To promote their Expect Respect campaign, Positive Experiences In Educational Relationships, or PEER, invited the wide receiver for the Oakland Raiders, Jared Green to speak at an assembly to students at Potomac Falls. Green, who is the son of Redskin Hall of Famer Darrell Green, dealt with bullying in high school, now, he takes that unfortunate situation and his techniques for dealing with bullying and shares them with students around the United States.

“My way of conquering bullying is loving even more. Like they used to say, ‘Kill em with kindness’,” said Green. After using this strategy, Green ended up becoming good friends with his bully and they remain good friends to this day.

The PEER group had met Green at a conference in December, held at Gum Spring Library in Stone Ridge, VA. PEER later invited Green to come to our school.

“I just feel really welcomed at this school and I think that I may have some things to say that can help this school get to where they want to go. And if that can work, then that’s all I care about,” said Green.

However, Potomac Falls is not the first school that Green has shared his experiences with. During the off season, Green speaks at high schools every other week. “You just really hope that you get the opportunity to speak and people want to listen,” said Green.

During his speech, respect was one of the things that he emphasized.

“I think that respect means to see somebody the way they are, and not the way you want them to be. Respect is something that everybody deserves before anything else. I think that you should respect somebody because you want the same thing done to you,” said Green.

Green hopes that students will take away some of his lessons and learn from his experiences.

“It’s very important that we do everything we can to spread love, honor, and respect to each other to make the world a better place,” said Green.