With the growing number of teen suicides caused by bullying, there has been an equally growing number of national and community movements against bullies.

In this case, residents are now rallying behind a teen from Ogemaw Heights High School who was a victim of a callous homecoming hoax.

The high school sophomore who has been a victim of bullying at her school was elated after she was nominated as their female class representative. Unfortunately, she was quickly shot down, after people laughed and told her that it was all a prank by some of the students at her school.

“I had actually thought about suicide,” Whitney Kropp, 16 admitted. “I thought I wasn’t worthy at all.”

A Facebook page in honor of Whitney recounts the full story of the hoax.

In the small town of West Branch, MI, ballots for homecoming have been tallied. The sophomore class (not all of them, but a good portion) – Class of 2015 – decided to take it upon themselves to play a joke on a classmate that they like to bully. These kids decided to nominate Whitney as their female class representative. Whitney won and was originally overjoyed until she found out that she was nominated as a joke. The “young man” nominated as the class representative has chosen to drop out.

So, at this point, Whitney is undecided as to whether she even wants to attend and currently has no male representative to stand with her. We need to come together to show these kids that bullying is not acceptable. We need to show Whitney that we support her. She needs to feel like the beautiful girl she is. Please help us make this the best Homecoming ever!!

Luckily for Whitney, her town quickly rallied behind her, and local businesses, including a hair salon has donated their services to help Whitney get ready for the homecoming dance on September 29. In fact, during the pre-dance football game on Friday night, residents are coming to the stands to make sure Kropp receives a standing ovation during halftime. To top it off, a Facebook page, Support Whitney Kropp that was set up in her honor has now received over 84,000 likes.

With all the unexpected support, the teen has decided to go to the dance. “I’m excited to go because I can prove everyone wrong and say, you know, I’m not this joke that you guys thought of,” Whitney explained. “You guys doing this has made me stronger, and I’ve got more self-esteem than what I had.”

“It takes a lot of guts,” Whitney’s mom Bernice Kropp said proudly. “And she’s gonna do it.”

Watch more about Whitney and check out the video from a fellow Ogemaw Heights high school alumnus and victim of bullying.