The 9-year-old Tainui School pupil did not have a pink shirt to wear. But the solution was simple.
Using Kiwi ingenuity, he grabbed one of his white T-shirts and got his mum to write his mindful message on the front: "I know this isn’t a pink shirt but I still say NO to bullying".
And you guessed it, it was done with a pink marker pen.
"It’s just as good as a pink shirt — maybe better," he said.
His school was one of more than 1000 across New Zealand that spoke up and stood together to celebrate diversity and stop bullying.
Well-known New Zealanders, including Sir Peter Leitch, the Silver Ferns netball team, Toni Street, Valerie Adams, Jeremy Corbett and Mike McRoberts joined in at events around the country.
Tainui School principal Shelley Wilde said Pink Shirt Day was one of the school’s favourite events of the year because it highlighted the school’s values of making people feel valued, respected and safe.
"The world isn’t necessarily a fair place — the big wide world out there isn’t going to be cocooned like we are in here.
"They need skills and strategies for knowing what to do if they feel unsafe, or not respected, or not valued.
"And also the converse of that — how they can show respect and envalue other people for who they are instead of judging them."
Mental Health Foundation chief executive Shaun Robinson said everyone deserved to feel safe, valued and respected, but bullying was a barrier to that.
"It can have serious and ongoing impacts on our mental health and wellbeing.
"We know that students who are bullied are more likely to experience symptoms of depression and anxiety and avoid going to school.
"Young people — particularly minority cultures, higher and lower level academic achievers, those from households in poverty and those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex (LGBTI) — experience high rates of bullying.
"We must work together to say no to bullying and to support each other on Pink Shirt Day and every day."