Perhaps it was kismet that led a former Marine to become a high school teacher, determined to shape minds and foster empathy among his students. Even if fate gets all the credit, the students at Lehigh Senior High School are the ones reaping the benefits of Leo Navarro and Be The Voice, a bullying prevention program that has helped change attitudes on campus.
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“I call myself an accidental educator,” Leo explains of how he first became a teacher. He remembers a former girlfriend suggested he take a job teaching, but he initially balked at the idea, thinking he’d likely get fired for being too tough.
“As a teacher, I’m no joke,” he says. “I’m pretty old-school and really strict.”
His approach was a perfect fit to lead Critical Thinking and Research, an elective class for freshmen that is loosely based on Navarro’s own degree minor in interdisciplinary studies. (He has a bachelor’s degree in fine arts.)
“We have a lot of dialogue in my class … and talk about really cool things that no other teacher gets to talk about,” he says, adding that there is a lot of essay writing as well.
“We teach those kids realistic expectations, real-world problems and how to handle those things from all points of view.”
One problem that plagued many students at Lehigh Senior was bullying, both in person and online. To engage his young students, Leo found Be The Voice, an anti-bullying program that teaches students to take the power away from the bully. It’s a 12-week curriculum where students view a video each week and discuss it.
The curriculum also incorporates a striking visual. Be The Voice uses a red-and-black logo of a two-finger V or peace sign as a symbol reminding students to have a positive attitude toward others.
“It’s like holding the [American] flag … a visual element that students understand and know what it represents,” he says. “They can hold it high and proud.”
It also serves as a reminder to the rest of the students and faculty.
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Chris Tilley
Meredith O'Connor, a YouTube pop star who has made bullying one of her main causes via Instagram and other social media outlets, performs at Lehigh Senior High School in Lehigh Acres as part of the Be The Voice campaign to stop bullying November 20, 2018.
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Meredith O'Connor, a YouTube pop star who has made bullying one of her main causes via Instagram and other social media outlets, performs at Lehigh Senior High School in Lehigh Acres as part of the Be The Voice campaign to stop bullying November 20, 2018.
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After a performance at Lehigh Senior High School in November, Meredith O'Connor, a YouTube pop star who has made bullying one of her main causes via Instagram and other social media outlets, poses for a photo with founder of Be the Voice Debbie Cwalina, left, and Adele Hamilton, right.
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After a performance at Lehigh Senior High School in November, Meredith O'Connor, a YouTube pop star who has made bullying one of her main causes via Instagram and other social media outlets, signs autographs for students with founders of Be the Voice Debbie Cwalina, left, and Adele Hamilton, right.
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Chela Navarro celebrates as she gets to meet with Meredith O'Connor, center, a YouTube pop star who has made bullying one of her main causes via Instagram and other social media outlets. Also pictured: Be the Voice founders Debbie Cwalina, left, and Adele Hamilton, right. O'Connor performed at Lehigh Senior High School in Lehigh Acres as part of the Be The Voice campaign to stop bullying November 20, 2018.
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After a performance at Lehigh Senior High School in November, Meredith O'Connor, a YouTube pop star who has made bullying one of her main causes via Instagram and other social media outlets, poses for photos with students and the founders of Be the Voice, Debbie Cwalina, left, and Adele Hamilton, right.
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Meredith O'Connor, a YouTube pop star who has made bullying one of her main causes via Instagram and other social media outlets, hugs a student after the student explained she was her role model during a meet-and-greet after a concert at Lehigh Senior High School in Lehigh Acres as part of the Be The Voice campaign to stop bullying November 20, 2018.
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Dan Phelan and Meredith O'Connor, a YouTube pop star who has made bullying one of her main causes via Instagram and other social media outlets, take a photo with Leo Navarro and his daughter Chela Navarro at Lehigh Senior High School in Lehigh Acres as part of the Be The Voice campaign to stop bullying November 20, 2018.
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After a performance at Lehigh Senior High School in November, Meredith O'Connor, a YouTube pop star who has made bullying one of her main causes via Instagram and other social media outlets, poses for a photo with Daniel Phelan, left, her technical advisor, and student Chela Navarro, center, November 20, 2018.
