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Letters from administrators in response to Mr. Halligan’s presentation “Ryan’s Story”
Transcript
Page 1: Letters from students

Letters from administrators

in response to

Mr. Halligan’s presentation

“Ryan’s Story”

Page 2: Letters from students
Page 3: Letters from students

Valley Stream Central High School District One Kent Road

Valley Stream, New York 11580

Marc F. Bernstein, Ed.D. Jill A. Vogel

Superintendent of Schools Director of Guidance

Phone: 516-872-5601 phone: 516-872-5625

fax: 516-872-5658 fax: 516-872-5630

May 24, 2010

To Whom it May Concern,

When I was a guidance counselor, I had a student who wrote about her grandmother for her college essay.

The entire essay centered around her grandmother’s favorite adage – when the world hands you lemons –

make lemonade. In the most extreme way, John Halligan was handed a life sentence of bitter, sour

lemons and has turned his life’s work into turning those lemons into delicious lemonade.

I have been fortunate enough to see John Halligan present Ryan’s Story four times. Each time I was

mesmerized by his story and looking out at the audience of 7th and 8

th graders I was thrilled to see how

completely they were absorbed in his presentation. Ryan’s story is sad, really gut wrenching sad. But it

is also filled with the theme of forgiveness and hope. As involved as you get with Ryan and his parents,

you learn about how John Halligan forgave the bullies and what we can all do to change the world –

person by person.

While the actual presentation is engrossing, the Q and A is actually where the student learning occurs.

Inevitably a student asks John about forgiveness, whether he has seen his son’s bullies, and how the

family is doing. It is in the heartfelt answers that John shares that we learn how John has turned this

tragedy into an opportunity to reach the young people in the world and tries to change lives. He asks that

anyone who has been a bully in the past to apologize and amazingly, in each of the schools that John has

presented at – at least one student does. Lemonade.

I also enjoyed the presentation that John made to parents. We asked John to address the parents of all of

our students. Unlike the student presentation, the evening presentation is not telling Ryan’s story.

Instead John offers advice on what parents should do in the new cyber world. He shares what he wishes

he might have done differently and what he hopes school officials should be doing. He provides simple

instructions to parents that have great meaning. It was an extremely worthwhile event.

I can’t fully express what this presentation has meant to me as well. I learned from John Halligan and

will try to incorporate his message into our curriculum and our schools. I was lucky to have found John

to speak in all of our schools and hope you can have him speak in yours. If I can provide any other

information, please feel free to contact me.

Very truly yours,

Jill Vogel

Page 4: Letters from students

WILSON MIDDLE SCHOOLWhere Respect, Responsibility and Results are Core Values

January 27,2010

Dear Mr. Halligan,

It is with a great deal of appreciation, honor, and gratitude that we would like to convey what an amazingimpact you have had on the Wilson Middle School community since your visit on January 26, 2010. Ourstudents and staff are deeply moved from your presentation and admire your ability to tell Ryan's story in sucha profound and powerful way while also making your message clear and appropriate for our audience.Furthermore, our students were motivated to share their thoughts and ideas during the discussion groups wehad after the assembly. The exercises you recommended were a perfect way of engaging our students andgiving them an avenue to talk about bullying in an honest and open way. Through these groups, it waswonderful to discover that your message regarding the role of the bystander and the importance of forgivenesswas clear and hit home with our students. To give you an idea of the impact you have had on our school, thefollowing are some of the events that have occurred in the past 24 hours since your visit:

-Parents have been calling in tears telling administration that their son or daughter received an apology fromsomeone that had bullied him or her in the past,-Students have approached the principal wanting to create a banner in honor of Ryan to be hung in our schoollobby as a way of reminding us of the importance of your message.-Students have asked to begin an "Anti-Bullying Club" as a way for them to come together as a community tofigure out how to encourage bystanders to play a major role in the fight against bullying.-Students have shown interest in writing to state legislature to express their support for an anti-bullying law forthe state of Massachusetts.

Thank you, again, for spending the morning with us and sharing your thoughts and emotions in such a genuineand heartfelt manner. You have clearly touched the Wilson community and have made a significant differenceon how we deal with and understand bullying. We wish you all the best as you continue to share Ryan'slegacy with other communities fortunate enough to have you,

Maria Meisner, School Counselor

zz Rutledge Road - Natick, MA ot76o-t764

Niall Carney, Vice PrincipalSuzanne Kenny, Vice Principal

Sincerely,

The Natick Pubtic Schools does nol discriminate on the basis ofrace, color, sex, religion, natioml origin, sexual orientation or disability.

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