Fountain Lake Fights Bullying with Straight Talk to Students

"Four eyes! Four eyes!" the group of teens yell.

Cassidy Blake wouldn't want to be bullied in real life.

"Stop it! Please, just stop!" she pleads with the group.

But Blake is playing the part for a group of middle school students at Fountain Lake's bullying seminar.

"They're asking us why do bullies act like bullies," she said. "They want advice on how to deal with it."

These sixth graders are sitting down for a straight talk about bullying, which in recent months has been the alleged cause of suicide for two Central Arkansas teens.

"How many of you think a form of bullying is making fun of somebody's race?" asked Hot Springs Police Officer Courtney Kizer.

Hands shot up around the room, the group of boys understanding the question, clearly.

"What about the kid, you think he's gay, and you make fun of him. Is that bullying?" she asked, to the answer of nods. "He may be gay. He may not be. But that's not our place to make fun of about it. And let's say you're making comments on Facebook or through text message and he asks you to stop and you continue. Then that's harrassment. You could be arrested for that."

It was clearly far from sugar-coated, when it comes to talk talking about consequences.

"We're not trying to scare them. We're trying to say that it's real and happening every day," Blake said.

It may seem like 12 years old is early for addressing sexuality, skin color, and stereotypes.

"It doesn't stop -- but it does start early," Blake said.

Students, police, and teachers told us you have to start now, because the bullying begins early and often thanks to social media and cell phones.

"The world is a much smaller place these days," said Middle School Counselor Linda Webb. "Especially with social media kids truly carry it with them wherever they go. It's hard to get away from if it ever starts."

These instructors are stressing the seriousness to prevent these kids from becoming suicide statistics.

"You've heard about cases of kids committing suicide because of mean comments on Facebook, haven't you?" Kizer asked. "So next time you think about making a comment or writing something mean about a girl -- you may think it's only one comment. But maybe she comes from a home where everyday her mom tells her she's ugly. She can't get away from it anywhere. And she feels like she has no other choice but suicide."

Blake believes every student has played the role of being bullied.

"Everyone's being bullied or has been bullied before," she said. "We want them to know how to stand up for themselves and others the right way."

She wants them to realize, they don't have to stand in that brutal spotlight alone.