As I glanced over my right shoulder, I saw a blurry figure from a distance scurry towards me. I was sitting down on the cool gym floor as I quickly got up on my feet. My friend’s voice trembled, as she tried to speak. The worry in her eyes made me feel uneasy.

My hands started to shake when my friend began to tell me how an Instagram account posted false accusations about my best friend, practically sister, and people were threatening to come fight her, even though they did not know her.

I briskly walked up to my teacher. I explained the situation to her and without hesitation, she allowed me to go to the office. I first went to the main office asking to speak with Dr. Echols, but I was told he was busy and that I should talk to my dean first.

As I stepped into my class house office collecting myself with tears in my eyes, I described the incident to my dean and how upsetting it was. Without feeling any concern from the dean, I was told to sit down and write an incident report. That was all. It is now a few weeks after the incident, and I still have not heard anything from an administrator. 

The cyberbullying of students still continues at Metea. 

I felt like I was watching a movie I had seen before. I joined a club my freshman year. As that year went on, extreme bullying towards me from students in the club was constantly on my mind. 

When I spoke about it to one of the deans, I was told, “That’s the nature of the group. Maybe you should find a different club.” The administrator also assured me that the bullies would be expelled from the club. 

But to no surprise, they never were. I felt betrayed. I trusted the process and put my trust in the administrators. I felt emotionally unsafe. I was fearful to step into the halls of Metea again. I was also given an incident report form to fill out. I now know that nothing comes out of taking time to write these reports because there is no follow up.

The administrators tell us, “If you see something, say something.” I emailed an administrator about an issue that I was passionate about. I sat down and wrote a thought provoking email sharing my thoughts and possible solutions. After weeks of it being sent, to no surprise, I am still waiting on a response. 

I saw something. I said something. But they did nothing. 

During my sophomore year, one of my friends came out about her sexuality. She was constantly bullied and harassed throughout both semesters. That year, there was a school shooting threat targeted toward Metea. When the threats were made, she constantly felt like there was a target on her back. When talking with my friend, she explained to me that if she told administrators at our school, they would not do anything and things would get progressively worse than they already are. 

You know what? She was right. 

Metea needs to get its priorities straight. Administrators are wasting their time and energy on bathroom duty rather than the actual emotional problems of the students. The administrators act when the issues are right in front of their faces, but when there are issues happening online, they are ignored. 

Instead of just giving us incident reports to fill out, actually follow up on the issues. Stop treating us like kindergarteners, and that we do not see what’s going on in our own school. If administrators are telling us, students, to “live with integrity,” then maybe they should too. 

At this point, I am exhausted. 

I am tired of talking about this to different people to hope for a better answer. 

I am tired, and I have no more anger left inside of me. 

I am tired of the hypocrisy of this school by not living by its own words.

I am looking forward to graduation day when I leave Metea for good. When I move onto college, l surely hope that there will be better administrators than the ones at Metea. I am looking forward to student advocates that will have our best interests in mind, regardless of the circumstances. 

The scars caused by the Metea administrators will always dampen my high school career. 

It is finally time for the administrators to step up and walk the walk instead of just talking the talk.