Dealing with Bullies: Advice from WWE Superstar Titus O’Neil & Club Teen

How Bullying Affects Students

“I was bullied as a kid,” says Titus. “Being poor and growing up, we didn't always have the best clothes. I also wore glasses and got picked on in numerous ways, from jokes to fights to everything in between. As I got older, I grew a very strong distaste for bullying, just because I didn't understand how people could be so cruel.”

Now, Titus serves as a bullying prevention advocate, helping educate Boys & Girls Club youth on standing up to bullying through Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s partnership with WWE and the Be A STAR bullying prevention program.

For high school teen Dejae, bullying started early, too – and lasted. “I was bullied at a young age, from second through fourth grade, at least,” she says. “I cried a lot because I was picked on and I really didn't know why. It took me years to tell a teacher. And the only reason it stopped was because I went to an adult and got help.”

When Dejae joined the Boys & Girls Club of the Hatchie River Region in 2015, she found caring mentors and a bullying prevention program she wished she had while being bullied at school. 

As a teen ambassador of the Be A STAR program, Dejae serves as a bullying prevention coach and role model to her peers at the Club, modeling tolerance, kindness and acceptance while educating younger Club members on recognizing and responding to bullying. “It feels good to help other kids learn the importance of not being a bully,” she says. “And helping other kids has taught me to be better myself.”