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Tuesdays With Travis: Reacting to Bullying (Wednesday Edition)

Apr 03, 2013

When looking at the problems kids face growing up, one of the most damaging of them can be bullying. Recently the Foundation has partnered with an organization called Rachel’s Challenge. Rachel’s Challenge was started by Darrell and Sandy Scott after their daughter, Rachel, was killed in the Columbine High School Shooting in 1999.

Before her death, Rachel’s passion was helping people. She frequently stood up for others when they wouldn’t or couldn’t stand up for themselves. So, in her memory, her parents started Rachel’s Challenge to educate kids around the country about the impact both their actions and words can have on others.  They go into schools and hold day-long trainings where the students are asked to open up and share their experiences with their fellow classmates.

After going through one of the trainings myself, I gained a whole new knowledge of the impact bullying can have on a child. I also learned that there are a number of ways that a child can react to bullying.

I was reading espn.com and discovered an article about a football player named Garret Gilkey from Sandwich, Illinois who was bullied incessantly growing up. Instead of reacting negatively or acting out because of all the bullying, he used his words to defend himself. Eventually he began to grow as he entered high school, so he joined the football team.

Garret used football as a way to channel his frustration and turned it into a potential NFL career, as Garret will most likely be drafted at this year’s NFL Draft. Garret’s story is an inspiring one where he overcame childhood bullying to reach his goal of playing in the NFL.

Do you have any similar stories about yourself or someone you know that overcame bullying to achieve their goals?