Joe Bell, an Oregon father of a gay son, who died by suicide, decided to walk across the country in 2013 to New York City to honor his son's memory and speak out against bullying.

Joe Petraro, 9, of East Rockaway, has become one of New York State’s student representatives for BeStrong, an anti-bullying nonprofit based in Deerfield Beach, Florida.

The 2023-2204 school year saw 10,000 instances of bullying and almost 2,000 cases of cyberbullying, according to CCSD Government Relations Director Nathaniel Waugh.