Remember
DRAYKE
Drayke Andrew Hardman
May 26, 2009
February 10, 2022
Forever twelve. Forever loved. Forever the reason we fight.
Our Song For Drayke
Some kids get a whole lifetime of songs. Drayke got twelve years. This one is his. We play it for the boy in the Pikachu onesie, the Lego builder, the kid who hugged first and asked questions later, and for Samie and Andy, who turned the worst day of their lives into a warning that protects other families. Sit with it for a minute, then go say one good word to a kid who needs it.
Supermarket Flowers by Ed Sheeran
Watch on YouTubeA BOY WITH A HEART
BIGGER THAN HIS YEARS.
Drayke Andrew Hardman was twelve years old, a seventh grader from Tooele, Utah, with bright blue eyes and a smile that pulled everyone into its orbit. He was the kid in the Pikachu onesie on a hoverboard. The kid hugging puppies like they were treasure. The master Lego builder, the jokester, the boy who hugged first and asked questions later. He loved his family fiercely, and they loved him more than words will ever hold.
For nearly a year, Drayke was bullied at school. His parents did what loving parents do. They asked questions, they talked to the school, they checked on his heart. But bullying is a weight no child should ever have to carry, and it presses down hardest in the quiet, in the places grown-ups cannot always see. On February 10, 2022, that weight took Drayke from this world.
His parents, Samie and Andy, have carried their unbearable grief into something selfless ever since: a warning and a plea to every parent, every teacher, and every kid, so that no other family has to live this story. It is with his mother’s loving permission that we share Drayke with you here.
Drayke’s life was not his final day. His life was twelve years of light. That is what we remember, and that is what we fight for.
His light, in pictures
Remember. Drayke, 2021.
In his own words
In a video he shared before he passed, Drayke talked about butterflies. A butterfly, he pointed out, can never see its own wings. It carries all that color and never knows how beautiful it is. People are the same, he said. We stare at our flaws and miss everything good in us. So he gave the world a homework assignment:
“Go in the mirror and list out two things you love about yourself.”
Every day. At least once a day. Because, in his words, this world has way too much negativity.
Today, and every day this week: find a mirror, and name two things you love about yourself. Then help someone else see theirs.
ONE GOOD WORD
COULD HAVE CHANGED EVERYTHING.
One Good Word One Good Deed exists because bullying is not “kids being kids.” It is a weight that stacks up one cruel word at a time, and it can crush a child in less than a school year. Our founder started this movement after bullying took a fourteen-year-old girl his family loved. Drayke’s story is that same story, told in another state, in another school, to another family that did everything they could. It has to stop.
We believe the antidote is not complicated. Hate is loud, so we choose to be louder with love. One good word can change a moment. One good deed can change a life. Kids like Drayke gave those words away for free, every single day. The least we can do is give them back, and teach every kid, in every hallway, to do the same.
We walk into schools so that no child carries what Drayke carried, and no parent carries what Samie and Andy carry. Never again. Not on our watch.
Take the Pledge
Sign the Pledge WallBring Us to Your School
See School ProgramsLearn the Warning Signs
Visit ResourcesYou are not alone
If you are being bullied, if the weight feels too heavy, or if you are worried about someone you love, please reach out right now. Telling someone is not weakness. It is the bravest good deed there is.
Drayke’s story and these photographs are shared with the loving permission of his mother. Our hearts remain with the Hardman family, today and always.
Read the 2News (KUTV) investigation into Drayke’s story