Corey's Story

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Corey Paul has been through a lot.  He went through seven surgeries in which he couldn't walk for two months each, because his tendons did not grow in his legs and he was extremely flatfooted.  Over the course of most of fifth grade through the end of his freshman year, he could not walk and was bullied.  “I was scared to go to school every day.  I kept telling my parents I wanted to move schools, but I never told them why,” Paul said.  “Every day when I went to school, my name was ‘cripple.’ I was pushed out of my wheelchair or pushed into lockers when I was on crutches.” Paul said people would take his book bag and empty it all over the hall or take stuff out of it that he needed.  He added, “I was slapped and hit a couple times. I have had death threats saying not to come back to school the next year.  When my grandpa died everyone asked me, ‘How's your dead grandfather doing?’”  

Paul said he didn't know how to handle it.  He went to bed every day soon as he got home from school. “I felt like I had no one.”  He said his mom came in his room one day and he was bawling, but he had never told her he was bullied. He eventually told her he couldn't take it anymore. Paul’s mother moved him from Shawnee High School to Spencerville High School.  He said his mom also suggested he start going to church, but she wasn't going to make him. “I moved to Spencerville and started going to church, and I had the biggest support group ever. All the seniors my sophomore year were my best friends, and everyone talked to me.  It was weird being the kid no one talked to, to everyone talking to me.”

Paul said he had wanted to tell his story for an assignment in speech class, and most
of his class was “amazed.”  He said none of the students would have ever known he used to be disabled. Said Paul, “My speech teacher, Mrs. Klosterman, has been such a role model.  She has trained me into going into motivational speaking. I'm currently trying to speak to different schools about bullying and helping other kids who go through bullying.”  

According to StopBullying.gov, “Bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time. Bullying includes actions such as making threats, spreading rumors, attacking someone physically or verbally, and excluding someone from a group on purpose.”  The fact that Corey Paul overcame this very sad, very prevalent occurrence is amazing.  Unfortunately, many in Corey Paul’s position are unable to rise above bullying and end up taking their own lives.  Paul said, “Most people don't even realize they get bullied.  It’s just getting worse and worse and people have to start standing up.”

Lastly, Paul said, “I have gratitude for everyone who supported me in my new school, and the news for helping me spread my story.  I am also thankful for my church group and the teen advisory board in Lima for helping me spread my story.”