Vermont Business Magazine Thousands of students and veterans in Vermont try finding hope daily, which is why Sweethearts & Heroes will bring its important, profound messages to Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom and the Northern Vermont University (NVU) Veterans Summit in Burlington later this week.
Presentations for students at the St. Johnsbury School will be held on Thursday, March 5: Pre-K-Grade 2, 8:30-9:15 a.m.; Grades 3-5, 9:30 a.m.-10:30 a.m.; Middle School, 10:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
Jason, Rick and Tom.
On Saturday, March 7, Sweethearts & Heroes — perhaps the nation’s most effective and lifesaving anti-bullying program — key presenters Tom Murphy, of St. Albans, and Rick Yarosh — a retired sergeant with the U.S. Army, injured in Iraq with burns over most of his body — will be the keynote speakers at the NVU Veterans Summit, which lasts from 8 a.m.-3 p.m. at the University of Vermont Davis Center.
Sweethearts & Heroes is co-developed by Murphy, a former professional MMA fighter and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) veteran, and Jason Spector, an educator and coach in Glens Falls, N.Y. Sweethearts & Heroes has caught on nationwide because it emphasizes an action-based approach — going beyond awareness — to an issue that affects schools, neighborhoods and individuals. Murphy’s engaging, energetic and interactive presentation focuses on victims, bullies and the bystanders who can be empowered to make a difference. He call his UFC career his “delicious hook” with students.
The crux of the Sweethearts & Heroes presentation, and all of the organization’s efforts, is a literal A-B-C approach to bullying. In addition, Yarosh — whose 2006 injury in Iraq left burns on 60 percent of his body — talks about overcoming adversity and mustering resilience.
“We selected Sweethearts & Heroes because they offer a message many veterans can benefit from,” said Thom Anderson, Veterans Summit director and associate dean of Academic Programs at NVU-Lyndon. “They believe in the power of resilience, purpose, and our deep need for human acceptance.”
Anderson was a Marine from 1981 to 1985. He started the Veterans Summit in 2002 with inspiration from student veterans and a Vietnam veteran named Robert Holmes, who “lamented the fact that many younger veterans, particularly veterans from rural communities, were isolated, suffering, and avoiding contact with veteran service organizations designed to help them,” Anderson said. “Given the high suicide rate and my experience working with student veterans who had returned for combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, we knew we had to do something.”
The purpose of the summit is to connect veterans, veterans’ families and veterans service organizations, so that they continue to build an enhanced regional support network in Vermont. The average turnout for each summit has been 280 people; organizers expect 400 this year.
Anderson said, “When we launched the first summit in 2012, I was terrified that no one would show up. I wasn’t sure if anyone would donate to make the summit possible. To my everlasting thankfulness, veterans from all over Vermont attended, and many individuals and organizations contributed to make the summit a success. Now in our 8th year, we are still going strong, and we have plans to replicate the summit in other rural areas in the region.”
Murphy and Spector call Sweethearts and Heroes “the ‘stop, drop and roll’ of bullying”; their message is about H.O.P.E. (Hold On Possibilities Exist) and “empathy fitness.” Since 2011, Murphy has presented Sweethearts & Heroes to more than 2 million students in several hundred schools from New England to Hawaii. Murphy and Spector also tailor Sweethearts & Heroes for businesses, colleges/universities and camps.
“Just talking about awareness doesn’t fix anything,” says Murphy, a husband and father who competed on the second season of Spike TV’s The Ultimate Fighter. “What separates us from other anti-bullying presentations and projects is that we have the plan to curb and even stop bullying in your school, or wherever it exists for you. But we go beyond bullying. We are about humanity, giving H.O.P.E. to the hopeless and making the world a better place.”
Murphy and Spector are New Yorkers who wrestled All American and eventually became mixed martial arts (MMA) competitors. “We use Einstein's quote: ‘The world is a dangerous place not because of those who choose to do evil, but because of those who choose to do nothing about it’,” says Spector. “We offer a unique perspective on bullying and leave audiences with an A-B-C action plan to fight it. Bullying isn’t the problem. Bullies have been around forever. The problem is we don’t have enough Sweethearts and Heroes in the world.”
For more information on Sweethearts & Heroes, visit:
sweetheartsandheroes.com.
Or watch these short, impactful trailers:
•https://youtu.be/SWY6Lr3LWaY
•https://youtu.be/RnNW42RPhpQ
On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sweet
On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channe
Source: ST. JOHNSBURY/BURLINGTON, Vt. — Sweethearts & Heroes