My school's motto “One Team” creates family and pride within the school. For me, this is our school’s greatest weapon at defeating bullying, because, in the end, we’re all a team, and we’re all in this together.
Because of this, you don’t often see people walking alone in our hallways; we have each other’s backs. If someone is sitting alone at lunch, it wouldn’t take long for a friendly face to be by their side. If someone is feeling down, the school spirit raises them higher. And if someone’s getting picked on, there is a hallway full of students ready to stand up for their teammate.

A boy named Jake, who I’ve gone to school with since kindergarten, used to walk with a storm cloud above his head. When we were young, he was the happiest kid-always laughing and making others laugh with him. But in fifth grade, when his parents told him he had autism, nothing was ever the same. He stopped talking to people, he gained weight, and the laughter went away.

But in high school, I saw the light back in his eyes when a group of guys at our school (that some might peg as the “cool” kids) took this boy under their wing and changed his life. They started inviting him to hang out with them and made him feel like he was one of the guys. They treated him as an equal, instead of someone with a disability, giving him new friendships to lean on and new reasons to laugh.

When I drove the Jake home from school one day, he couldn’t stop telling me how happy he was. He told me his friends were taking him to dinner that night, and he couldn’t wait to go boating with them that weekend. It warmed my heart to hear his excitement and laughter.

Driving home that night, I felt full with pride. I was beaming with the certainty that there are great people in this world. And I was grateful that these people were part of my “One Team”.