Hi, Im Sydney. Im 13 going on 14 and Ive been bullied my whole life. Throughout elementary school, no one bothered to stick up for me. But when I got to middle school, that all changed.  I spoke with counselors and my mom, and the bullying eventually died down. No, it's not completely gone. But it's gotten better. I joined my schools Anti-Bullying Committee and I have lots of friends that help me prevent and stop bullying at my school. I know bullying won't go away completely, but I know it will get better. Somehow, someway, someday. 

Hello my name is Jazmyne Barker I am currently 13 almost 14 but I have gotten physically bullied and verbally bullied since I was in preschool because I am almost blind and because of how my hair looks and I have never been able to stand up for myself and its been so hard for me I have tried to hurt myself very badly and I have always tried to tell my principal and he never did anything about it and when I did tell it would just get worse by kids pushing me in lockers and down the stairs and all my friends turned on me because I was getting bullied badly.

I was bullying in 8th grade. I had a group of friends who I hung out with, well one day they just turned against me. I didn't know why, they just stopped talking to me, they wouldn't let me sit with them at lunch, they followed me from school and call me names, and spread rumors about me. I felt alone, helpless and friendless. I finally went to my mom about it, she helped me through it, she even told the principle and even the local police after the following me home, calling me names incident. Even when I would ask why they hated me, they would not tell me why. I couldn't wait to move schools and start all over. Our school guidance counselor found out about the problem and had a sit down with all of us, they finally explained and said I was talking badly about one of them to someone. Which was a complete lie because they were my best friends, I don't remember a time I did speak badly about any of them. After talking, we cleared the air but we never remained friends. I moved to Florida because my dad got orders to and I started over. It felt good starting over. Being verbally bullied made me a better person, it taught me not to treat anyone badly or hurt them. It taught me to be forward about what I feel and it also brought me closer to my mom. She's my best friend to this day. I'm a singer/songwriter. I ended up writing a song called "You Think It's Cool" an anti-bullying anthem. Bullying is not cool and it is a real thing that does happen. This is my music video to the song,

I hope you like it : https://youtu.be/-fsNq3dgSd4

I was bullying in 8th grade. I had a group of friends who I hung out with, well one day they just turned against me. I didn't know why, they just stopped talking to me, they wouldn't let me sit with them at lunch, they followed me from school and call me names, and spread rumors about me. I felt alone, helpless and friendless. I finally went to my mom about it, she helped me through it, she even told the principle and even the local police after the following me home, calling me names incident. Even when I would ask why they hated me, they would not tell me why. I couldn't wait to move schools and start all over. Our school guidance counselor found out about the problem and had a sit down with all of us, they finally explained and said I was talking badly about one of them to someone. Which was a complete lie because they were my best friends, I don't remember a time I did speak badly about any of them. After talking, we cleared the air but we never remained friends. I moved to Florida because my dad got orders to and I started over. It felt good starting over. Being verbally bullied made me a better person, it taught me not to treat anyone badly or hurt them. It taught me to be forward about what I feel and it also brought me closer to my mom. She's my best friend to this day. I'm a singer/songwriter. I ended up writing a song called "You Think It's Cool" an anti-bullying anthem. Bullying is not cool and it is a real thing that does happen. This is my music video to the song,

I hope you like it : https://youtu.be/-fsNq3dgSd4

Hi I'm Allie I'm 12 years old and I have been bullied since daycare (3-6). It began with a boy who's mom worked there but she never did any thing about it. The day would hit, kick, push etc but he always gave Indian burns [which hurt a lot considering I was 3-6 (I went there for 3 years)]. I was bullied with just words from kindergarten-second grade then in 3 my mom put me back into second which caused me to get bullied way worse. When I finally was back in 3rd I was bullied by my boy friends cousins 'gang'. A boy in that 'gang' one day decided I was his punching bag he grabbed my arm and threw me over his shoulder and onto the ground he the started punching me till I finally got away the teachers didn't believe my side of the story but they believed his even though I had bruises and cuts all over me (p.s. the boy was a black belt in karate). In 4th I was bullied all of the same ways. I'm in 5th now and I go to a new school I have 7 friends and most of them call me names behind my back and I sit alone on the bus. I have been bullied for 9 years and counting.

Hey I'm Toni and in junior in high school and still getting bullied daily and I struggled like Alex did where it didn't really affect me anymore because it's been so long that they've done it and it does get me depressed and sometimes want to kill myself because I appear to other kids as a weak person and they use that to do something to me such as humilate me in the hallways, ignore me in the hallways, I sit at lunch at a empty table and no one notices me there and it hurts that people don't care, then I've got made fun of by my appearance because of my size because I'm really small and quiet and also shy, kids have severely attacked me at school, at my neighborhood that I use to live in threw rocks at me, hit me with bats, kicked me, made fun of me and I alwayds got in trouble with my dad because I'd be the one to react and get mad, and my brother bullied me for a couple years and shot me with an air soft gun, I've been ganged up on kids at the park, I was not happy and I still as now feel at times worthless and end up beating myself down and I feel like that when I end up seeing a person that could be my friend and get there number, every time I ask if they want to hangout they reject me every time, my neighborhood friends that I live at right now betrayed me and recently bullied me and was verbally abusive to me with my brothers friends. I don't always feel like I'm important to anyone and start crying in my room or go in the bathroom at the school to cry and sometimes I go to this corner in the hallway at school and cry.

