Growing up i’ve always been different. I’m biracial, five foot eleven and have a learning disability. My life growing up isn’t as great as one would think, it’s been bittersweet in many ways. Since i’ve been enrolled in primary school I have been bullied every step of the way due to the fact I was different. I was overweight, biracial, and awkwardly tall compared to everyone in my grade which made me a plausible target. The worst of the bullying was in secondary school, in my town I had the option of attending North Attleboro High School where I knew everyone or Tri-County a vocational school where i’d have the opportunity of a fresh start. I ultimately chose Tri-County for their Graphic Communications program and in hopes of not being bullied, …show more content…
Staying after school not only helped me better my education, I had the opportunity to build relationships with my teachers and talked with them about what was going on. All of my teachers were understanding and looked out for me. My senior year of primary school, my teachers that I had become close with would walk me to my classes as well as let me take tests in their classroom while they had their lunches because they had known and even saw first hand what I was going through. Up until my senior year of primary school the bullying primarily consisted of verbal abuse, then eventually turned into physical abuse. Every day I was told, that I was fat, not good enough, that I was a liar in regards to who my father was and so on but I never let it get to me. (My father was a former New England Patriots player, Ben Coates.) Then one day this boy with his group of friends approached me and starting saying malicious comments while I was walking to one of my classes. I ignored the comments and proceeded to my destination, but the fact that I wasn’t responding created the bullies to become even more angry so they then shoved me against a locker and I fell to the ground in