In a story that manages to be both heartwarming and deeply, painfully West Texas, 13-year-old Carilyn “Cari” Truelock finally got a break from years of relentless bullying—not thanks to local schools, mind you, but because a nonprofit from New York heard her story and said, “Yeah, someone should probably do something.” And so 30 students from Bushland ISD packed themselves into cars, drove two hours, and threw Cari a surprise celebration at Chuck E. Cheese—the international symbol of joy, chaos, and animatronic rodents performing emotional labor.
Cari’s mom and sister detailed the kind of cruelty she’s endured: getting drawn on with markers, cyberbullying, and even being pressured into eating water beads on a school bus—because apparently West Texas bullying comes with its own tasting menu. Through all of it, Cari somehow managed to keep her joy, optimism, and resilience intact, which is more than we can say for most adults after one trip down Slide Road.
What finally changed? Kindness—imported, delivered, and assembled by people who don’t even live here. Meanwhile, Snyder ISD insists that they’ve improved safety practices and now offer a confidential reporting system. Because nothing says “we’ve got this under control” like installing a digital suggestion box after a kid has to transfer districts.
Cari is now attending school in Sweetwater ISD and doing better—because, to no one’s surprise, the best way to stop being bullied in West Texas may just be to stop going to school in West Texas.
If it takes a nonprofit from 1,600 miles away to teach our schools how not to torture a kid, what exactly are we doing here?