Hey everyone I wanted to tell my story why I want to stop bullying, years ago when I was in elementary school I was different from the other kids at school, and everyday I would always be alone by myself no friends to talk to but when someone would talk to me I was scared I didn't know how to react and I would be bullied because of my flaws. In middle school I was still being made fun of but they started putting down bad stuff about my family how they "are" drug addicts and how I will end up just like them, some times they would put me down about how my moma died and that I was a piece of crap. But now I'm in high school and now they spread rumors about me until a new girl moved into town and me and her had math class together. In class one these two boys started bullying her calling her names and making her cry. I stood up to those boys and told them what they were doing is wrong and that nobody needs to feel like everybody just hates you, they stopped for about three years, now I'm a senior in high school with a few friends but here recently people are hurting my friends the way I was being hurt all of my life so I stood up to those people and asked them why they want to hurt people that they think they know when they don't and they started to mentally hurt me to the point I had to go to the mental hospital for2 weeks when I returned I came back with battle scars and I explained and shown those people the pain, the suffering that I had went through and I told them the reason why bullying is wrong. Today I write on my social media account (Facebook) why bullying is wrong and what could happen when someone is being bullied. I hope that my story will help other people that they are not alone in this world. Thank you for reading my story.

Hey everyone I wanted to tell my story why I want to stop bullying, years ago when I was in elementary school I was different from the other kids at school, and everyday I would always be alone by myself no friends to talk to but when someone would talk to me I was scared I didn't know how to react and I would be bullied because of my flaws. In middle school I was still being made fun of but they started putting down bad stuff about my family how they "are" drug addicts and how I will end up just like them, some times they would put me down about how my moma died and that I was a piece of crap. But now I'm in high school and now they spread rumors about me until a new girl moved into town and me and her had math class together. In class one these two boys started bullying her calling her names and making her cry. I stood up to those boys and told them what they were doing is wrong and that nobody needs to feel like everybody just hates you, they stopped for about three years, now I'm a senior in high school with a few friends but here recently people are hurting my friends the way I was being hurt all of my life so I stood up to those people and asked them why they want to hurt people that they think they know when they don't and they started to mentally hurt me to the point I had to go to the mental hospital for2 weeks when I returned I came back with battle scars and I explained and shown those people the pain, the suffering that I had went through and I told them the reason why bullying is wrong. Today I write on my social media account (Facebook) why bullying is wrong and what could happen when someone is being bullied. I hope that my story will help other people that they are not alone in this world. Thank you for reading my story.

Rise & Shine- Hey, my name is Rachel. I am 19 years old and i am a Graduate of Murray County High School (class of 2014). I was bullied my entire school life, from 5th grade to 12th grade. It was for a heartless and unforgivable reason. I was diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder that caused tumors to grow on the inside and outside of my body. I missed a lot of school, I had to lie to my friends so no one would know about it, I just wanted a normal life... things went ok until a month later.... I missed one day of school for a CT scan and some blood work... i came back and noticed everyone staring at me. they started to whisper to others and they started pointing at me. I would start to talk to my friends and they would back away from me and laugh. I was confused at first. later in the week, it got worse. I was called Freak, Cancer girl, Outcast. i was told that i needed to "Hurry up and die." it got to the point where i had to miss school for a day or two due to the bullying problem being so bad. I thought reporting the issue would help... but it just made it worse. I was gained up on in the girl's bathroom, i was chased down the hall, i was cornered in the gym by boys. 

It was a complete nightmare. I lost sleep, i didnt eat, i cried myself to sleep almost every night. I was close to suicide. Until i fell on my knees and i prayed hard. I prayed for god to help me and stop the neverending misery.

 

Over the next week things got a little better. the bullies didnt disappear but they stopped spreading rumors. New friends that didnt care about my situation came up and they fought with me through the rough times. I started to feel stronger and happier. I found a song my favorite band wrote. Its Called Rise & Shine- Blood on The Dance Floor. I watched the music video and felt better. It made me want to rise up and shine against bullying.

Murray County High School has a bullying policy but they don't do anything to help the students that are being bullied.

I sit here and type this as a hope to reach someone. Take my stroy and read it to you kids or students. Tell them that they are not alone. they will never be alone. 

I want my voice to be heard....

I made it to graduation and everything stopped... but the emotional scars remain. I know some kids weren't so lucky as me and their families remain in my prayers.

Don't let the situation get out of hand. Rise & Shine against it.