This is my first year as a Lobo here at Rancho. Starting high school at a completely new place made me wonder what it’d be like. I often questioned whether or not people would like me or if going to Rancho would be the best fit. I remember telling myself, “Lisa, you’re in high school and you’re just finding out who you are. Success is your only option.”

September of 2017 came around and my ‘’friends’’ started telling me that the students here took notice of me and how my hair was styled. To them my hair wasn’t really appealing to them. Instead it was messed up, uneven, and other things that I can’t even put in this story. It seemed like every time my face was seen someone would always say “She needs to stop, she is not cute” or “Girls really be thinking they’re the best when their hair looking like that.” As if it was the most important thing in the world.

My daily routine at one point was: wake up, go to school, get talked about, go home and ask myself if they were right. You may think well why didn’t you ignore them, but it’s so hard to when your self-esteem is literally being shot down. Especially when the people who you thought you trusted the most were actually in on it the whole time. My grades slipped right out of my hands and depression was my new best friend.     

My anxiety was increased and what the students had to say about me made me become more insecure. It got to the point where I hated the way I looked. Instead of focusing on my grades my main focus was on how I looked and how other people thought of me. My insecurities made me feel so alone but then I realized other students at this school constantly go through the same things.

“I’d say it was kinda difficult, I was bullied so bad that everytime I’d see my bully I’d be scared outta my pants. My grades suffered and “friends” of mine would actually tell their parents and their parents would tell my mom,” said sophomore, Wasyl Rebenczuck.

After Rebenczuck spent a bulk of his life being bullied, it reflected heavily on his goals and academics.

“The tip I can give to anybody being bullied is don’t keep it to yourself like I did. Seek help from somebody you trust,” said Rebenczuck.

Sometimes students face a harder time with bullying because it feels like there isn’t any place for them to reach out to. When students expect actual disciplinary consequences for those who bully students on campus, their expectations are cut short when all we receive are a series of assemblies that don’t really stop the problem.

“It’s not right because they’re just mad.They don’t want to see the other person succeed and they’ve probably been hurt before. The school hasn’t done anything to resolve the bullying. All they do is put us in assemblies and give the bully new ideas with videos,” said Sophomore, Marc Collins.

As reoccurring of an issue as bullying is in high school, we are still very fortunate enough to have on-campus resources that may help the coping process and continuously work to eliminate the problem. If students ever witness someone being harassed, it’s important that they know who they should reach out to about it and who they can trust.

“I see bullying all the time. Sometimes kids play off as their friends are joking around them. Even though someone would  say it’s not a big deal, I think that it defines bullying and it produces a negative effect on whoever it’s focused on. We have people here such as Mr. Gomez, Ms. Kono, and people who are really helpful and address these situations,” said Biology teacher, Ms Tetreault.

Now I don’t want you to think this was written for sympathy or for someone to say “Poor Lisa.” It was written for anyone who was or currently being bullied. As you can see, bullying is a huge problem for teens and it’s important to start talking about it. This is to tell those being bullied that eventually it will get better. Remember that you are not alone, there is someone out there who will listen to you.

Here are some ways to cope if you are currently being bullied:

Tell a trusted adult or friend. Keeping it down will cause the problem to worsen.

Love yourself. Confidence that’s another way to cope with bullying. If someone doesn’t like the way you look or how you wear your hair, it shouldn’t matter because who are they to judge?

Whatever you do don’t think about commiting suicide. Understand that there are other people and resources that want to help you. Imagine the pain your family and friends would feel.

Find your true friends, not just people who talk to you when they’re bored. Fill your life with people who listen to you, respect you, and will never judge you.

Don’t get physical. Getting physical with a bully will cause you to get in trouble if you use violence against the bully. You can stand up for yourself in other ways like using assertiveness, and walking away.