Teen’s Response To Internet Bullies Captures The Attention Of Kids Everywhere

Posting nearly anything on social media can prompt some completely unwelcome comments. Even innocent observations about the weather can bring out the worst in people looking to hurt others online, so teens are coming up with creative and powerful ways to respond to their bullies.

When a video of teenage explorer Jade Hameister was posted online, internet trolls couldn’t help but leave sexist jokes in the comment section. Rather than let the haters get her down, Jade made them eat their words — and sent their insensitive “jokes” back at them in a way that was completely brilliant.

It’s been said that “the future is female” and that “children are the future.” Well, Australian 19-year-old Jade Hameister is proof both might be true — and she’s earned plenty of critics.

Stellar Magazine

Jade’s dreams have always included travel, but her version of “travel” doesn’t involve luxury resorts, tourist attractions, or even tour guide-led expeditions. Jade is more interested in pushing herself against whatever Mother Nature has to offer.

@jadehameister / Instagram

Jade has been drawn to adventure since she was just six years old, as her and her father journeyed to the top of Australia’s highest peak, Mt. Kosciuszko. Jade was an ambitious girl from the get go, and that drive to see and change the world only increased as she grew.

Free Two Roam / YouTube

“I have been brought up in a very adventurous family,” Jade said in an interview with Jacada Travel’s The Explorer Magazine. “While I was a young girl growing up, my dad was off climbing the seven summits, and both my parents took me and my brother on little adventures every year.”

@jadehameister / Instagram

At 12 years old, Jade completed the Everest Base Camp trek, an arduous hike at high altitudes that typically takes two weeks to finish. “I wanted to see what dad had climbed to the top of in 2011,” Jade said regarding her motive.

REI Co-op

And though Jade had always been inspired by her dear father, she particularly looked up to women who followed their guts and defied the odds. While in the midst of her journey to the Everest Base Camp, Jade befriended two women whose accomplishments wowed her.

@jadehameister / Instagram

One of the women had once skied to the South Pole alone, and the other was the first woman to summit Everest without supplemental oxygen. But rather than simply applaud them, their achievements inspired Jade to embark on her own expedition.

@jadehameister / Instagram

According to Jade’s personal website, in April 2016, she became the youngest person to ever ski to the North Pole “from anywhere outside the Last Degree” at just 14 years old. She was then recognized by the Australian Geographic Society as 2016’s Young Adventurer of the Year.

@jadehameister / Instagram

National Geographic documented her physically and mentally challenging journey to the North Pole for its documentary Jade’s Polar Dream. But even this wasn’t enough to satisfy Jade’s need for something new and exciting.

@jadehameister / Instagram

Because Jade was kicking butt and taking names, the little trailblazer gave a TEDx Talk in August 2016, which highlighted her belief that young girls should never be discouraged from chasing their dreams. The world recorder-breaker wanted to act as an example to girls around the world.

In her talk, titled “My Journey to the North Pole and Beyond,” she asked “What if the focus shifted from how we appear, to the possibilities of what we can do?” This was just her intro.

TEDx Talks

“As a young woman I live in a world where I’m constantly bombarded with messages to be less, to eat less, to wear less, to be skinnier, to shrink my ambitions to fit in, to wait for my Prince Charming to come and save me, or to avoid activities ‘that are for boys,'” she continued.

TEDx Talks

She voiced that the world’s future would be much brighter if women decided to ignore these societal messages and refuse to play it safe, using her accomplishments as proof of what’s possible. Not everyone was on board.

@jadehameister / Instagram

When Jade’s talk was uploaded to YouTube, the video garnered many nasty comments that said “make me a sandwich.” In case you haven’t heard the blatantly sexist phrase, it references the outdated idea that women “belong in the kitchen.”

@jadehameister / Instagram

Though these comments and others like them were at first disheartening, Jade wasn’t one to let internet trolls win. In fact, she was preparing for another adventure — one that would capture the attention of kids everywhere.

@jadehameister / Instagram

In January 2018, Jade Hameister became the youngest person to complete the incredibly difficult Polar Hat Trick, which is a three-tiered feat that entails skiing around the North Pole, crossing Greenland’s largest icecap, and around the South Pole.

Australian Geographic

Throughout her 373-mile journey on skis (while pulling a 220-pound sled), she couldn’t stop thinking of the ridiculous sandwich comments on her old TEDx Talk, even considering bringing a literal sandwich to the South Pole as a joke. She needed to do something.

@jadehameister / Instagram

But the more Jade thought on it, the more she realized it was an epic way to respond to her ghastly internet trolls. “The camp we were staying at was less than a (kilometer) away from the actual pole, so we were like, ‘Let’s just do it,'” Jade explained to CNN.

@jadehameister / Instagram

She posted a photo of herself standing tall at the very top (or bottom in this case) of the South Pole on her social media profiles, hysterically captioning it “I made you a sandwich (ham & cheese), now ski 37 days and 600km to the South Pole and you can eat it xx.”

Jade Hameister / Facebook

Jade Hameister, who was just 16 years old at the time, made an awesome feminist statement, and soon went viral for it! Dealing with internet trolls is a feat in itself; plenty of people in the spotlight struggle with online haters.

James D. Morgan / Getty Images