The last thing Macey Knecht expected in her final days of summer break was a call to the principal’s office.

But this past August, the improbable became a reality for the incoming Skyline senior after someone used an anonymous Twitter account and her name to make a serious allegation.

“They posted, ‘Macey Knecht, thinking about starting a school shooting on the first day of school,’” she said.

A stunned Knecht was forced to prove to school officials, police and other students she knew nothing of the remark.

“I almost got in a lot of trouble, but then they took the account down, which was good,” she said.

Her own personal experience, coupled with the suicide of a classmate’s friend in Arizona and the highly-publicized school shooting threat made by a former Skyline student on Sept. 19, forced Knecht to take a stance on cyberbullying.

“It was like, ‘when are we going to stop this?’” she said.

Knecht, the Vice President of Recognition and Spirt for Skyline’s DECA program, responded by organizing “Pause Before You Post” week, Nov. 26-30. The event, which ran in conjunction with DECA Spirit Week, specifically focused on creating a positive influence through social media  —  a means of communication nearly every student uses.

The anchor of Knecht’s plan revolved around a Twitter account, called NiceTweets101. Controlled by five anonymous students, direct or private messages about specific students, were retweeted to anyone following the account. With only positive remarks being distributed, Knecht said the account’s popularity grew quickly.

“If you walk through the hallways people have their phones out and they’re looking at their Twitter accounting saying, ‘Oh my God, that’s so nice, I wonder when they’re going to tweet about me,’” she said.

Within a week of creating the account, there were 430 followers  —  roughly third of the school’s population. Knecht’s idea also caught on elsewhere. The freshman class at Skyline created its own Nice Tweet account, while Eastlake, Eastside Catholic and Issaquah also built accounts.

Fellow DECA member and Vice President of Communications Jessica Gou said the social media scene was getting nasty at Skyline  —  especially after the shooting threat in September.

“It was just negativity and just being mean,” Gou said.

By the end of “Pause Before You Post” week, she said she had already seen noticeable differences among attitudes.

“When we were walking here people were telling Macey, ‘Oh, I really like your dress,’” Gou said. “I think if it had been before this week people would have thought it was a nice dress but they wouldn’t have taken the initiative to tell her it was a nice dress.”

Knecht and other DECA members added to the week by decorating the commons with educational posters, providing Power Point presentations to health classes and giving morning announcements that explained the importance of treating others with respect through the internet.

Knecht said she was elated by the response of her classmates and she plans to continue the Twitter account through the school year. She was also happy to see underclassmen already inquire about who will take over the account when she graduates.

“The only way to stop it (cyberbullying) is to just be nice, it’s that simple,” Knecht said. “I want this to continue, to spread out.”