Project Rockit

When most school leavers were wondering whether to take off to Europe for a gap year, which uni course to sign up for or how to hold down a part-time job, sisters Lucy and Rosie Thomas were creating a nationwide social movement.

A movement that would eventually see them become the go-to youth cyber safety partner of online global leaders Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Google, be awarded the Social Change Award at the InStyle and Audi Women of Style Awards this year and reach 300,000 students from 500 schools – all with a 12-year strong cohort of empowered kids they’ve collected along the way.

In 2006 the Melbourne sisters were fresh out of high school but wanted to do more than just survive the post-school years, they wanted to thrive – and help other young people to do so in the process. 

And so Project Rockit, Australia’s youth driven movement against bullying, was born. 

The “small but mighty” movement has impacted hundreds of thousands of students across their face-to-face workshops in schools, through Project Rockit online and Project Rockit TV, which was launched last year in partnership with Google and YouTube.
Every week, up to 14 Project Rockit youth presenters are out on the road presenting workshops at school assemblies. This week alone, they’ll be visiting students in Darwin in the Northern Territory, Bunbury in Western Australia and regional New South Wales. 

Growing up, the sisters always figured that “someone should really do something about bullying.” Then they realised; they were that ‘someone’.

“We were at a bit of a crossroads and a bit disenfranchised,” Rosie said of life after high school. “We were working out what we wanted to do with ourselves. We didn’t have grand ambitions to create a social movement, it was more in the short term 'who do we want to be' and 'what sort of work do we want to be doing’ and the common value that we share is a value for making a difference, for kindness and respect.”

The pair knew that bullying and mistreatment at school often had effects on students long after they graduated. 

“We were thinking about how unfair and preventable that was and we were so angry and dissatisfied that no one was talking about the issue of bullying in a way that actually reached young people, or was cool or going to make a difference,” she added. “So we decided that perhaps we could be those people that gave it a crack and Project Rockit was born.” 

But surprisingly, Project Rockit didn’t evolve as a result out of the Thomas sisters’ own experiences with bullying. 

“Like most people growing up, we experienced our fair share of knocks and blows throughout school,” said Lucy, “but that wasn’t the thing that drove us to start Project Rockit, which often comes as a surprise to people. 

“If we saw something terrible happen in the schoolyard and came home and told mum, who was a fierce single mum, her response was always 'well what did you do about it,' so we were brought up to believe that when we see injustice it’s your duty to challenge it.”

The only problem was, the sisters realised that they - along with most young people - didn’t always have the skills and strategy to feel confident enough to do so.  

“The vast majority of young people see bullying happen and care, but don’t know how to handle it,” said Rosie. “We're trying to drive change through leveraging the power of peer groups and audience to create a positive pressure to shut it down instead of standing by and  watching.”

As the organisation matures Project Rockit is now finding itself affecting change beyond schools - in the corporate, business and “grown up” world even more. 

The pair now also conduct corporate talks and have presented on major Australian and international stages to the likes of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google, Telstra, L'oreal, ANZ and more on a range of themes from bullying, cybersafety and leadership, to overcoming adversity, finding purpose and building a movement. 

“Looking back, people say to us 'wow that was such a leap that you guys took'”, said Lucy, “but I just don’t think we knew we were taking the leap at the time. At that point in our lives we had no assets to our names, no professional reputations to risk, no families to take care of and no money to lose. It really didn’t feel like a plan or a risk, it felt like a 'why not' situation.”

And the results – and impact of the program - speak for themselves:

“In a recent evaluation of Project Rockit online we found that before the program only 49 percent of young Australians felt confident enough to challenge bullying,” said Rosie, “but after completing Project Rockit online that number rose to 96 percent confidence to stand up.” 

This year, the pair took home the Social Change award at the Audi and InStyle Women of Style Awards – another incredible endorsement of what the two “empowerpreneurs” have achieved. 

“Nobody sets out to achieve social change for the purpose of being rewarded or recognised,” said Lucy, “but I think recognition like this sends a really clear message to all young people - that you can create change. For the vast majority of the time that we've been doing this it's been a hard slog and an uphill battle, and it will continue to be, but it's worth it when people recognise your vision and the world you're trying to create. That means an awful lot to us.”