Tuesday, August 7, 2012, will forever be a day my senior class will remember with heavy hearts. It’s the day we lost a member of our class to suicide as a result of ­bullying.

On August 6th, the second day of school, Devin Scott bumped into another student and gave him the finger. The other kid wanted to fight. When Devin went home instead of going to the park to fight, the boy and fifty other students went to Devin’s house and stood outside chanting his name and saying mean things.

Devin tried to call the police but couldn’t get through on the nonemergency line. He didn’t think he should call 911 because he didn’t need an ambulance. Devin also called our school’s resource officer. That night after the students left his house, Devin was mocked on Facebook for not fighting. The next day at school, he and the other boy met with an officer to discuss the situation.

Devin was a friend to many, an acquaintance to some, a smiling face in the hallway to all. Then in an instant he was gone. When his family got home that day, kids were again outside the house yelling that Devin was a coward for not fighting. They told the kids to go home or they would call the cops. When his parents entered the house, they found Devin’s body. Overcome with shock and grief, Devin’s mother came outside in tears and screamed at the kids that Devin had killed himself.

That night, everyone heard the sad news on Facebook. Our class decided to wear blue in memory of Devin. It was shocking to see how many took part, especially given how many kids had been at Devin’s house just the night before, taunting him.

Our school held a candlelight memorial. Devin’s family attended and thanked everyone for coming together to remember Devin. As the theme song from the movie Up played, we released blue balloons with messages to Devin written on them.

Many students shared stories of how Devin had saved them from suicide, or that even though they didn’t know him they were devastated a student could be bullied to death. As people shared their stories, a light rain began to fall. We felt that even though Devin wasn’t with us anymore, he was crying with us.

Since Devin’s death, bullying isn’t as common at my school, but as in any high school, if you look for it, you will find it. It’s really sad that we had to lose a student before anyone implemented a real plan to address bullying. My only hope is that this will never happen again, here or anywhere.