At an early age, I was subjected to bullying by my peers. I remember being teased constantly about my hair texture, my eating habits, my glasses, my facial expressions, and even being told I was a “weirdo.” The stigma of bullying created obstacles for me during my entire elementary school years. It made me doubt who I truly was and pushed me to be introverted. I even became challenged with issues of low self-esteem, despite my parents and siblings’ validation of me. I struggled to overcome those feelings of doubt, hurt, anger and self-worth. I was silenced by the bullying! I did not speak, voice my opinions, or even participate in many school events back then. It took a couple of years of counseling during my middle school years for me to overcome the obstacles that the bullying created. A school counselor told me, “Hurt people hurt people,” these words saved me! It helped me realize that the reason I was being bullied was not because of ME, but because the person bullying me was hurt themselves. It opened my eyes to a whole new area of reality. I became interested in knowing why the person was hurting and why was I the person they took it out on. Why was I targeted? My interest was ignited by how the human mind worked and the reasons for human behaviors. I believed that understanding this would help me to empower people to resolve their internal conflicts. Being bullied for those years drove me to want to understand how children dealt with personal issues and what motivation was behind the action of “bullying.” I wanted to help the children who were victims of bullying, as well as, the children who were doing the bullying. As a result of those negative experiences, I have become an advocate for people who are mistreated or overlooked. I am now active in several clubs, peer groups, and nonprofit organizations. I was elected to hold leadership roles in both my Junior and Senior year of high school because of my voice of advocacy and reason. I was Vice President of the Junior class, a member of the Best Buddies, and Team Captain of our school’s Peer Forward organization. I have donated many hours to non-profit organizations dedicated to helping underserved children with educational, mental health and medical needs. I have not allowed the negativity of the past to define or silence me any longer! Being bullied has taught me resilience. It has fueled my determination to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology and become a clinical therapist, working primarily with children and families. I will become a therapist so I can learn how to detect trauma in a child and initiate communication with them. I want to enable them to overcome any detrimental issues they are experiencing. Someone did that for me, and I strongly wish to do that for others!

After completing my senior year and the IB program at Frederick Douglass High School, my goal is to attend Towson University’s Honors College, major in psychology and earn a BS degree. While in the honors college program, I will take full advantage of the internship within the curriculum. I am excited that this will allow me to have practical experience while furthering my education. I decided to study psychology so I can become a clinical therapist, a decision I made based on my personal experiences. At an early age, I was subjected to bullying by my peers. I remember being teased constantly about my hair texture, my eating habits, my glasses, my facial expressions, and even being told I was a “weirdo.” The stigma of bullying created obstacles for me during my entire elementary school years. It made me doubt who I truly was and pushed me to be introverted. I even became challenged with issues of low self-esteem, despite my parents and siblings’ validation of me. I struggled to overcome those feelings of doubt, hurt, anger and self-worth. I was silenced by the bullying! I did not speak, voice my opinions, or even participate in many school events back then. It took a couple of years of counseling during my middle school years for me to overcome the obstacles that the bullying created. A school counselor told me, “Hurt people hurt people,” these words literally saved me! It helped me realize that the reason I was being bullied was not because of ME, but because the person bullying me was hurt themselves. It opened my eyes to a whole new area of reality. I became interested in knowing why the person was hurting and why was I the person they took it out on. Why was I targeted? My interest was ignited by how the human mind worked and the reasons for human behaviors. I believed that understanding this would help me to empower people to resolve their internal conflicts. Being bullied for those years drove me to want to understand how children dealt with personal issues and what motivation was behind the action of “bullying.” I wanted to help the children who were victims of bullying, as well as, the children who were doing the bullying. As a result of those negative experiences, I have become an advocate for people who are mistreated or overlooked. I am now active in several clubs, peer groups, and nonprofit organizations. I was elected to hold leadership roles in both my Junior and Senior year of high school because of my voice of advocacy and reason. I was Vice President of the Junior class, a member of the Best Buddies, and Team Captain of our school’s Peer Forward organization. I have donated many hours to non-profit organizations dedicated to helping underserved children with educational, mental health and medical needs. I have not allowed the negativity of the past to define or silence me any longer! Being bullied has taught me resilience. It has fueled my determination to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology and become a clinical therapist, working primarily with children and families. I will become a therapist so I can learn how to detect trauma in a child and initiate communication with them. I want to enable them to overcome any detrimental issues they are experiencing. Someone did that for me, and I strongly wish to do that for others!

The word resilience is defined as the ability to recover quickly from difficult conditions, illness, or setbacks. Essentially, having the ability to “bounce back” from adversity and achieve something positive at the same time. No matter how tough life gets, finding a way to keep going. Overcoming being bullied in school is my personal story of resilience that led to inspiring other students. In elementary and middle school, I was very shy and quiet, which made me a target for bullying. I remember kids whispering about me or even talking about me directly in front of my face, because I wouldn’t say anything back. Every topic imaginable was a topic to be ridiculed; the way I dressed, my facial expression, my glasses, my appetite, my quietness! The taunting and teasing were served on an almost daily basis. It is astonishing how kids can be so intentionally mean and do not realize how their words are affecting others. I remember crying in the bathroom because of how hurtful the words were. My resilience began to develop in the middle of my eighth-grade year. I was tired of being affected by the mean words that others would push on me. I started to realize that others would hurt me to make themselves feel better. I started to adopt the phrase that my mother had told me, “hurt people, hurt people” and realized I wasn’t the problem and that nothing was wrong with me. This realization opened my eyes to all the positives that were in me and not the negatives others pushed on me. I started to stand up for myself, by voicing my objection to the “teasing” and “bullying” comments. Slowly, I began to become vocal about the validation my family had been providing for years. I also began to see others who were victims of bullying in my classes speak up too. We began to eliminate the power of the bullies and their hurtful words by not accepting the words as truth. Instead of shying away, we began to speak back in defense of ourselves. Resilience is not a matter of chance. It is a matter of choice and determination! Having experienced bullying for so many years, I now have a strong desire to advocate against it. In my Junior and Senior year, I was chosen to be in a program called Peer Forward. I was chosen because of my influence in the school as an outspoken, driven and confident student. I have inspired others by showing them that despite what anyone says about you, you have to choose to believe in yourself! Some of the students I speak to as the Captain of the Peer Forward group at my school have known me since my younger school years and are amazed at the person I am now. Students have admitted that they were inspired by my transformation in High School. My bullying experiences taught me to be resilient early. My friends now always tell me how they admire the way I speak up for them and others when something is unfair, or just plain wrong. This all comes from the choice I made to be resilient, to not only bounce back but to thrive through adversities.