Running head: CYBERBULLYING CASE STUDY 1

Cyberbullying: A Case Study and Further Action

Elizabeth Fuentes Malin

Lamar University
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Cyberbullying: A Case Study and Further Action

Growing up, I had my fair share of students who picked on me, isolated me, and bullied me in

some fashion or another. I was born in the early 80s. By young elementary school years were in the mid

to late 80s, but my teenage years did not blossom until the 1990s. When I was born, my mom had cancer

of the cervix, went into remission, then was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She was always in the

hospital for her treatments. I remember my dad often getting us dressed. He would dress me up in

mismatched clothes. Students would pick on me, spit on me, hit me, and some even attacked me, often

ripping up my clothes, because they did not match. This one girl told me she would not be my friend

because she said I dressed like a homeless person. Kids teased me. Scars remain today. I wonder, like Ms.

Lewinsky if my torment occurred online how hit would be.

Cyberbullying is ever-present in our cyber world. Children and adults alike are not safe from the

cruel words of menacing, mean people. Children sext each other, unknowingly breaking the law, harass

each other online. One case study to examine occurred with a student at our middle school, Mariah.

Mariah was a repeating 7th grader. I met her when she was in 6th grade. She was a high-risk student who

got into a lot of trouble. She always had an answer for every directive given to her. When I did my

administrative internship at my middle school. I often encountered her when she was messing around with

other students. During the fall semester of 2019, she was in class making fun of another student. I was

called to help administer it. The student was eating Cheetos in class. Although this is never allowed, the

student decided to do so anyway. I redirected him and asked him to put it away. She then grabbed the bag

and started shoving the last remnants into her mouth. Words exchanged between them and she ended

calling him a derogatorily offensive name. Needless to say after my encounter with me, I had to write her

up and she ended up going to an alternative school. She had enough write-ups to send her there. When she

got back in the Spring of 2020, right before the pandemic, I saw her and welcomed her back. I gave her a

side hug. She embraced my hug and seemed hopeful. I told her she can turn things around and set goals. I

didn’t have her as a student, but I believed in her. Then Covid-19 was becoming an increasing issue in our

society. It was late February, we, as teaching staff, school community, and administrators went home for
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the weekend. It was Saturday, Mariah was turning her life around. Indeed, she joined a UIL competition

that Saturday and did very well. She was charismatic, intelligent, well-spoken, and sassy! I speak of her in

the past tense. As you can conclude, Mariah is no longer with us.

The next Sunday, Mariah hung herself. There was no note to indicate a motive, or her last words,

nor wishes. She hung on to life for about half a week. She ended up dying due to complications of her

brain, lack of oxygen, and her organs deteriorating. Mariah did not have the most supportive upbringing.

Her mom had many children with unstable fathers. Her mom often called her whore, stupid, and

unworthy, as reported by many of her teachers. She confided in teachers. They reported the abuse to the

authorities and CPS intervened, but she always went back to her mom. There was reported evidence that

students were bullying her online. Even after death, students were tagging in the hallways, “DEATH TO

MARIAH. BURN IN HELL!” Students can be so cruel. All of our teachers have a mindset of putting

student’s socioemotional needs before academics. We often see how our students are doing before

instruction ever begins. With all the SEL training and incorporating it into our lessons, it will never be

enough. What needs to change is less accountability with state regulations and standardized testing and

more accountability with our students. We need to increase empathy, digital citizenship awareness, and

increase cyberbullying awareness, affects, and ramifications with our students and school communities. I

would like to bring in a mental health awareness fair for all our students to participate in, so they can

learn about mental health awareness including issues such as cyberbullying.

Journal Reflection URL: https://elizabethmalin.weebly.com/journal-reflections.html.