White’s Inspiration: My inspiration for my essay is my desire to shed light on the rampant spread of bullying. I wanted to share my story because I knew others that were like me could relate! Sharing my experiences can help others feel related to and share theirs as well. I wanted to be a voice for others.

I never knew how much simply being present could impact someone’s soul and bring people together for a lifetime. Now I know. Throughout preschool to middle school, I witnessed and fell victim to endless acts of bias and exclusion. I’ve always wanted people to know they’re cared for, seen, and loved. I began to really understand this around 2012, when I met my first ever friend. We spent our entire childhood together and throughout that time I watched him consistently fall victim to endless acts of bullying and exclusion due to poverty.

I saw how much and how quickly bullying can destroy someone’s confidence. Students would be laughed at and have to pretend as if they couldn’t hear it. Watching my peers be bullied and/or excluded due to conditions they couldn’t control, like having to live in houses that weren’t necessarily very visually appealing to some, having to wear clothes/shoes that were indicators of poverty, and coming to school with hairstyles that others wouldn’t have worn. Poverty determined how we were treated! Many of my friends and classmates were African American, so the feeling of “less than” was constant, but to hear it from those like us can leave one with little hope or joy for living. Living without hope is an emptiness that is unexplainable.

My friend was being picked on for things completely out of his control and I felt as if I could see into his soul and feel everything he felt. The internal damage was unbearable. I could virtually see the words of hate that were thrown at him seep into his soul and destroy his confidence. I felt so passionately for him as a friend and about my beliefs on bias and exclusion that I knew I had to do something so that he would know that he was cared for and seen and that there was more to life than money and material possessions.

It became clear that the best course of action I could take to accomplish this would be by simply always being his friend so that he didn’t feel alone. So, throughout our time of knowing each other, I maintained being his friend. Someone once told me, “When I’m feeling down, I just want someone to listen”. The power of listening. Being there. Not just him, those like him in my school, my neighborhood, my family.

I became a Social-Emotional Learning team member in my high school, so I could spread this experience and give peace to those who need it. I created and presented workshops to classes throughout my school, helped organize school-wide activities and decorate the halls with positivity. Now I know the power of change. The power of effort. I see it in the faces of the underclassmen. This will continue in college and eventually in law school when I help those who don’t have a voice. I found my voice so I can speak for those who haven’t found theirs.

Lamaree enjoys traveling, going to basketball games, and spending time with friends and family. At school, she is active in Civics 2.0 and Reading Buddies, a volunteer program that helps strengthen children’s literacy. After college, Lamaree plans to attend law school and become a criminal lawyer. Her hope is to advocate for others, bring justice to the Black community, provide innocent people with the help they need, and fight for causes that are bigger than herself.

FreshWater is sharing six of the winning poems and essays written by local students for The Maltz Museum’s 2025 Stop the Hate Youth Speak Out and Youth Sing Out essay and poetry contest. Students created essays, poems, and songs reflecting on a quote from artist Marc Chagall.