Bethany was not always the happy-go lucky girl you see in the hallways now. Growing up, Maxwell was raised in a Christian home and when she went to elementary school, kids would bully her for her devoted religious views. Although she can’t remember what they said specifically, it was enough to bring her down.

“I was bullied for being that weird kid,” Maxwell said.

The bullying didn’t stop there. It followed her when she moved to a private middle school after attending a public elementary school. She was again bullied for being the girl who went to church too much.

“It was hard for me to adjust,” Maxwell said.

Once again, bullying followed her. When she arrived at Chisholm Trail her freshman year, she had a group of friends that were homosexual. A few people assumed that since she associated with them, she was a lesbian. In addition to being bullied for having homosexual friends, she was bullied for not being sexually active.

Maxwell said that when guys find out she is not willing to engage in certain behaviors, “they sit there and degrade my body.”

Although Maxwell was bullied for a long time, she doesn’t see herself as a victim. She said that the only way she could get past the pain was to turn to God.

“Everything else that I tried to go to help fix that thing in me, that bitterness and that hurt and that insecurity,” she said, “it didn’t work.”

Maxwell has many favorite Bible verses, but all seem to sum up to one thing: Love God. Love people.

“With all of the things I personally went through, all of the hardships that I went through personally, I wanted to help other people with that.” Maxwell said. “A lot of what helped me was just having someone there to believe in me.”

Cody Thompson, Bethany’s best friend would listen to her vent when the bullying hurt her and dealt with her when she was a “blubbering mess.”

“It’s very emotionally draining to constantly be someone’s support and he handled it very well and I’m grateful for that,” Maxwell said.

Now, Maxwell is a member of PALS in order to help others who are victims of bullying or are in similar situations.

“I want to be that mentor that helps others because if I didn’t have that, I wouldn’t have made it through,” Maxwell said.

Now as a member of PALS she strives to make the organization’s goal a success.

“There are instances where it’s nice to feel like you have a friend. “ Maxwell said. “And I want to help people find that hope in a hopeless situation.”