By Chyna Patz, South Kern Sol
West High School has a bullying problem.
Walk around West High any school day and you can find somebody on campus who has been personally affected by bullying, or knows a student who has. I have tested this, and found that every student I had spoken to, had been subjected to bullying, at least once at West.
There have even been times when I have had to watch a close friend get called names, just for being gay. All I could do was hold them and tell them it would be alright.
I’ve had friends physically hurt by bullies, to the point where they felt unsafe coming to school.
I’ve personally been shoved by bullies in hallways and made fun of. I know how other victims feel.
Report after report had been filed by victims, but there was hardly any effort to change the culture until a student who felt their only option was suicide filed a complaint. That set in motion something that has been sorely needed — an anti-bullying assembly to be hosted Tuesday and Thursday.
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This story was also published in the Bakersfield Californian on Wednesday, January 17, 2018.