A group of university students from Greece have created an anti-bullying app in honour of Amanda Todd.
Amanda was 15 years old when she took her own life four years ago — just weeks after posting a video online describing her experience with bullying and online torment.
The students said they were moved to act after watching Amanda’s story of bullying and learning of her suicide.
“It was really heartbreaking and we really wanted to do something about it,” said Vasileios Baltatzis, one of the creators.
The app, called “Amanda”, uses virtual reality to expose users to scenes of bullying. The app then measures the level of empathy and helps them respond.
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“If my empathy is low, perhaps I will have to do an activity that will get me to understand better what the other person is feeling,” said Baltatzis.
Carol Todd, Amanda’s mother, said the team reached out to get her blessing on using her daughter’s name for the app.
Although they had never met, the team kept in touch with her to keep her updated on their progress.
But Todd surprised the university students Tuesday, showing up at a competition where they will be demonstrating the app.
The team is presenting their creation at Imagine Cup — where some of the world’s brightest young innovators meet to showcase their work.
“It’s like a dream come true,” said Ilias Chrysovergis, another one of the students involved with the project. “It’s something that we couldn’t imagine at the beginning of our journey.”
READ MORE: Anti-bullying rally remembers Amanda Todd
“It’s one of those bittersweet moments, where it’s great to have it happen but it’s so sad that it’s happening in the memory of my daughter and she’s not here,” Todd told Global News.
“But I think that if she’s watching over us, she would be ecstatic to see that more and more is being done.”
Watch below: The story of Canadian teenager Amanda Todd and her experiences with cyberbullying motivated a group of students in Greece to design an app in her honour. As Emily Mertz explains, Todd’s mother was also involved.
With files from Tanya Beja