A Lloydminster teen’s video is going viral after testing out a social experiment by complimenting others for a school project.
For her communications media class at Holy Rosary High School, Olivia Brockhoff filmed the reactions to people being told they were beautiful. The video on her Facebook page has over 30,000 views and she says it may have over 2 million views total across several platforms.
“A compliment can do a lot. You never know what someone is going through. Your words can hurt but your words can also heal.”
Brockhoff watched a similar video online and wanted to replicate it and approached her teacher Skye Ferguson about the project.
“She wants to make an influence for students, teachers and everyone in the world, which is amazing,” says Ferguson.
“It really spoke to me and so I said I really need to do this in my high school,” says Brockhoff.
She says the entire project took ten hours to finish and she couldn’t stop smiling while working on the video.
Brockhoff says once the camera was off a few people cried and took her aside to have a deeper conversation.
“They’re not used to getting compliments which is sad. They’re not used to getting called beautiful.”
Brockhoff is a part of the Lloydminster Youth Council and has started her own donation drive called Project PJ. She hopes the video inspires others and raise their own self-esteem.
“We’re so stuck in technology and media and it can be so negative all the time. We’re always looking at our faces because we’re always looking at our phones and so we’re negative to ourselves. We don’t really pull each other up, we always pull each other down.”
Ferguson hopes Brockhoff continues in her class and says she could be an entry into the provincial skills competition in videography.
“I want her to see it is fully a viable career opportunity and the second you that you pursue what you’re passionate about you’ll be successful at it.”