Let’s face it. It affects us all, whether we are victims of it, a root cause of it, or had nothing to do with it at all. According to Childtrendsdatabank.org, in 2007, 6,900 teens committed suicide, and on Bullyingstatistics.com, and 2.7 million students were bullied in 2010. It is all around us, and we are often oblivious to it.
   John Bernal (12) is an individual who works with members of Students Against Bullying (SAB) and the Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) clubs. He holds meetings at lunch to address the serious issue of bullying.
   John Bernal is a motivational speaker who has been through it all since the start of his grade school career. He has been spat upon, pushed, punched, kicked, and verbally abused.
   “My first encounter was in preschool…I was playing in the playground and I got pushed by a kid while on top of a slide. My face hit the concrete floor and damaged my jaw and teeth. I lost two teeth and my teeth were crooked…he then got off the slide and started punching and kicking,” Bernal said. Sometime after the incident, he was over it because the bully was caught and was removed from the preschool.                    When Bernal was in the sixth grade, he received a message via Internet. John recalls the message saying “You are Mexican. You don’t deserve to be here in this school. This is a white school and you should just go die.” Bernal reported the letter to the principal and an officer confronted the author and notified the parents. Despite all the hurtful things John has been through, he reaches out and positively motivates victims of bullying.
   Just before winter break Bernal held a meeting and assigned a one page speech about their experience or opinion about bullying, and how to stop it. They will present the papers to the principal’s office so they can have an idea of what they are doing, what their goal is, and what they want to accomplish.
   Bernal will be hosting a voluntary assembly in April or May. He will be speaking and will have volunteer speakers talk about their past and motivate others not to be depressed due to bullying. John says that “People should love themselves for who they are…you should love others the way how you love yourself.”