It was Wrestlemania at Rosemount High School in Montreal as the Jaguars welcomed Canadian former professional wrestler Jacques Rougeau, who came to talk about bullying and his own journey.
The Rougeau brothers were champions in the the World Wrestling Federation, now World Wrestling Entertainment.
“I remember telling my brother, ‘We’re going into a jungle!'” said Rougeau.
He spoke to the Rosemount students about bullying and shared his own story of being victimized.
“I’ve been doing this for 20 years because I lived something that was completely horrible,” he said.
Rougeau wrestled in the main event at Madison Square Gardens, but also suffered abuse. He students wants to learn from his experience of him, namely learning to build confidence.
English teacher Jessika Neri also spoke about bullying and then showed off skills honed as wrestler Jessika Black.
“What I love, because I teach English, every match is a short story,” she said. “You create a character, display that character, connect with the audience have a climax, rising action and the denouement, so people are engaged and want to see more, want to see the next chapter.”
The gathering was about empowering young people to speak up when they see injustice, even during days of doubt.