Middleburgh Students Continue BRAVE Work with Sweethearts Heroes

MIDDLEBURGH — As part of an ongoing partnership with the school district, an amazing superhero without a cape was in Middleburgh to teach students and educators how they can keep activating compassion, empathy and HOPE in their classrooms and beyond.

Pat Fish, of Sweethearts & Heroes, was in the Middleburgh Central School District on Thursday, March 20. Sweethearts & Heroes aims to prevent hopelessness, bullying and suicide by providing dynamic, inspiring content that centers on the human interaction skills necessary for schools and other organizations to change all aspects of their culture — skills such as empathy, compassion and teamwork.

Sweethearts & Heroes offers a profound, engaging signature presentation that calls for HOPE (Hold On, Possibilities Exist), Empathy and Action; Circle, which is built on the ancient ritual of communicating in a circle to build compassion and empathy; and the BRAVE Youth Leadership System, which trains older students in bully drills that they, in turn, teach to students in lower grades, thus creating a sustainable, student-directed initiative.

During this school year, Sweethearts & Heroes started offering Train the Trainer, which teaches current educators how to weave their own Circle trainings for future hires; and STEP (the Student Teacher Empathy Program), which teaches high school students how to present Sweethearts & Heroes’ signature assemblies for students in grades K-2 and 3-5.

Sweethearts & Heroes’ central team of traveling presenters includes: Tom Murphy, Director and Founder, of St. Albans, VT; Ret. U.S. Army Sgt. Rick Yarosh, a HOPE expert, Purple Heart recipient and motivational speaker from New York who was burned severely while serving in Iraq; and Pat Fish, BRAVE Program Director & Circle Specialist, also of New York. Josiah McKeon and Wyatt Hackett, both of New York, also visit schools for Sweethearts & Heroes.

Fish was in Middleburgh on March 20 to continue work on the BRAVE System. Sweethearts & Heroes’ partnership with the Middleburgh CSD began during the 2023-2024 school year. Fish will return to Middleburgh for the last time this school year on April 3-4. (The media is invited. Please make arrangements for coverage in advance. Thank you.)

BRAVE stands for “16th Century Bullies ‘Are’ Action-Based, Vulnerable and Empathetic. BRAVE is a K-12, self-directed leadership program designed to connect middle and high school students with elementary students. BRAVE uses the power of human connection, acceptance and behavior modeling to teach upper-level students how to become Sweethearts & Heroes. In turn, those upper-level students can teach elementary students — and each other — specific bully drills that will help change their school culture.

“We know that we have to practice these things — just like Stop, Drop and Roll and other drills — so that we can put those skills to use when we need them,” Murphy said.

For more than 16 years, Sweethearts & Heroes has presented what Murphy calls “‘the ‘stop, drop and roll’ of bullying” to more than 2.5 million students in school districts from New England to Hawaii and north into Canada. Sweethearts & Heroes also tailors its presentations and professional development workshops for businesses, non-profits and civic groups. Murphy said, “We go where we’re needed. That’s what heroes do.”

In November 2024, during Veterans Day week, Yarosh released A Bridge Named Amos, the inspiring, true story of his hero and service dog, Amos, who died last October, just before the book went to press. Born on Christmas Day, Amos was a lovable, black Lab who traveled with Yarosh over thousands of miles to hundreds of schools with Sweethearts & Heroes. Together, they taught children and adults how to overcome challenges, celebrate differences and embrace empathy. A Bridge Named Amos is told from Amos’ warm perspective, and it comes with a free downloadable workbook. OESJ Central School District (NY) Art Teacher Kevin Cannon illustrated the book.

Sweethearts & Heroes’ other books include Boredom School: For Those Bored in School, a collection of captivating, humorous and thought-provoking poems by Pat Fish; and 13 Pillows For Affective Teachers, a novel by Tom Murphy and Brian McKeon, of New York, that covers the themes of HOPE, Empathy and Action in the Sweethearts & Heroes curriculum.

In September 2024, during National Suicide Prevention Month, about 140 students from seven Upstate New York schools attended Sweethearts & Heroes’ first three-day — and phone-free — Youth Leadership Summit with Spartan Race at Killington Resort in Vermont.

Sweethearts & Heroes has also created The HOPE Classroom, a digital subscription service designed for various grade levels and different school sizes. This value-packed offering can allow Sweethearts & Heroes to be in every school in the U.S. For more on Sweethearts & Heroes, find them here on social media.