A strong message Tuesday morning at St. Benedicts School in Johnstown; bullying will not be tolerated. The message was delivered by a national speaker who showed his strength in a unique way to prove to students that they can overcome anything.  

Students at St. Benedicts piled into their school auditorium to hear a powerful anti-bullying message by Jon Pritikin, a man from California who knows a thing or two about bullies.

"I grew up being made fun of all my life because of the way I talked, my speech problems and learning problems," says Pritikin.

Twenty years ago he decided to take that childhood experience and help others, but he’s doing it in an unusual way.

"I’ll roll up a frying pan, I’ll bend a steel bar in my teeth, which I tell them don't do this at home, I’ll break a baseball bat over my leg, or I’ll rip a phone book in half and these are the things I try to do to grab their attention but also let them know, words hurt," says Pritikin.

"One of the things that this program addresses are instead of focusing entirely on the bully or the person being bullied it's encouraging other students to get involved," says St. Benedict’s School Principal, George Nace.

"And if they ever see anything happen at school or at home or in their neighborhood they need to step in and say hey don't do that," says Pritikin.

Pritikin also travels around the world to other countries such as Egypt and Japan, sharing his story.