Justin Williams remembers the fear that followed him every day on his way home from school. Walking from the bus stop as a middle-school student, he didn’t know what awaited him each day.

Perhaps a classmate would run up to him and throw snowballs in his face. Maybe he’d get stuck in a “shoving circle,” surrounded and treated like a pinball. Most likely, he would be mocked and called names. Years later, Williams, of South Elgin, said he is doing well, but he feels the bullying might have held him back.

Michael Stuewe said he can’t remember why the bullying started when he was a student in Geneva. He knew it happened every day, and he was picked on “mercilessly.” Now studying to become a teacher, Stuewe was inspired to follow that professional route so he could help those who are suffering.