25 years ago, Lynda Frederick was mercilessly bullied by students from her high school. Now, the woman has gotten the last word by posting a poem on her school’s 25th class reunion Facebook page.

Here’s an excerpt from Lynda’s poem:

that little girl who came to school with the clothes she wore the day before
instead of asking why.. you picked on her…
the little girl who had bruises and was dirty
instead of asking why.. you picked on her
that little girl was me…
that little girl had love in her heart to share with all but no one wanted it…
this WOMEN has grown up now
however the little girl inside still cries
because her childhood was shattered

While not releasing too many details, Frederick revealed that she went through a tumultuous childhood and left school a semester early to move to Seneca Falls in New York.

Her poem received a huge outpour of support and regret from her former classmates.

Frederick received a number of calls from schoolmates who apologized for their actions 25 years ago. “This poem touched me so bad I could not sleep. I cried,” one of her former classmates, Lisa Wallace said.

“I felt so bad for her. But never thinking in my head that I could stand up for her,” another classmate Kristi Malone added.

Her senior class have now gathered donations to raise money to fly Frederick to her high school reunion.

Frederick has three kids of her own; one of her daughters is unfortunately also being bullied in school.

Her mom gives her advice from her own experience. “I tell her to look at the people and say, ‘Listen, if you don’t like what I’m wearing, if you don’t like the way I look—don’t look!’”

This year, over 5 million American kids will be bullied at school, online, on the bus, at home, and on the streets, making bullying the most common form of violence young people will experience in this country. Awareness has been growing, spearheaded by the release of a documentary called Bully which shines a glaring light on this growing problem.