Call him Mr. Manners

"Are you ----ing serious?” Christopher Rim ’17 said to a New Haven Register reporter.

It's not the kind of language you'd expect from one of the “Ten Best-Mannered People of 2013.” But consider this: Rim lowered his voice "so as not to disturb anyone nearby." And he was not speaking for himself, but quoting a friend's reaction to the news that the National League of Junior Cotillions put this Yale freshman on its annual list.

The League chose the ten "based on the demonstration of dignity, honor, and respect." In Rim's case, that means anti-bullying efforts: in high school, after the cyberbullying and suicide of fellow New Jerseyan Tyler Clementi, Rim founded an organization called It Ends Today. Now the group has 22 chapters in six countries, the Register reports.

Rim is number five on the Best-Mannered list, behind Pope Francis and Nelson Mandela but ahead of Peyton Manning and a guy who once took a class at Yale, Glenn Beck.

Maybe you're thinking, "Wait. Isn't a cotillion a Southern ball where debutantes wear frilly dresses?" Right you are, and the NLJC will not let you down. Its mission  statement: "To act and learn to treat others with honor, dignity and respect for better relationships with family, friends and associates and to learn and practice ballroom dance."