied at her school in Topsfield, or anywhere.
Adds Gina, "If they hear the song, well, maybe it can show them that they can be who they are, and it doesn't really matter what people think of you."
