Bullying has no place in one 5th grade class in Mankato, Minnesota.
James Willmert has a learning disability that made him the target of bullies at Franklin Elementary. But five fellow 5th graders gave James a place to belong and genuine friendship.
Five friends at Franklin Elementary in Mankato, Minnesota stood up for Willmert after seeing him continuously bullied by classmates on the playground. Jack Pemble, Jake Burgess, Gus Gartzke, Tyler Jones and Landon Kopischke banded together to help protect James by inviting him to their lunch table and including him in their games at recess.
[seealso slug="facebook-apology-bullying"]
"They were using him and taking advantage of him," Jake told KARE 11 News. "Because he's easier to pick on and it's just not right," Jack added.
As the group started to bond with James, they discovered that he shared their love of sports.
The group even pooled their own money (with a little help from their parents) to buy James a Playstation 3.
"We're like, 'Do you have any sports games?'" explains Jake. "And he was like, 'No, I don't have any video game systems.' So that's when I came up with the idea."
They didn't expect anything in return other than James' friendship, but the school district awarded them a Spirit of Youth Award.