Congratulations to the 2025 Students with Solutions “Speak Up About Speaking Up” Video Winner!
Bessemer City Middle School 6th graders (Alabama), under the guidance of Dr. Yuvraj Verma, won the video category. To address this year’s theme of self-advocacy, they created an inspiring video featuring over 90 students titled “The Power of Speaking Up.” Each student spoke with strong conviction about the benefits of self-advocacy and how it not only helps with bullying, but with self-confidence as well. “It’s about courage, kindness, and standing together,” they said.
11th Annual Unity Awards!
PACER’s National Bullying Prevention Center Unity Awards, first held in 2015, recognize individuals and groups who are helping to prevent bullying and create a kinder, more accepting, and inclusive world. Examples of bullying prevention efforts may include empowering others to take positive action, advocating for those who need support, or sharing acts of kindness that cause a ripple effect in a community. Nominate an individual or group who is making a difference!
Nominations closed March 31, 2025
National Bullying Prevention Month (NBPM) held during October | Save-the-Date for Unity Day: October 25, 2025
A month long event to prevent childhood bullying and promote kindness, acceptance, and inclusion. On Unity Day, plan to wear and share the color orange — as a tangible representation of the supportive, universal message that our society wants to prevent bullying, and is united for kindness, acceptance, and inclusion.
Take action to address acne-based bullying
PACER’s National Bullying Prevention Center is pleased to partner with Liquid Oxygen Skincare’s campaign to increase awareness of and address acne-based bullying. We are looking for youth (ages 14-21) like Larkin, pictured here and featured in this video to share their story about acne and bullying to be a part of the solution to help others! Want to learn more? Email [email protected]
Bullying Prevention 101
This quick guide for middle and high school students provides helpful information on what bullying is, who is involved, the roles played, and bullying prevention rights, along with ideas for advocacy and self-advocacy.
Student Action Plan Against Bullying
Ready to take action to address bullying? Maybe not sure how to start? As a student, bullying is something that impacts you, your peers, and your school – whether you’re the target of bullying, a witness, or the person who bullies. Bullying can end, but that won’t happen unless students, parents, and educators work together and take action.
I care about bullying because no-one deserves to be abused and be afraid of anyone. No-one deserves to be bullied for having another color skin. For example, no-one deserves to be insulted for no reason or to be hit, we all deserve respect.
I care to stop bullying because it could really hurt someone's mental health.
I know people who are bullied get hurt mentally and physically so sometimes its hard to speak out
I care about bullying because it can severely damage people, either physically, mentally, or emotionally.
people suffer from it, and they shouldn't.
Hello, be brave! do not listen to them. talk to your loved ones. I'm here whenever you need to talk.
I was a collector of things no one else wanted. My most prized possession was a slightly fuzzy baseball glove—a hand-me-down from my older brother, which I kept in my backpack at all times.
Then came Marcus. Marcus didn’t collect things; he collected fear. He had a cruel smile and shoulders that seemed to take up the whole hallway.
“What’s in the backpack today, Bobby?” he’d ask.
It started small. A shove against a locker. A spilled tray of tater tots. Then, the backpack itself became the target. The first time, Marcus grabbed it and tossed it onto the top of the chain-link fence, forcing me to climb for it while the other kids snickered and watched. My ceramic owl shattered that day.
The bullying became a ritual. Every day, I would walk to school with my backpack clutched tight, and every day, the fear would build until it was an unbearable knot in my chest. My grades slipped. I stopped talking at the dinner table. I felt like I was living in a perpetual state of waiting for the next blow. I felt completely alone.
One day, Marcus cornered me by the bike racks. “Show me what you’ve got in there today, Bobby.”
I held the backpack tighter. I could feel the leather of the baseball glove. I knew what Marcus would do to it. I shook his head.
“No,” I whispered.
“What was that? I didn’t hear you.” Marcus stepped closer.
“Leave me alone,” I said, his voice stronger this time.
Marcus laughed, a harsh, barking sound. He lunged and ripped the backpack off my shoulders. As he did, the zipper broke and the contents spilled onto the pavement. Out rolled the fuzzy, brown baseball glove, a small, worn token of a simpler time.
Marcus picked it up, tossing it from one hand to the other. “Look at this, guys! Bobby’s little baby blanket!”
“Hey, Marcus, give it back.”
It was Lily, a quiet girl from my science class.
Marcus froze, surprised by her intervention. “What’d you say?”
“I said, give it back,” Lily repeated, stepping forward.
Marcus sneered. “What are you gonna do about it?”
“I’m going to go get a teacher,” she said.
For a moment, Marcus stood there, glaring. He could have easily ignored her, shoved her aside. But something in her simple, unwavering stance, and the sudden shift in the other kids’ silence, stopped him. The silent crowd was no longer on his side. Their snickers had been replaced by a quiet, expectant stillness.
Slowly, almost reluctantly, Marcus tossed the glove back toward me. It landed with a soft thump in the dirt. He then dropped the broken backpack and walked away, his friends trailing behind him. The air seemed to exhale.
Lily helped me pick up the scattered books and broken zipper. Neither of them said anything, but as they stood there, a quiet understanding passed between them. The next day, Lily waited for me at the end of the hallway. We walked to the playground together. We didn’t play baseball, but we sat on the bench and talked, a shared space where the weight of my backpack felt a little lighter.
The bullying didn’t stop overnight, but it changed. Marcus still gave me dirty looks, but he didn’t touch my backpack again. And I found a new kind of strength, not in fighting back, but in knowing that I wasn’t alone. I still had his collection of misfit treasures, but now, I also had a friend, and a little bit of my old courage back.