By: Rebecca Steimel, Julie Finney, Lauren Dorman Bullying By: Rebecca Steimel, Julie Finney, Lauren Dorman

Bullying: Why is it Important? Each day an estimated 160,000 students in the USA refuse to go to school because they dread the physical and verbal aggression of their peers. Many more attend school in a chronic state of anxiety and depression. It’s reported that 6 out of 10 American youth witness bullying at least once a day. We hope that by reading this disturbing information that you will see why it is very important to be an advocate for bullying and help put a stop to it. One of these students could be your child!

Bullying: Facts One third of teens reported being bullied while at school 44 percent of middle schools reported bullying problems, compared to just over 20 percent of both elementary and high schools Females and white students reported the most incidents of being the victims of bullying Only about a third of bully victims reported the bullying to someone at school 7 percent of students have avoided school or certain places at school because they were afraid of being harmed in some way 8 percent of students were injured or hurt with a weapon at school, and males were more likely than females to be victims Students with disabilities are more likely to be the victims of bullying Over half, about 56 percent, of all students have witnessed a bullying crime take place while at school

Story 1: Carl’s Story Carl was an 11 year old boy who committed suicide because of excessive bullying in school about being gay. Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover hanged himself in 2009 because he was bullied on a daily basis. Bullies would repeatedly call him gay after school. His mother Sirdeaner Walker pleaded to the school to address the problem and they did nothing about it. One day after school she found Carl hanging from an extension cord, just before she was about to leave for a meeting with the school about the problem. Carl’s mother Sirdeaner is now an advocate for bullying. She has started the website stand together, where people go and sign up to take the pledge to stand together against bullying. As of now there are 185,982 people who have taken the pledge to stand together. http://www.standtogether.tv/

Please Click on the link to watch Carl’s story! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2O6x7gVxrw

Story 2: Sarah Lynn Butler Sarah was a 12 year old girl from Hardy Arkansas who committed suicide in 2009 because of cyber bullying. Sarah had just been voted Queen at her school fall festival. Sarah like many other teens had a myspace account. Her mother was a friend on her myspace and she would often get on her daughters account to make sure she was being safe. Sarah’s mother started seeing mean messages saying that she was a slut. The last message that Sarah read on her myspace page “It basically said that she was easily forgotten, and that she was just a stupid little naive girl and nobody would miss her.“ Sarah wanted to stay home one day when her family was going out to run errands, when they family returned home they found that Sarah had hung herself and left a suicide note saying that she couldn’t handle what people were saying about her anymore.

Please click on the link to read Sarah’s Story! http://www.kait8.com/Global/story.asp?S=11566204

STOP BULLYING! These two stories are heartbreaking stories about young children who took their lives because of being bullied. These are not the only stories out there about young children committing suicide because of bullying. There are tons of other stories similar to Carl’s and Sarah’s. We hope that by reading these stories that you understand the importance of bullying and what it can do to people. We also hope that you find a special place in your heart for bullying and that you will become an advocate for bullying!

References & Resources http://www.kait8.com/Global/story.asp?S=11566204 http://www.standtogether.tv/ www.americanspcc.org/lp/bullying-01/ www.bullyingstatistics.org http://abcnews.go.com/Health/MindMoodNews/story?id=7328091