With a fire truck and police car escort and sirens and horns blowing, a full-size replica of Optimus Prime, the autobot from the “Transformers” movie series, rolled up to the ACS campus on Friday, April 16 to deliver an inspirational message about standing up to bullies to K-6th grade students gathered outside for a special school assembly.
“Optimus Prime and I don’t like bullies,” said Joe Fiduccia, who owns and built the blue and red semi-trailer truck that is the only replica of Optimus Prime in the world. “We’re on a mission to show bullies that they will not win over us.” He urged the students to take a pledge to be part of “Team Prime” and to help bring an end to bullying.
“If you’re being bullied, most of the time it has nothing to do with you, it’s about something that’s going on in that bully’s own life that they are trying to forget or deflect,” Fiduccia said. He encouraged the students to stand up for themselves and to walk away from a bullying situation and to talk to a teacher or parent about it.
While the truck did not transform into a giant robot during the presentation, the students did get to hear the voice of Optimus Prime amplified from the truck, talking about his role as a defender of the planet using pre-recorded voices extracted from the “Transformer” movies.. After the presentation, students had the opportunity to pose for photos in front of Optimus Prime.
Fiduccia drove down to ACS from Pennsylvania for the presentation, which was underwritten by Dr. Marc Pukenas of Atlantic Smiles, with dental offices in Egg Harbor Township and Atlantic City. Fiduccia said he drives all over the country and has even traveled to Canada to share the anti-bullying message with children and young adults.
