This website was very fulfilling personally because I have been affected by bullying both as a middle school student in the 6th grade, as well as a 9th grade High School freshman. In both cases, I was the new student and there was a completely new environment around me. With my experiences, I can attest to the research that was found in the “Do Top Dogs Rule in Middle School?” article that bullying and being victimized happens the most when you are the youngest and the smallest of a group of hormonal teenagers. I was captured by this topic because it is an issue that plagues everyone – whether or not you have been a victim of bullying or were a bully yourself, everyone has witnessed it in their lifetime. Although this is not an overlooked issue, I wanted to dive deeper into this topic in the hope that I would learn something more about it and find some resources and research that would help others. Bullying can be life-altering, sometimes life-ending and I was very curious to see how other people out in the urban areas of the United States were combating it.

By creating this website, I have gained an incredible amount of knowledge pertaining to bullying, the grassroots activism that is happening, and the scholarly work that is building awareness. I was caught off guard and surprised by the amount of national organizations that are already in place to combat bullying and other forms like cyber bullying. This made it difficult for me to find the grassroots organizations, especially in urban areas. The national scale of the movement against bullying is exemplified by President Obama’s call to action during his time in the Oval Office.

The reform that is happening on a community level is still very strong and it was incredibly interesting to see the variety and the breadth of topics that these organizations tackled. From cyber bullying to suicide awareness to developing research based products, there were so many different ways in which the grassroots level was hoping to make a positive impact on urban communities. It was noted while compiling data and finding the various grassroots organizations that there were certain areas that were apart of the central focus. As a result of bullying being such a big wide encompassing issue, there was a trend I noticed of organizations placing an emphasis on a particular type of bullying or a particular type of solution. It was clear that not all of the organizations wet re well-funded, as evidenced by the lack of websites and social media platforms. However, this does not take away from the work that is happening and often times not publicized. Each organization has had many achievements that have made a difference and despite the lack of money and support, they have certainly changed lives.

The general trend I saw in most of these organizations and social media platform accounts was the desire to raise awareness and educate. For the problem of bullying, often times the most important thing to do is to educate. Of course, education is not enough and this was evidenced in the practitioner articles that suggests that we need to consider the culture and type of punishment that exists. However, to do the latter it is important to educate the masses that bullying is rampant and is affecting so many people around the world. In fact, it could affect people in your immediate family. Personally, it is very rewarding to see that so many organizations are passionate about this issue and making sure that everyone understands that it is an epidemic that is really universal. I am encouraged by the level of awareness that is being reached and how projects like the “Bully Project” (above) and the movie have really shaped the way we think about bullying and its adverse effects like depression, SAD, low self-esteem, etc., etc.

When I think back to my own personal experiences with bullying, I get sad to think that there is some student out there that might be going through the same things. I am, however, satisfied that the student may have the resources to help him right there at his finger tips. Beyond the level of resources and the people that are willing to step out and help that student, I see a level of effort trying to change the way in which we structure our schools to even allow bullying to germinate in the first place. Talking about accountability and reducing zero tolerance are steps that give me hope that we, as a society, can ultimately defeat bullying.