5th grader with special needs was bullied almost every day–until 5 boys invited him to their table at lunch
Fifth grader James Willmert had been bullied almost every day. Being a kid with special needs who learned a little differently than his classmates, he was an easy target to be picked on and even taken advantage of. But that all changed when five boys at his school decided they weren’t going to let it happen anymore. Jack Pemble, Jake Burgess, Gus Gartzke, Tyler Jones and Landon Kopischke were all in the fifth grade at Franklin Elementary School in Mankato, Minnesota. Pemble and Burgess had noticed Willmert being bullied on the playground while spending time with their friends Gartzke, Jones and Kopischke, per USA Today. "Why pick on someone," Pemble said. "Who has special needs?" Burgess asked rhetorically, per USA Today YouTube.
Burgess added, "Yeah, they're like using him. Taking advantage of him. Because he's easier to pick on. And that's just not right." That’s when they decided he was not going to face it alone anymore. One of the first things they did was invite Willmert to sit with them at lunch. Now, Willmert had friends to talk to, share his lunch with and laugh with. From opening his lunch packets to tying his shoelaces, these boys ensured he always felt supported, included and cared for, just like family. Their teacher, Mallory Hawk, saw what was happening and couldn’t have been prouder. She said, "It really kind of makes you proud to be their teacher."
She knew the school’s anti-bullying lessons had an impact, but what these boys did went way beyond expectations. Willmert's mom, Margi Willmert, saw a transformation in her son. She recalled, "He used to not want to go out for recess or anything. It would be like a struggle. And now he can barely eat his lunch to get outside to play with those guys." The more time the five boys spent with James, the more they learned about him, including how much he had been through. He was adopted from an orphanage in Colombia, and just six years later, his new father passed away in a bicycle accident. Without a father, Willmert had no one to teach him sports until the boys stepped in.
His mom said, "We just got a basketball hoop last week because he now loves basketball. They're changing him." The boys loved hanging out with Willmert as much as he did. One of them said, "He is an awesome kid to hang out with." But that wasn't all. One day, while talking about their favorite video games, they asked him, "Do you have any sports games?" He said, "No, I don't have any video game systems."
That’s when they thought of chipping in their own money, along with some help from their parents, to get Willmert his very first PlayStation and video games. That was the first time Willmert's friends came over to play at his house. "Every one of them was smiling like crazy. I'll never forget it," Willmert's mother said. At the end of the school year, Mankato Area Public Schools honored them with the Spirit of Youth Award. For Willmert, though, the award didn’t matter. What mattered were the friendships that changed his life. "All of these guys are the best friends anybody could ask for," he said.