Feb 13, 2012
06:11 PM
Say No to Bullying at Roger Ludlowe Middle School
Image courtesy of RyanPatrickHalligan.org
What would you do if your child was so severely ridiculed and humiliated at school and online that he chose to take his own life? That’s what happened to John Halligan’s son, Ryan, in 2003. Ryan was only 13 years old.
Since then, Halligan, a Vermont resident, has taken on the media circuit to warn all parents about signs of bullying, cyber bullying, and teen depression. He doesn’t want his tragedy to be yours.
On Thursday, February 16th, Halligan will speak at Roger Ludlowe Middle School about the dangers of bullying and what can be done to prevent it. Parents and kids alike will be given strategies that can empower them to avoid bullying, whether face-to-face or online. (Middle school students in grades 6, 7, and 8 will be viewing Halligan’s presentation the day before during the school day.)
His video presentation shows moving clips of Ryan growing up. From a chubby faced toddler to the soon-to-be young man, it puts a face on the devastating impact suicide can have on a family. From this video, the audience gains a unique perspective and a deeper understanding of how dangerous bullying can be. Halligan provides powerful life lessons, including forgiveness and finding ways to turn a tragedy into hope for others.
Halligan has been to over 650 schools since 2005. Ending his 23-year engineering management career at IBM in February 2009 to focus on telling Ryan’s story full-time, he has been often told a number of times that his presentation captured and held their students’ attention so completely and made a lasting impression.
For his work in Ryan's memory, Mr. Halligan has received community services awards from United Way of Vermont, Children Abuse Prevention Services (CAPS) of New York, Kids Safe Collaborative of Vermont and National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) of Vermont. He also received the FBI Director's Community Service Award in March 2010 in Washington, DC.
For more information about bullying and teen suicide, visit the web site at RyanPatrickHalligan.org. The event is sponsored by Fairfield SEPTA and the Roger Ludlowe Middle School, Fairfield Woods Middle School, and Tomlinson Middle School PTAs.
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Reader Comments:
I just wanted to point out that Mr. Halligan was brought in and sponsored soley by the Fairfield Special Education PTA (SEPTA). SEPTA thought bringing Mr. Halligan's presentations would be beneficial to our community and allocated funds specifically to do to bring him here.
SEPTA has received lots of positive feed back from students, parents and school administrators alike.
To learn more about SEPTA, go to www.fairfieldsepta.org.