Kenna Walthall has dealt with bullying and grief, and at one point was a victim of bullying and the loss of her grandfather. Walthall has definitely grown stronger mentally because of these changes and occurrences. She gave all the effort she could give, and because of this she is stronger.
In fourth grade of elementary school, Walthall went along with her day as usual but nothing would prepare her for the changes in her future to come. Her friends had decided to ditch Walthall and spread rumors. Unfortunately during this time, Walthall had already been going through a hard with her grandfather, with no friends, all she had was herself.
Even with family by her side, she still feels lonely. Her parents were busy people during this time, helping Kenna’s grandfather and everything. Kenna’s aunt realized that even though much was going on, she still spent time with Kenna. She even went to as far as spending every night to hangout with kenna. “ I felt pretty lonely through this time because I had lost everyone at school and due to my grandpa being sick, my parents along with most of my family were all pretty busy,” Walthall said. She also exclaimed that, “I had my aunt during this time who would come over almost every night to hangout with me.”
Kenna’s parents never knew too much about her feelings while dealing with the bullying, as she did not disclose this at first to her parents. Eventually, Kenna did tell her parents. From then on, her parents tried their best to be more concerned and involved in Kenna’s life, even with all the stress on Michelle Walthall, Kenna’s mother. As the eldest child, it was sure to be the hardest and biggest responsibility on Mrs. Walthall, as she was taking care of her father the most.
With these changes in both Mrs. Walhall’s and Kenna’s life, Mrs. Walthall has coped with her fathers death in 2016. “She has overcome his dearh. Yeah she has changed the way she lives in some simple ways,”quoted by Walthall. Although she has overcome her father’s death, Mrs. Walthall had changed the way she lives, by communicating with her family, and reaching out more.
In memory of Kenna’s grandfather, Mrs. Walthall and her husband take Kenna out for sushi on the night of her birthday every year. Mrs. Wathall also listens to music to remember her father by, and Kenna coped with her grandfathers death just by trying to be happy and do new things that she may not always do. Kenna learnt to be more open minded about things in her life, and with this she was able to move on. “… to do new things so that felt like my way of remembering him and moving on in a healthy way,” quoted by Walthall.
Although Kenna has coped with her grandfather’s death, the bullying was another obstacle she had to overcome. “I think bullying has made me stronger because I no longer care too much about other’s opinions of me,” Wathall said.. She tried her best to ignore the bullies and move on to new friends, ones who would treat her right; Kenna was no longer bullied, this change happened in her second year of middle school. “ I overcame the bullying bu just ignoring it and trying my best to move on and make new friends,” Wathall mentioned.
Preventing other people from her bullying experience, she would help her friends if they were in similar situations. Even though Kenna has grown and no longer cares what others think of her, she had to go through a lot to come to that point in her life. Bullying has made her stronger, and it has made her who she is today. “With loss I’ve grown stronger…” quoted by Kenna herself.
Bullying can kind of be put under the rug sometimes, even unconsciously. In cases like this the “popular kid (bully) and quiet kid”, isnt so much a cliche anymore in Kenna’s experience. In a given example to Kenna, she was asked if and how she would control bullying, “ I’d pay closer attention to how kids act with one another. Some kids are very obviously uncomfortable with other students and sometimes teachers tend to ignore that.” She encourages kids, teens, and adults to try not to be caught in whats happening, to live in the future, not so much the present.
Though unfortunately bullying will always be a constant thing, we as humans have to do the right thing to prevent these things as best as we can. Through Kenna and her experience, it has made her who she is. Although she wishes she could have been more extroverted and more free with her feelings towards people, she is happy.
“I am happy with my life. I wouldn’t change anything,” said by once a victim, now a survivor of loss and bullying, Kenna Walthall.
