“Stand for the Silent” meeting Saturday at library

A local meeting of "Stand for the Silent" will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday in the program room at the Ponca City Library, 515 East Grand Ave.

Stand for the Silent was formed in 2010 by a group of students from the Oklahoma State University-Oklahoma City Upward Bound Chapter after they heard the story of Kirk and Laura Smalley’s son, Ty Field-Smalley.

At age 11, Ty took his own life after being suspended from school for retaliating against a bully that had been bullying him for more than two years.

Stand for the Silent exists as a platform for Kirk and Laura Smalley to share their story and offer education and tools that will prevent their tragedy from happening to another child and family.

Their mission is to continue to change kids’ lives and bring awareness to bullying and the real devastation it causes. Since May 2010, Kirk and Laura Smalley have traveled to more than a thousand schools and spoken to more than a million students.

In 2011, they met privately with President and First Lady Obama in the White House before attending the first White House conference on bullying. Their story is featured in director Lee Hirsch’s film "Bully."

More than 600,000 students have joined the movement since the Smalleys formed Stand for the Silent.

At the end of each meeting, members of the group recite this pledge:

"From this day forward I promise to respect those around me as well as respect myself. I am somebody, and I can make a difference. I can make another feel loved. I can be the helping hand that leads another back to a path of hope and aspiration. I will not stand silent as others try to spread hatred through my community. Instead, I pledge to lift up these victims, and show them that their life matters. I will be the change, because I am somebody."