Students learn they can make a difference

By Pete Kendall/reporter@trcle.com

Hunter Layland was different.

His differences, some believe, were not embraced by the entire student body at Cleburne High School.

“He had been in an accident when he was little and had a scar on his face,” said senior John Longoria. “He got a lot of trouble for that from grade school to high school. I was not personally aware of that. I didn’t know Hunter that well.”

When Layland took his own life recently, reportedly in part because of insensitive comments from fellow students, CHS students rallied around his legacy.

Many wondered why peers didn’t leap to his defense. Longoria provided an answer.

“It’s because other kids know how it feels [to be bullied], and they don’t want to get involved,” Longoria said. “They don’t want to have it come back on them.”

A schoolwide presentation Thursday titled “Who I Am Makes A Difference” drove home Longoria’s point.

Everyone, the program stressed, is special, and everyone can make a difference.

Blue ribbons distributed to the students signified they had made a difference by attending the program.

“To make a difference takes an inspiration such as the one today,” Longoria said. “It takes having a fire inside you to want to stop something, to go against the body and listen to the heart, to do something because it needs to be done.”

That’s what Longoria, senior class president of Family Careers and Community Leaders of America, said he intends to do.

“I’m going to keep the fire going and share this experience with people,” he said. “If I see someone being bullied, I’ll step in and do whatever I can to stop it. If it’s a physical confrontation, I’ll probably have to get some help. I’m not very big. But I’m sure there are plenty of kids willing to back me up.”

Teachers play a major role in school environment, Longoria said.

“They have to be more aware of what they’re saying and what they’re letting go on,” he said.

Teachers, he added, are occasionally bullied, too.

“I’ve seen that happen,” Longoria said. “I’ve seen tears shed by teachers.”

Who steps in to protect the teachers?

“It has to be someone with that fire,” Longoria said.

He declined to single out those who reportedly bullied Layland.

“The students here are awesome,” Longoria said. “I’m sure the students who picked on Hunter weren’t bad students. They were just ignorant. They didn’t know what they were doing.”

FCCLA has taught a “Stop the Violence” Program for a number of years.

“FCCLA has had the national ‘Stop the Violence’ program for about 10 years,” said CHS FCCLA co-sponsor Ann Lowrie. “When it was first introduced at the national level, I had a group of students in Eastland who received a grant to put together the first peer education training video. FCCLA is a student-led organization, so it always tries to focus on what the main concerns are.”

When the suicide occurred, Lowrie said, “FCCLA already had programs in place that we were planning to do. The district gave us an opportunity to fast-forward them.”

Studies have found the programs effective, according to Lowrie.

“When implemented schoolwide, the blue ribbon campaign makes people think, ‘I am special. I do have something to contribute.’ This is just the introduction. We’ll be doing things all year long.”

According to studies, Lowrie said, perpetrators of school violence have one thing in common.

“They were bullied themselves at some point. We’re not the first school to do bullying programs, but what makes our maybe a little different is that it’s peers teaching peers. It’s not an adult standing up there telling students what to do or not do. When peers get involved and get passionate, that’s when we really start seeing a difference.”

Teachers can help make that difference, Lowrie said.

“They have to buy into the program and be a support system. Keeping their eyes and ears open is always an important thing.”

Bullies at Cleburne High are punished, Lowrie said.

“Once they’ve been reported, there’s a discipline procedure. The assistant principals deal with that.”

Lowrie said she believes the punishment is consistent.

Another FCCLA member, senior Stephanie Gonzalez, said she understands what it means to be a bully.

“I’m not going to lie,” she said. “I was one. I do not bully anymore. I’m a changed person. That’s the message we’re trying to send out, that we can change and be better people.”

She thinks she knows why she bullied.

“I was very mean,” Gonzalez said. “I guess I was very angry. I took it out on other people because I didn’t know any other way to let it out.”

She said she knows what she’ll do now if she sees someone being bullied.

“I’ll take the victim aside and say, ‘You’re amazing. You don’t have to put up with this.’ And take the bully aside and say, ‘If there’s something going on in your life, you can talk to someone about it. You don’t have to take it out on someone else.’ ”