STOMP Out Bullying Youth Ambassador Sayoni Bandyopadhyay

Sayoni Bandyopadhyay
Youth Leader STOMP Out Bullying™

Sayoni Bandyopadhyay is an eighth grader from New Jersey who was born in India. She is President of her school’s Student Council, and was Secretary last year. She loves to read, travel, and help with cooking at home, as she is a big foodie. Along with a keen interest in the arts, she is not afraid to try new things. She joined the field hockey team, has been part of various school clubs as well as the Reading club, Art club, Acapella club, Technology club, and Band club. She works hard to achieve good grades, which shows as she is in the accelerated math class and the Program for Academically Challenged Thinking (P.A.C.T.). A high-honor roll student, Sayoni hopes to take various honors and/or AP classes in high school next year.

One of her many hobbies is dancing where she is on a competitive dance team and now part of the performing team. Sayoni and her dance team perform at nursing homes, children’s hospitals, and schools for the disabled, bringing people joy. She also takes ballet, tap, jazz, hip-hop, and lyrical lessons. In fact, she loves to sing. She takes Rabindra Sangeet lessons (an Indian genre of songs) and sings in her school chorus and Acapella club. She auditioned for Region Chorus, which is composed of students from Northern New Jersey and was accepted into the program. Music is a big part of her life. She plays the flute and piano and loves participating in her school ‘s musical, whether in the cast or the crew. Last year, she played Grace Farrell in the production of ‘Annie’. This year, she portrays Liza, a housekeeper and Nibs, a lost boy in Peter Pan.

Sayoni plans to participate in STOMP Out Bullying’s Blue Shirt Day World Day of Bullying Prevention. As part of the Student Council a she helps to organize a Caring and Sharing program, in which gifts, be it toys, money, or gift cards, are given to children who may only get one toy for the holiday season. This program ends with a concert where underprivileged children in daycare visit her school and listen to the band, orchestra and chorus perform. She believes that being kind (even just a smile) has an immediate effect. In other words, making people happy makes her happy.

She believes that hearing the stories of those who were bullied, or even listening to teens and young adults talk about bullying, has an impact on bullying prevention. Last summer, she attended a camp at Johns Hopkins and chose to take creative nonfiction. This camp brought people from all over the world attended where Sayoni got to see many different cultures and made countless friends. She is excited about being a Youth Ambassador for STOMP Out Bullying.