By Sandra MartÃnez with information from Manuel Ortiz. Peninsula 360 Press.
Many young people face a difficult life, full of bullying from their peers and their environment; added to this, loneliness and conflicts hurt them daily. However, there are teachers who have suffered bullying and now seek to touch the lives of students by offering a space of freedom to be heard and understood.
Gleen Zepeda is a teacher at Bridges Academy, in San Jose, California. As a teacher, his daily work is to teach and motivate young people, but his work as a person continues with his students, as he seeks to provide them with a friend who listens to them and gives them weapons of defense against the comments of bullying and harassment within the school: the teacher is one more companion in that difficult world.
"Every time the young people come here, I just try to give them that escape from this reality, so I talk to them, although we also work with them with their homework and other tasks we give them, but personally I like to be that teacher who is also there to listen to them," commented Zepeda.
For Gleen Zepeda, being present as a person is very important, because he understands the young people who, just as he did at the time, face bullying from their peers, lowering their heads when these uncomfortable moments arise. Faced with this, Zepeda knows that having an ally friend who stretches out his hand, always heals.
"Even though I grew up here, I'm from San Jose and I know what San Jose is all about. There are so many good things, but there are also many bad things, anyone could get into a bad life; I know friends who find themselves in that life," she commented when referring to the challenges young people face because of the environment in which they live.
Gleen Zepeda recognizes that he was a bad and tough kid, so he was not easy to deal with; now that he is a teacher, he accepts that his students could be his karma, as he understands them from his new perspective and knows that bullying can drive young people away from school and closer to a life of addiction.
Zepeda told Peninsula 360 Press that when he was younger, his father had him work with him washing carpets, a fact that made him mature and grow closer to his father, who taught him that earning a living is difficult, but not impossible.
Another important fact in his life was sports, he always liked to practice them, especially soccer and boxing. Sport helped him to have discipline in his life and to see the world in a different way, that is why now Gleen Zepeda encourages and brings young people to practice it and get out of that bullying environment, but in a healthy and productive way.
"I grew up in sports, it's something I've always liked and it has helped me, that's why I try to bring young people closer to it and the discipline that comes from it. This is my third year and I see young people who like soccer, I started playing with them coaching them, now I see them as all soccer players and that makes me proud as a teacher."
Within the schools, some young people face bullying, in the search for identity for not being originally from the United States, many more feel they do not belong to the community, "most of the students are Latino or Vietnamese, we live in a very diverse area where there is a little bit of everything everywhere, Colombians, Dominicans and Mexicans are found in the Bay Area, it is a very diverse place," explained the teacher.
Being originally from other countries, children and young people no longer know the cultural traditions and parents are increasingly distant from the subject, as is the case of the Day of the Dead tradition, which is not something common in the United States and that not all Latinos continue to celebrate; even for Gleen Zepeda it is something rare to celebrate since it is not customary.
"Well, it's just that it's hard for me because I grew up not really celebrating the holidays, but I have a girlfriend who she and her family do celebrate. When Dia de los Muertos comes around, instead of being sad about it, they remember their family members with appreciation and affection, that's what that date means to me."
Most of the students did not get involved in these types of festivities due to a lack of custom and closeness to their roots, or for fear of being victims of bullying and bad comments, since few follow these traditions.
Sometimes, cultural traditions among young people are not usually a source of pride but of shame among the same peers, they are afraid to know their cultural roots for fear of being judged.
"I think they only have an idea of that holiday, but they are also very shy to talk about their personal experiences, for example: one student talked about his grandfather who passed away and I'm sure talking about that affects him."
Many young people are not able to talk about their feelings and emotions for fear of being singled out and being victims of bullying, in most cases, parents work a lot and do not find a space at home to talk to them and be able to talk about what they experience at school.
"It is important to talk to your child as much as you can in the time you have, to be close and share with them. I recommend going out with your children, just being with them, because time waits for no one," he said.
The work of helping young people should be together, show them support, listen to them and offer them a hand when they are victims of bullying can change their lives and help them overcome the bad times that can make them make bad decisions with their lives, a situation that Professor Zepeda understands perfectly due to his experiences, so he tries to get close to his students and face bullying at their side as a support and backup in those difficult moments.
During his classes, Professor Zepeda has witnessed bullying attacks among students, so he has had to intervene to prevent further damage to those young people who are victims, the teacher knows that facing these aggressions is a great challenge of the many that students live, but he is also aware that the opportunities in life are more.
"The biggest challenge for young people is not to fall into bad things like gangs and violence, to keep them away from that life is the greatest reward we have as teachers in this area, although it is also one of the most difficult things in the world," he concluded.
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