Torrey Mercer is coming back to Manteca. This time, the winner of the 2013 Best Pop Song for Indie Channel Music Awards is bringing her anti-bullying message not only to Joshua Cowell Elementary School but to Lincoln Elementary as well.

“We’ve stayed in contact with her just because she’s an amazing woman and she’s now a friend of the family, and (Principal) Bonnie (Bennett) wanted her to come back. All the kids are excited to see her again,” said Renee Coronado whose family was instrumental in Mercer’s appearance at Cowell last year.

It was actually the Coronados’ son, Blake, now a freshman at Manteca High, who “discovered” Mercer on Twitter which led to her appearance in Manteca.

The award-winning up-and-coming music artist and singer/songwriter will have “some new materials” to include in her repertoire for her Wednesday, Sept. 17, presentation at Cowell from 12:30 to 3 p.m. and at Lincoln the following day, Thursday, Sept. 18.

A footage of Mercer’s appearance at Joshua Cowell is now part of a new video that she has put together since her visit to Manteca. Included is a “quick clip” showing Marvin Bledsoe, Jr., the popular and outstanding student at Cowell who died before he could graduate from elementary. The young Bledsoe “was my son’s best friend,” Coronado said.

Cowell School Vice principal Randi Fowzer was instrumental in having Mercer bring her anti-bullying message to Lincoln School where is also the vice principal half of the time. 

Coronado said Mercer’s interactive performance at Cowell School last year made “a huge impact” to the students.

“We had students speaking up and apologizing to students for bullying. We saw a lot of kids just being kind to each other, being sympathetic” to others, Coronado said. “It just made people more sympathetic to others people’s situations. The kids were so excited to hear that she (Mercer) is coming back.”

Mercer is a student at the University of California at Irvine.