Community Corner

Westport Bullying Victim Releases One-Year Update to Viral YouTube Video

The one-year update encourages kids who are bullied to get help and tell someone who will listen.

Alye Pollack, a student at Bedford Middle School, expressed her feelings on bullying in a YouTube video one year ago after hearing hateful words everyday in Westport schools: ugly, weird, freak, and far worse.

In Pollack's latest video, "Words Do Hurt: 1 Year Later," the 14-year-old high school freshman explains that the bullying in her life has stopped.

"My life has changed SOOOO much.. I have made so many friends," Pollack writes in her video. "It doesn't matter how many friends you have; only how good and supportive and accepting they are."

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She tells bullying victims to seek out help and sends a powerful message with a smile — "IT GETS BETTER."

"If you are bullied and feel all alone... DON'T CUT YOURSELF," she writes. "It may seem like it helps, but it just leaves scars that remind you of the bullies."

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Pollack continues to preach a lesson on character. 

"Be yourself," she writes. "You do matter. You are special. Words hurt."

She ends the video with a sign of love and connects her two hands to make the shape of a heart. 

"I LOVE YOU," she writes. 

Several resources are shared at the end of the video for those who are bullied, depressed or even suicidal, including itgetsbetter.org and stopbullying.gov.

Pollack's original YouTube video headlined an episode of The Early Show on CBS. Superintendent of Schools Elliott Landon said on air that he was surprised when he saw the student's video.


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