the transition from elementary school to
middle school is a huge stepping stone
in the kid’s life for most it’s one of
the best experiences of their life for
others such as me it’s one of the worst
my name is Dylan agori
and this is me in sixth grade I was
about a hundred and eighty pounds far
bigger than any other kid in the grade
and people let me know that I was a
victim of bullying a constant and
relentless bullying I would go home from
school every day and give off small
hints that I was hurting and thankfully
I had a mom who would catch them she
would pray every night that maybe just
maybe I would find a friend a genuine
friend who would accept me for who I was
I do my homework and go to sleep hoping
that the next day would be better but it
never was I’d wake up get ready to go to
school but before I could leave I had to
put my mask on and act tough
I wore this mass so the bullies didn’t
see just how much they hurt me when I
got to school I thought if I ignored the
bullies they would just forget about me
and move on but I was always wrong it
wasn’t the same person every day either
sometimes it was boys well sometimes it
was girls they said anything to get
under my skin
they labeled me any word they wanted to
if whether or not they said anything
these are some of the words they labeled
it’s easy to say my sixth grade year was
one of the worst years of my life
bullying is a real problem and needs to
be stopped we all know there’s three
types of bullying verbal social and
physical I don’t know if I was bullied
online because I didn’t have a phone
till the end of seventh grade
and I’m thankful for that now but I do
know one thing my elementary school had
about 15 of us go to my middle school so
I didn’t have very many friends to start
off with but it got worse my so-called
friends would make fun of me and use me
as a stepping stool towards popularity
the isert I soon learns that I didn’t
have any friends left my seventh grade
year was going on just like my sixth
grade year until I met this one girl
named Maddie I had all six classes with
her and she was the first person that
accepted me for who I was
she was my first genuine friend and from
then on it didn’t matter what people
labeled me as because I had someone who
accepted me and I accepted myself for
the way that I am so these labels don’t
mean anything going on to seventh grade
the moment that I accepted myself for
who I was it just became better life
just became so much easier and if you
would have asked me before that if I
thought bullying was real I would have
told you no because I hate thinking
about my sixth grade year
the pain of the memories I’d rather just
forget about it and then embrace it but
now I’m sharing my story sorry I’m sorry
I’m just trying to is I haven’t done
this in front of a huge crowd before
it’s hard saying your story yeah the
problem right now is we’re trying to
stop bullying the wrong way we’re
attacking the problem the wrong way
places like stopbullying.gov say that
you should stop and think before you say
or do anything that could hurt someone
or everyone’s different no better or
worse the problem with that is we’re
trying to stop kids from becoming a
bully the problem is that as long as
there is power there will always be a
bully there is a way to Celestin
bullying though the one kid
feel empowered they love themselves they
accept themselves for who they are and
they have a strong community around them
it doesn’t matter what others say
because as they have someone behind them
that doesn’t matter Chrissie Metz they
have from the hit NBC NBC show this is
us once said it’s funny how someone
who’s average or even fit could relate
to someone who’s overweight because it
doesn’t matter about our size it matters
the only thing that matters is the way
we look at ourselves and the way that we
feel about ourselves in my story I
talked about wearing this mask I wore
this mask because I was embarrassed of
who I was
and I know now I didn’t need that mask I
shouldn’t have worn that mask and right
now if you flash forward to my junior
year from sixth grade to 10th and 11th I
was in varsity football weightlifting I
did six clubs I MC the pep rallies I am
the class president that’s not the same
person from sixth grade and I’m not
trying to say this to boast to anybody
in here I’m trying to say this to show
the kids are getting bullied that there
is light at the end of the tunnel that
it doesn’t matter what anyone else says
about you the moment you accept yourself
for who you are is the moment things are
gonna start getting better find yourself
a person just like Maddie who accepts
you for the way that you are my name is
Dylan aghori and this is me [Applause]
middle school is a huge stepping stone
in the kid’s life for most it’s one of
the best experiences of their life for
others such as me it’s one of the worst
my name is Dylan agori
and this is me in sixth grade I was
about a hundred and eighty pounds far
bigger than any other kid in the grade
and people let me know that I was a
victim of bullying a constant and
relentless bullying I would go home from
school every day and give off small
hints that I was hurting and thankfully
I had a mom who would catch them she
would pray every night that maybe just
maybe I would find a friend a genuine
friend who would accept me for who I was
I do my homework and go to sleep hoping
that the next day would be better but it
never was I’d wake up get ready to go to
school but before I could leave I had to
put my mask on and act tough
I wore this mass so the bullies didn’t
see just how much they hurt me when I
got to school I thought if I ignored the
bullies they would just forget about me
and move on but I was always wrong it
wasn’t the same person every day either
sometimes it was boys well sometimes it
was girls they said anything to get
under my skin
they labeled me any word they wanted to
if whether or not they said anything
these are some of the words they labeled
it’s easy to say my sixth grade year was
one of the worst years of my life
bullying is a real problem and needs to
be stopped we all know there’s three
types of bullying verbal social and
physical I don’t know if I was bullied
online because I didn’t have a phone
till the end of seventh grade
and I’m thankful for that now but I do
know one thing my elementary school had
about 15 of us go to my middle school so
I didn’t have very many friends to start
off with but it got worse my so-called
friends would make fun of me and use me
as a stepping stool towards popularity
the isert I soon learns that I didn’t
have any friends left my seventh grade
year was going on just like my sixth
grade year until I met this one girl
named Maddie I had all six classes with
her and she was the first person that
accepted me for who I was
she was my first genuine friend and from
then on it didn’t matter what people
labeled me as because I had someone who
accepted me and I accepted myself for
the way that I am so these labels don’t
mean anything going on to seventh grade
the moment that I accepted myself for
who I was it just became better life
just became so much easier and if you
would have asked me before that if I
thought bullying was real I would have
told you no because I hate thinking
about my sixth grade year
the pain of the memories I’d rather just
forget about it and then embrace it but
now I’m sharing my story sorry I’m sorry
I’m just trying to is I haven’t done
this in front of a huge crowd before
it’s hard saying your story yeah the
problem right now is we’re trying to
stop bullying the wrong way we’re
attacking the problem the wrong way
places like stopbullying.gov say that
you should stop and think before you say
or do anything that could hurt someone
or everyone’s different no better or
worse the problem with that is we’re
trying to stop kids from becoming a
bully the problem is that as long as
there is power there will always be a
bully there is a way to Celestin
bullying though the one kid
feel empowered they love themselves they
accept themselves for who they are and
they have a strong community around them
it doesn’t matter what others say
because as they have someone behind them
that doesn’t matter Chrissie Metz they
have from the hit NBC NBC show this is
us once said it’s funny how someone
who’s average or even fit could relate
to someone who’s overweight because it
doesn’t matter about our size it matters
the only thing that matters is the way
we look at ourselves and the way that we
feel about ourselves in my story I
talked about wearing this mask I wore
this mask because I was embarrassed of
who I was
and I know now I didn’t need that mask I
shouldn’t have worn that mask and right
now if you flash forward to my junior
year from sixth grade to 10th and 11th I
was in varsity football weightlifting I
did six clubs I MC the pep rallies I am
the class president that’s not the same
person from sixth grade and I’m not
trying to say this to boast to anybody
in here I’m trying to say this to show
the kids are getting bullied that there
is light at the end of the tunnel that
it doesn’t matter what anyone else says
about you the moment you accept yourself
for who you are is the moment things are
gonna start getting better find yourself
a person just like Maddie who accepts
you for the way that you are my name is
Dylan aghori and this is me [Applause]
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