Hola! My name is Clare Sanchez.
I’m 14 years old. I go to school at Woodburn Junior High School. I’m a cheerleader
and I volunteer as a math tutor at the Woodburn Youth Center. I’ve had a
lot of problems with bullies – but instead of letting it get the best of me, I
turned it around. I joined
Kids on the Block and started a safety plan at my school. With Kids on the
Block, I am able to talk to kids about the importance of preventing bullying
behavior – and how much it really hurts to be bullied. It has really made an impact on me and
on the hundreds of other kids I’ve talked to – I really love it!
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Hello! My name is Eddy Franklin.
I’m 11 years old and I am in
fifth grade at Woodburn Elementary. I
have a brother named David. I love to play baseball. I also like to write mystery
stories. I go to the Woodburn Youth Center after school and hang out with
my friends, where I sometimes get help with my homework. That’s where I met Clare Sanchez. I
joined Kids on the Block and now I help lots of kids talk about problems they
are having with bullies. I
share ways to prevent the bullying from happening, and that it’s important to
get help if you are being bullied.
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Hi there! My name is Joanne Spinoza.
I’m 14 years old and I go to
school at Woodburn Junior High. I work at Dynamo Video after school. I also love to play soccer and do cheerleading. I write the “chit-chat column” for my
school newspaper. I live with my mom and I’m an only child, but I have lots of
friends. We like to play
board games and ride bikes and stuff. Stephen is my neighbor and we walk home
from school every day together.
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Hello! I’m Jose Romero.
I’m 11 years old and I attend Woodburn Elementary School. I like to play basketball,
and I’m pretty good at math and science too. I am Mexican-American, and my
family speaks Spanish at home. I’m really proud of my heritage, but lately I’ve
been having trouble with other kids at school teasing me about it because I’m
different than them. I decided to talk to my good friend Melody about how I was
feeling.
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Hi! I’m Jason Robinson.
I’m
11 years old and I am in fifth grade at Woodburn Elementary School. I live with
my Mom, Dad and younger sister Toni. I enjoy cooking, photography and
baseball. My family is going to start
participating in family counseling sessions to work out a physically abusive
situation. After talking with my friend Joanne, I realized that this is not OK
for parents to hurt their kids and decided to talk to an adult about it.
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Hi! My name is Mike Riley.
I’m 8 years old. I’m in fifth grade at Woodburn Elementary school. I love to play sports and hang out
with my friends. My friends
say I’m pretty funny – they like to hear my knock-knock jokes! Sometimes I have a hard time
remembering how to control all of my emotions, especially about things like
school work. That’s why I’m
glad that I have friends like Melody who can help me remember how to get my
feelings out safely.
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Hi! I’m Melody James.
I’m 11 years old and I go to Woodburn Elementary School. I love to have fun – especially rollerskating
and playing basketball! I think that
it is very important to learn as much as you can about people, especially
people who are different from you. I
joined Kids on the Block because I thought it was important that other kids
learn that it’s important to honor your heritage. There are so many people who
come from different countries and they all have fascinating stories and
traditions to learn about. Kids on the Block has taught me that it is important
to accept and respect people for who they are.
