Pop star Lady Gaga is transforming “Born This Way” from a hit album into a new movement.

Gaga launched the Born This Way Foundation at Harvard University Feb. 29. The event was littered with intellectuals and very rich, concerned people. Among them were Oprah Winfrey and Deepak Chopra, both of whom were there to discuss ways to stop bullying in schools.

To be completely honest, I had expected a lot of empty words from Gaga, and for everyone around her to praise her well-meaning but utterly useless statements. However, the event was a lot more in-depth. The panel consisted of six people, including the sister of a recently deceased Gaga fan, with Gaga in the center, answering their questions.

They asked her some really tough questions, and she even told them at times that she didn’t have the answer, hence the foundation’s creation.

“If every single person in this room just told one single human being that’s not here about everything we talked about, it’s all about spreading the message,” she said. “The culture of love is not going to change overnight. We have to start it slowly, but you are the answer, and know that, and go home and take with you that you are the future.”

Everyone cheered, the people were satisfied and so am I. I think it’s great that this foundation is being made to empower the youth of America to stand up for not just themselves, but for other people. What Gaga said was true: there’s not one simple way of dealing with bullying — you can’t make it illegal even though she wishes you could.

The stop to this bullying culture starts in the home. Parents need to start raising kids to be above cruelty and schools need to be more heavy-handed with punishment on those who do bully.

Turning a blind eye isn’t going to cut it anymore. Some have said that bullying “builds character” and I used to agree with that. I don’t anymore. I used to get bullied all the time for being different and it didn’t build my character. It just gave me an insane anger management problem.

Severe bullying can ruin a kid’s life to the point where they feel like no one is listening and no one cares, and that’s when suicide can occur. The majority of young people make it out of bullying but some don’t. That’s a big problem. I strongly believe that no one is ever truly alone in this world. We all have someone, but sometimes it’s hard to realize that.

I’m very proud of Gaga for creating this foundation and proving that she wasn’t just using the LGBT community and bullying to promote her album. She actually does care, which is more than we can say about most celebrities. I really hope that this foundation helps save lives and starts to change the way people think. Otherwise, we’re going to see a lot more damaged kids in our future.

Vanessa Spates is a paid writer for PropaGaga.com, a blog for Lady Gaga fans.