John+Halligan's+Visit+to+Hunt

What if you were bullied so badly that you wanted to die? What if you just couldn’t live anymore? That is how 13-year-old Ryan Halligan felt when he killed himself in 2003. Ryan had been bullied since fifth grade. By eighth grade, it had caused him to fall into a state of depression. He committed suicide as a result of this bullying. To learn more about Ryan’s life, visit his website at [].

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Ryan’s father, John Halligan, has decided to make something good come out of this tragedy. He has gotten a law passed in Vermont against bullying and now comes to schools across the country to tell his son’s story and talk to kids about how to prevent bullying. Hunt Middle School was lucky enough to have Mr. Halligan come to our school. He showed us photos of his son as he told the story of Ryan’s life. The assembly was very emotional and brought many people to tears. Mr. Halligan told the students to “be ‘upstanders’, not bystanders” if they witnessed acts of bullying. Following the assembly, students had discussions in class about the presentation and made paper flowers with different things written on them, ranging from what they learned from the assembly, to what they would say to Mr. Halligan if they got the chance to talk to him, to what they can do to prevent bullying at Hunt. These flowers were put up all over the school. The kids at Hunt Middle School really learned a lot from Mr. Halligan’s presentation. We are glad to have had this opportunity to learn about bullying and the story of Ryan Halligan.