MENTOR, Ohio – Sladjana Vidovic's body lay in an open casket, dressed in the sparkly pink dress she had planned to wear to the prom. Days earlier, she had tied one end of a rope around her neck and the other around a bed post before jumping out her bedroom window. The 16-year-old's last words, scribbled in English and her native Croatian, told of her daily torment at Mentor High School, where students mocked her accent, taunted her with insults like "Slutty Jana" and threw food at her. It was the fourth ...

From coast to coast, TEEN TRUTH hits the road, spreading our message! TEEN TRUTH Speaker RYAN BELFLOWER (right) MAKES A DIFFERENCE with students at Frontier High School in Bakersfield, CA.

Here's the latest from the TEEN TRUTH newsroom: TEEN TRUTH Takes FIT DECK on the Road! TEEN TRUTH is excited to partner with FIT DECK! These innovative exercise playing cards come in a variety of useful decks that are great for teens and adults. We've been taking Yoga and Body Weight with us on the road to help us stay active and healthy! GET IT

MIAMI – In front of an auditorium full of impressionable freshmen and sophomores at Miami-Northwestern High School this morning, Miami Dolphins running back Ronnie Brown introduced his new initiative aimed at curbing youth violence in schools. Aptly titled “23 WAYS To Stop Youth Violence,” this initiative is part of the new Ronnie Brown Project and today’s trip to Northwestern was the first of eight such trips scheduled throughout the season. The next stop for Brown and his partners will be Deerfield Beach Middle School, where an 8th grade girl was beaten into ...

Check out the latest trailer from TEEN TRUTH! Shot throughout the last school year, our new trailer features students, teachers and parents. WATCH IT right here on our homepage!

Princess Aiko, the eight-year-old granddaughter of the Japanese Emperor AkIhito, has refused to go to school at the start of the new term after allegedly being bullied by other pupils six months ago. The princess shunned the opening ceremony of Japan's elite Gakushuin Primary School where she is a third-year elementary pupil after six months of sporadic class room attendance following an incident in March. After arriving at the school on Monday, the heir to Japan's Chrysanthemum Throne refused to attend assembly and waited in a classroom with her mother, Princess Masako, until it was over. Princess Aiko started to skip classes in ...

Bullying can come in many forms, according to a 20-minute film being shown to high school students in the Murrieta Valley Unified School District this week. The documentary “Teen Truth Live” is a glimpse into the causes of school violence and how teens deal with pressure from parents, teachers and peers. It points out that bullying can include spreading rumors and intimidation, and that these types of bullying can create anger in students who do not feel accepted by peers. This can lead to physical violence and in extreme cases, killing. The film ...

Written by: Ethan J. Skolnick, Sun Sentinel Columnist Published by: Sun Sentinel He's made his mark in the NFL by multitasking: running, blocking, catching, even passing in a pinch. But Ronnie Brown actually displayed his versatility long before, as a kid in Cartersville, Ga., by pulling an even more difficult double. "I never really made bad grades, and I was still one of the cool kids," Brown says. "I think a lot of times kids get caught up in thinking that the people that get in trouble are the people that you want ...

TEEN TRUTH is proud to support 13-year-old Ethan Widoff's 2nd Annual fundraiser, DEREK'S DASH - a 5k walk/run in Greenwood Village, Colorado that he founded to help raise money to fight childhood epilepsy one step and one syndrome at a time! The money raised from this August 29th race will go to the International Dravet Syndrome Epilepsy Action (IDEA) League, a volunteer-based nonprofit organization, founded by parents of children with Dravet Syndrome to promote research and education for the early diagnosis, appropriate treatment, and cure of Dravet Syndrome and related epilepsies. ...

Poway High School students heard a candid presentation Friday from a former addict about how his addiction began with “just a few beers” during his high school days. Michael Sarich, 31, with the nonprofit “Teen Truth Live,” asked the students attending two assemblies in the school gym to join him in an honest discussion about drug and alcohol use. Sarich told about his own downfall, hoping to uncover what he calls the “truth and consequences of drugs,” he said. Sarich asked the students if they have tried drugs or alcohol. At least half the ...