I've always had trouble fitting in. I'm very outspoken, which is why I was bullied. I saw this bully picking on a boy, and I stood up for him. I soon became the bully's victim. He called me names, spread rumors about me, the whole bit. One of his friends even tried to push my down the stairs once. Well because of him, I had a very limited amount of friends. I soon developed anxiety and depression. I would beg my mom not to make me go to school. She went to the vice principal of my school and she didn't do anything. For the rest of the eighth grade, I kept my head down. I discovered that there was a support group for kids who had experienced bullying. These kids were amazing. They were smart, and funny, and very down to earth. I couldn't understand why someone would want to tease them or harm them. In that group I learned to love myself and to not give a bully power. That group was amazing. I'm now in the tenth grade. I get straight A's and have the goal of going to NYU.

I've been bullied by certain people after coming out as gay. Many people call me names and seemingly avoid me as if homosexuality is a disease. And even if people don't harass me, people at my school continually use my sexual orientation against me. I dress differently, so people think it's because I am a lesbian. People constantly make stereotypes. I have one great friend that totally accepts me for who I am. And a few others who am pretty sure do, and they help me stay strong. Since forever, I've also been extremely confident. I'm able to face the bullies fairily levelheaded and even with a reply. That still doesn't stop people from teasing me.

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When I was younger I was adopted for being neglected. In elementary and jr. high I was bullied because I was adopted. I started to feel unwanted and a waste of space. I tried to kill myself because I thought to myself I wasn't loved enough that I was neglected. When my suicide attempt failed I just kept cutting myself over and over. Then people started seeing my scars and would bully me for cutting myself. People would say so many mean things to me and they really did hurt me, so much that I couldn't handle life anymore. 

When I was younger I was adopted for being neglected. In elementary and jr. high I was bullied because I was adopted. I started to feel unwanted and a waste of space. I tried to kill myself because I thought to myself I wasn't loved enough that I was neglected. When my suicide attempt failed I just kept cutting myself over and over. Then people started seeing my scars and would bully me for cutting myself. People would say so many mean things to me and they really did hurt me, so much that I couldn't handle life anymore. 

My son is a freshman at MSUB in Montana and he has had to face humiliation and physical abuse in some of his classes.  Professors are present when it happens and do nothing.  I think it stems from being able to bully stludents in high school without consequenses and continues on after that.  I really hope something changes soon.

I moved states, to a 12 year old girl moving schools is a big scary thing. The first day of school nobody wanted to talk to me, nobody reached out to help when I dropped my books, or to sit with me at the lunch table. That all changed though when a boy named Austin came up to me and sat by me. I had no clue who he was, so he introduced himself. Luckily for me he had next class with me so he walked me there, and then again sat beside me. That whole year we were best friends.. We got closer and shared more of our stories with each other. But almost at the end of the year his family had decided to move to another city nearby. Him being one of the only friends I had I was heartbroken. He assured me it would all be okay. Well a year went by and we text and tried to keep in touch. He told me about his school, told me how happy he was and loved being on the football team. Until one of my friends that went to his school called me... Saying that He tried to commit Suiside and was in the hospital. Hours later he took his last breath. He was being bullied at school and told nobody. Since then it has been my mission to tell people about bullying. If you are being bullied or see someone being bullied. Tell a adult or any one who you trust, stand up for them. Be there for them. Sometimes all they need is one person to let them know they are WORTH THE WORLD

I'm a 31 year old parent of two sons ages 11 and 13. As a child, i was overweight and experienced bullying in elementary school. It was nothing like it is now but it was still around then. I now have children of my own i see how bad things have gotten with bullying in schools and no one never seems to know anything when the worse happens. My son has been a target of bullying and as a result has tried to handle the situation on his own, but was punished for getting caught and taking action in his own hands. I think school officials should look deeper into situations when a child comes to them for help instead of pushing them away because you never know what a child is going through. When they try to speak up, pushing them away makes them not want to share their feelings and tend to solve them in other ways. This must stop and our children need to speak up so they can be heard. As a parent and a victim of bullying, everyone needs to step up and help those who need someone to talk to. One by one we can end this horrible trend that is causing so much devastation to families across the U.S.