Seven-year-old Canadian Sophia Spencer is totally, totally into bugs. It’s one of those healthy obsessions that curious kids her age collect. Granted, unlike, say, a fondness for faeries, it might upset the squeamish—but just look at this girl.
https://twitter.com/bug_gwen/status/770608786960678912
See, pure joy and proof that, yes, girls do love science.
Alas, it seems that her fellow classmates got on the shame train and, thanks to some unfortunately learned behavior, bullied Sophia for loving what she loves. When her mother tried to get Sophia’s school to take action, officials told her that teasing was just part in parcel of being in school while being different, suggesting she encourage the girl to stand up for herself. Sound familiar?
Hoping to inspire her daughter’s love for entomology (that’s bug studies to you and me) and her faith in herself, Sophia’s mom reached out via the internet for a little support from the scientific community in this touching message to the Entomology Society of Canada:
https://twitter.com/CanEntomologist/status/768857189922537473
The response (and the use of that awesome hashtag) has been swift and wonderful. Within hours, Sophia had a ton of new pen pals and a swarm of scientists, bug-loving kids, and moms of bug-loving kids supporting her.
https://twitter.com/CanEntomologist/status/768908506586025984
https://twitter.com/dllavaneras/status/769374429314965504
https://twitter.com/lilamayhiggins/status/771019048918200320
https://twitter.com/emilyowenz/status/769345081912528900
https://twitter.com/DrMaggieHardy/status/768996402508685312
https://twitter.com/EcoEvoEvoEco/status/769001536445874176
That’s just the tip of a very colorful iceberg you can check out here. Sometimes the internet is great, isn’t it?