Dealing with school bullies.

During my first years of school, things were quite difficult. I really wanted to go to school and I was super excited because of it. Things were good for some time until I got to the equivalent of middle school. For reasons that I cannot understand yet, they broke my teeth and tried breaking my legs.

Fortunately, my parents took action in the best ways they could and helped me overcome some of the issues. I was taught to fight back, even when defending myself got me in trouble. My mom was in her early 20s when all of that was going on with me, but she was able to defend me and seek the help that I needed alongside my dad and some other people in my life.

One of the main reasons that bullying started was because of a skin condition that I live with — at the time and where I grew up… people thought it was contagious and started to create countless rumors, which I really don’t want to repeat because of how ridiculous and gross they were…

When I entered my first grade in New York City (it was 8th grade), I tried doing my best. Unfortunately, I was placed with disastrous classmates that had been here for years… Some barely did their work or behaved civilly in the classroom and the majority didn’t know any English — didn't want to learn and probably don’t know English at all until this day. My grades were bad at the beginning, but later I applied myself and that’s where it all began again. Some of my classmates demanded to copy my homework, sometimes just to not escalate I’d let them copy, but sometimes they’ll just snap the work out of me. One of those days, however, I went to the bathroom, and when I came back… all of my homework was missing. They stole my geometry homework that I had worked on for hours and hours with my dad’s phone in that tiny room.

I got home crying like I hadn’t cried in years and based on other things going on at the moment, my mother couldn’t take it and she went to the district of education in Queens… (back then, my sister was just born, it was cold… and that still eats me alive sometimes…) The principal just gave me a new folder. I didn’t get my homework back, but I think it was discussed with my teachers and I was able to just move on. I recall they went to give speeches, but they were all in English… so the impact was low. I was able to regain confidence and the school year ended. I graduated with honors in mathematics, english and got my middle school diploma.

When high school started I got placed in a similar classroom, a little bit more behaved than before… The first school was small — all of my teachers were great, principals too, I ended up going to 4 different high schools due to location changes and health issues — but this time it was way easier to just move my sit, not talk to my classmates, avoid as much trouble as possible, go directly to the home (the shelters) and simply try to pass school.

I loved school. I still love learning more than anything in this world… The absolute fire I get from learning new stuff is a feeling that I can barely describe… But it's intense, and I adore it. I cannot believe there was a tiny amount of time in my life where I just gave up and started to hate the thought of it. But I am so glad that I ran across Youtubers like Ceasar Hernandez (talks about philosophy and social sciences), Aldo Bartra (he talks about natural sciences, technology, biology and others) and Daniel Carreón (he teaches math) — I LOVE them soooo much! (I’ll tell you later why, there’s so much to cover about them).

I don’t know what I would’ve done without my parents actually taking care of me, going their way to look out for answers and advice, the amount of hours we used to travel to get me treatment for different health issues and trying to cope with the things at school.

Now, I’m 21. This feels quite distant, but all of these things made me who I am today. I have so many things I want to do — but going in detail would make this too long haha — so I’d want to conclude with something.

If your child shows signs of discomfort, personality changes, fear of going to school, shuts down when talking about it, and has trauma in their body (like scars and bruises), please do whatever it takes to make sure they’re doing well. Sometimes, there’s too many kids and teachers cannot take care of all of them, which is also your obligation and responsibility to teach them how to behave and make sure they understand the consequences of their own actions. It’s your responsibility to help them, to protect them, to make sure they’re healthy, and it's also your responsibility to make sure they’re not hurting others, bullying them, or just being a nightmare to the rest of the classroom.

I got support, but there're many kids that don’t… and they need your attention and care. Pay attention to them.