Students stand up to bullying

“When you watch it, sometimes it does get emotional, because it actually does touch people, and people have gone through this,” Palm Desert Charter Middle School student Angelica Gallo said.

“People call me bigfoot because I’m so tall,” Palm Desert Charter Middle School student Natasha Romero said.

“I get bullied because I don’t speak up for myself,” Palm Desert Charter Middle School student Ceressa Phillips said.

It happens everyday to thousands of kids. Studies show bullying touches about 30 percent of teens.

“Sometimes it’s just your friends and you don’t know what to say to them. Your mind goes blank and you just want to cry sometimes,” Phillips said.

Palm Desert Charter Middle School’s ‘Club Live’ tries to snuff that statistic.

“Making this video was a very important way of teaching them. It brought 60 students together from around the campus to work as a group to design a video,” Club Live advisor Jamie Tarascio said.

After the video was made, it was shown to every physical education class, to make sure every single student in the school saw it.

“People should learn not to bully because sometimes it leads to suicide and nobody should have to go through that,” Palm Desert Charter Middle School student Anahy Ortega said.

Suicide ranks as the third leading cause of death among young people. Students talked about bullying, and the importance of loving yourself to stay strong against bullies.