As I walked into the auditorium of the day of  the NAMES Assembly my expectations were low. I had no clue what to expect, or what I should take away from the assembly. As I sat down and the speaker started to talk, millions of thoughts were flying through my mind. When the speaker described various scenarios of bullying, my mind raced through realizations and questions that I had trouble answering and acknowledging. Have I always done the right thing in the past? Was that honestly the best way to react to that situation?

As time passed  Impact mentors told their stories. They reflected on their experiences of being the victim, the bystander or the actual bully. It didn’t matter which category they fell in, because in the end of it they all felt the same way: guilty, put down and even a horrible person.

As I heard these stories I realized that every person in the room could relate to the speakers. Whether it be my friend, an acquaintance or even someone whom I disliked, this understanding made made a big difference. Evaluating all of these stories made me realize that everyone needs to go through some sort of NAMES assembly in their lifetime. No one really knows the effect words can have on someone, until those words take effect. People need to take into consideration that actions are stronger than words, but words may hurt more than actions.

Experiencing a NAMES assembly as a freshman really opened my eyes to everyday words and actions and made me understand that people do get hurt but are too afraid to speak up. But taking action helps and helping people take action is an even bigger accomplishment.

At the beginning of the assembly I really wasn’t expecting to take anything away from it, but by the end I was speechless.  The day that I thought would just be another boring day became the few most important hours of my life.