JAMESVILLE -- An 8th grade student at Jamesville-DeWitt Middle School is heading to Washington, D.C. to take part in a national conference on stopping violence.

Joseph Kiesa is one of 56 middle school students who were chosen from across the country.

Kiesa is one of 60,000 entrants who submitted an essay on the topic of bullying to the National Campaign to Stop Violence. He was selected as a National Ambassador in the "Do the Write Thing Challenge."

Kiesa will attend a 4 day conference in D.C. this month where he will meet with government officials. During the meetings, Kiesa will express his thoughts on bullying and tell elected officials from the Department of Education, U.S. Supreme Court, and others, about what's going on in schools.

Bullying is a serious issue in schools. Governor Andrew Cuomo has signed a new law intended to curb online bullying or harassment of students. The measure requires school districts to establish protocols for investigating reports of students bullied through emails, electronic messaging or social networking sites. It takes effect next July 1st.