CNN 2010-04-16

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BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Shaneika Lewis is counting the days until her high school graduation. It's a day that almost didn't happen. She fell in with the wrong crowd and considered dropping out.

SHANEIKA LEWIS, HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR: People were friends with me because they were scared of me. They were friends with me because they wanted to see something happen. I was somebody else's laugh. Any time they see me, they could easily know which buttons to push.

BALDWIN: Early in Shaneika's teen years she became a bully¹. It started with words, tormenting³ her classmates verbally. When she got older, her aggression⁴ turned violent, forcing her father to intervene two years ago.

LEWIS: Being a bully really was degrading. And I can see how those people feel, whoever I used to pick on, torment², how they felt. Because when I had that feeling, it lowered me as a person. I felt less than human.

BALDWIN: Shaneika's life changed after her dad brought her here, to Ladies of Favor. It's a faith-based, non-profit mentoring⁶ program which helps young girls address issues like low self-esteem, bullying⁷ and self respect.

GABRIELLE STARR, FOUNDER⁸, LADIES OF FAVOR: As a teenager, I went through an array of things. I dealt with low self-esteem. I dealt with trying to find myself. And a lot of the issues that our young girls are facing, that was me.

BALDWIN: Shaneika sat with a mentor⁵ once a week where they would discuss self confidence, character building and how to become a leader.

DR. NADINE KASLOW, EMORY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: There's lots of jealousy⁹.

BALDWIN: Why do certain girls, like Shaneika, become bullies¹⁰? Doctor Nadine Kaslow says it begins in a social setting when girls are trying to figure out who their friends are.

KASLOW: There's lots of competition. There's lots of sort of struggles to express their own identity. Girls often feel helpless and powerless. Being relationally aggressive is a way to try to assume power.

BALDWIN: Shaneika has faced her own struggles and now knows not to resort to violence to be popular.

LEWIS: If I wasn't in Ladies of Favor today, I could honestly say, I don't really know where I would be at right now.

STARR: Shaneika is a very, very bright young lady. She's very smart. She's very articulate. But it was just something on the inside that had been damaged and she was trying to find a way out.

BALDWIN: Ladies of Favor helped Shaneika address the issues she was facing. She would discover --

LEWIS: That I'm a phenomenal woman.

BALDWIN: Now she fights with a new weapon, self confidence, which has prepared her to face an important day, graduation.