Students get anti-bullying message

ST. PETERSBURG - Speak up and speak now. That's the message some students learned Tuesday during a summer program in St. Petersburg.

In front of dozens of students, Debra Johnston shares the worst day of her life.

"June 29th 2005, I walked in to find my 15-year-old son hanging from his book bag strap in his closet. And everything in our world changed," said Johnston.

Her son, 15-year-old Jeffery Johnston took his life after years of relentless bullying from a student at his school. At that point, Debra's mission in life changed.

"It was the end of one chapter in my life and the beginning of the next one," Johnston said. "And trying to see that what happened to Jeff and the failures we made never happened again to anyone else."

Debra took her fight to Florida lawmakers, and in 2008, the state passed its first no-bullying law. It requires all public schools to have anti-bullying programs in place. School districts are now required to report all instances of bullying or harassment.

Sierra Davis was attending the summer program. She says she knows all about it.

"I feel that if there is a problem going on, it should be solved right there and then. They shouldn't wait along time for it to be solved," Davis said.

Like some students here, she's been a victim of bullying. Thanks to "Jeff's Law," Davis and tens of thousands of students in the state have someone to go to for help.

Although Jeffery Johnston is gone, his life will always be remembered.

"His whole life, people have said, this little boy is going to change the world and we never doubted it for an instant. And we're determined, that this is going to be the case. We just always thought he would be alive to see it," Johnston said.

Tuesday's event was part of Speak up, Speak now, a Florida Holocaust Outreach Project.

For more information: www.jeffreyjohnston.org