08/22/2026
We stand with you, Tyler and Family… 💙
Well done, Massapequa High School, Athletes, and Students... 🏈⚽️👏💙💛
Tyler RocheTilden was walking home from his singing lesson in Massapequa Park, New York, the way he did every week.
Then a group of roughly 30 kids surrounded him.
They called him names. They spat at him. They threw rocks. One of them tried to hit him.
Tyler is 15 years old. He is on the autism spectrum and lives with severe anxiety. He made it home.
Then he stopped leaving.
The thought of going back to school, walking past the same hallways where some of those kids would be standing, was too much. His mother Gina watched her son retreat and tried to figure out how to help him take a step she understood why he could not take alone.
His classmates figured it out first.
On a September morning, students from Massapequa High School's football team, boys soccer team, and kickline squad showed up at Tyler's front door carrying sports gear.
They walked him to school.
All the way to his homeroom.
Tyler is not much of a sports fan. But he put on the football hat they brought him and he kept it on for the entire day. Gina said she had not seen him smile like that in a while.
It did not stop there.
Seniors who normally left campus for lunch started staying behind to eat with Tyler instead.
Then the community found out what had happened and what was happening in response, and a week later more than 100 teenagers showed up for a bike ride in Tyler's honor. A local bicycle shop surprised him with a new BMX bike, red because red is his favorite color.
Tyler led the whole group down his block toward the Massapequa Preserve.
The same boy who had been too afraid to leave his house was out front.
His mother said something afterward that deserves to be remembered.
Cruelty may get attention. But kindness can gather a crowd too.
Share this tonight for Tyler and for every student at Massapequa High School who decided that nobody should have to walk back into school feeling alone.
Link in comments to read Tyler's full story.