Rebecca Mole’s phone filled with text messages Wednesday about the death of bullied Port Coquitlam teenager Amanda Todd.

The TRU arts student and cheerleader was shocked. She knew Todd, who was a few years younger, when they were both with the Vancouver All Stars cheerleading program.

Mole had no idea about the bullying going on in Todd’s life — bullying that the girl referred to in a YouTube video posted a few weeks ago.

“She was a really sweet girl. She was young. She always had a smile on her face. She was gorgeous,” she said.

“I had no idea this was going on until the video came out. It went viral on Wednesday night. I had no idea any of this was happening when I knew her.”

She wished Todd’s struggle had been more apparent.

Mole, who moved to Kamloops from Port Moody in May, said Todd went to school with some people she knows. She’s heard all the negative comments that had been posted about Todd on Facebook and Twitter have been taken down.

She felt Todd was strong to go through all the bullying she did and keep moving forward, changing schools several times and still trying to carry on.

“To have the strength to go through that for a number of years is admirable,” said Mole

She said there were years in high school when she or her friends felt the judgments, the drama, even the cyber harassment.

One of the reasons Mole came to Kamloops was for a fresh start. She’s worked with kids for the past couple of years and wants to go into teaching.

“I would love to be a teacher who would have an effect on children. If there’s bullying going on, I would hope I would be more aware,” she said.

Even as cheerleaders, she and her teammates get stereotyped and bullied. At a recent baseball game, someone threw objects at them.

She and the other cheerleaders are promoting Wear Pink Day on Monday at TRU in Todd’s memory. And on Oct. 21, they’re having Pink Game Day, with all teams wearing pink at the day’s soccer games.

For more information about the anti-bullying events at TRU, go on Facebook to http://goo.gl/X4GX4