How One Young Girl Went From Being Bullied to Being Empowered

SANDY, Utah - Aug. 14, 2014 - PRLog -- Through no fault of her own in April of 2012, Serina Pollock found herself detached from her family, the victim of bullies, with no friends and feeling like an outcast. The following is a grandmother’s account of saving her grand-daughter’s self esteem.

When Serina started middle school, a girl that she had been friends with for a few years joined up with a new group of friends. They started spreading mean rumors about Serina at school. They also cyber-bullied her and sent her mean / vulgar texts that made Serina feel worthless and depressed. One day they were walking home and they took a “short cut” and ditched Serina in an unfamiliar neighborhood where she was completely lost and she did not have a phone or any way to get help. She wandered around for a while until she luckily found a place that she recognized and was then able to walk home.

This type of bullying behavior definitely took its toll on Serina. It wasn’t long before this young girl who initially loved school and who had friends had become so depressed that she would withdraw into her bedroom when she came home from school and seclude herself. Serina’s grades in school started to suffer and her feelings of solitude began to escalate.

Grandma and Serina tried talking to the school (teachers, principal, and counselors) and to the girls’ parents but nobody took them seriously because the bullying was not physical. The problem did not get any better and continued to escalate. Eventually Serina’s grandmother felt they had no other choice and sadly moved Serina to a new school because nobody cared enough to help.

Serina and her grandmother desperately wanted to find something Serina could love and be a part of. She had tried soccer before, but she ended up quitting. Serina said, “Soccer was not fun because the only thing my coach cared about was winning. He was more competitive and I just wanted to have fun.” She always left practices and games feeling down.

How Serina found her stride and blossomed to a beautiful swan with the help of her grandmother.

In a quest to find a positive, athletic outlet  Serina and her grandmother remembered a martial arts “Enrichment Program” sponsored by Personal Mastery Martial Arts that Serina had participated in a couple of years earlier at her school. Grandma decided to enroll Serina in the introductory program at Personal Mastery and the rest, as they say, is history.

How do Serina and the people around her see her now?

“It is so much fun you don’t even realize that you are exercising, it feels like I am part of a group now and I have lots of friends here.  I love the teachers because they make me feel good about myself but still push me to work hard and be better,” Serina said as she beamed.

What does Serina’s Grandmother Christine Cox have to say? “In her karate class there is an amazing feeling of camaraderie – everyone wants everyone to succeed, even the kids – I love that there is a place where the instructors and students are so supportive of everybody; they build people up, they don’t put people down.”  When grandma was asked for a small sample of how martial arts has changed Serina’s life, she gushed:

·         CONFIDENCE

·         More social – used to be really shy

·         Has a lot more friends, and they are better friends

·         Learned social skills, how to project herself with confidence, etc.

·         Made transition between schools easier

·         Made transition to Jr. High school easier

·         More focused in school – more motivation to get good grades

·         Doing better with homework assignments

·         Does better at keeping her room clean and does not talk back to grandmother when she is asked to do chores

·         More respectful to grandmother and others

·         Willingness to help out at home and the TKD school

·         Earned her black belt in June this year

·         Part of a group – she wants to be here

·         Mentor for new Tae Kwon Do students – Serina said that after belt promotion one of the kids that she had been helping wanted to have his picture taken with her and that “made me feel so cool!”

·         After mentoring – she wants to be a teacher now because it feels good to help people

·         Competition team – two bronze medals; also got 4^th in a high jump breaking event where she was the shortest out of the 14 people in her division – she broke a board that was 10 inches over her head.

Brett Lechtenberg, the owner of Personal Mastery Martial Arts said, “We are very glad our enrichment program was able to spark Serina and help give her a positive outlet. She has gone from a shy withdrawn little girl to an empowered and socially adjusted young woman. I can’t say enough nice things about Serina or her grandmother. They are great people and we are honored to have them as part of our martial arts family.”

Serina has already ridden an incredible roller coaster in life from happiness to despair and finally to empowerment. When you see Serina or her grandmother be sure to ask them how they are doing and feel free ask them about their story. I have no doubt that they will be a great inspiration to you and your family regardless of where you are in your life.