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Meredith O'Connor, a YouTube pop star who has made bullying one of her main causes via Instagram and other social media outlets, signs autographs for students at Lehigh Senior High School in Lehigh Acres as part of the Be The Voice campaign to stop bullying after a concert at the school November 20, 2018.
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From left, Leo Navarro, Debbie Cwalina, Adel Hamilton, Dan Phelan, Meredith O'Connor, Amanda "Squirrel " Agrinsoni and Chela Navarro all pose for a photo after Meredith's concerts at Lehigh Senior High School in support of the anti-bullying program Be the Voice on November 20, 2018.
Since Leo introduced Be The Voice to Lehigh Senior two years ago and his first set of students are now juniors, he believes the program has made a dramatic improvement on campus.
“Everybody understands we’re not going to tolerate bullying in our school … We are going to ignore you and absolutely stop you from being a nuisance on this campus,” he says.
His students also formed a Be The Voice club this year with nearly 40 student members who meet twice a month. The club focuses on bullying prevention and awareness on campus.
“They [club members] look out for students who are loners and isolated and make friends with them. They bring them into a social circle that makes them feel wanted and protected,” Leo explains. “Nobody’s left alone.”
Freshman Amanda Agrinsoni was eager to join the club when she started at Lehigh Senior. She says she felt Be The Voice was “cool and very interesting.
“I like to be involved with programs that are focused on making a change,” Amanda says.
Since the club is student-led, they discuss things that happen on or off campus and online to support the person being bullied.
“We suggest ways to help the student get out of the situation,” she says.
Attitudes on campus are changing, too.
“The majority of the school think it’s a good program and that it does work,” Amanda says, adding that she is grateful to those classmates who came before her.
Next year Leo hopes Be The Voice is incorporated into Lehigh Senior’s morning news and is broadcasted for every student to view. Right now, just the 175 students enrolled in Critical Thinking and Research experience the entire curriculum. There are also talks about making a presentation to the Lee County School District with a plan to integrate Be The Voice districtwide.
“I want to make it [Be The Voice] the ultimate bullying prevention program,” Leo says, “that our nation can take part in and share and be a voice united against this pandemic that is spreading through our schools and even in adults.”
Navarro acknowledges there are always “bad seeds” on campus but feels teaching empathy is the key forward.
“Be empathic. We need to understand that people have different viewpoints, different beliefs. We need to learn to respect that,” he says.
Leo is leaving the school after this year to continue his work with Be The Voice. The organization appointed him the Florida chair of the nonprofit, which is based in Georgia, and plans to give talks and presentations to schools statewide. Because the curriculum costs $1,600, Leo plans to help interested schools obtain funding to subsidize the cost. Just like he did at Lehigh Senior.
“I looked for nine months for sponsors,” Leo says. The Lehigh Acres Rotary Club, the Kiwanis Club of Lehigh Acres and Hi-Def Printing in Cape Coral “all stepped up and said, ‘We want to be a part of this’ and cut checks to pay the $1,600 we needed for the program.”
Once Lehigh Senior secured funding, it became the first school outside of Georgia to become a Be The Voice school.
“We are trying to instill all of these values and morals and principles in these students through the program,” Leo says. “To light a fire and have this program in every school in America.”
Meredith O'Connor performs at Lehigh Senior High
Meredith O'Connor, a YouTube pop star who has made bullying one of her main causes via Instagram and other social media outlets, performs November 20, 2018, at Lehigh Senior High School in Lehigh Acres as part of the Be The Voice campaign to stop bullying.
A pop star takes notice
Pop singer Meredith O’Connor shot to fame when the music video “Celebrity” went viral on YouTube in 2013. She parlayed that success and launched an anti-bullying platform. A victim of bullying in middle school, she has since given Ted Talks and written other music to further her message. Her latest single, “Stronger,” featuring Disney star Garrett Clayton, inspires listeners with the lyrics: “Nothing can break us down; Nothing can touch us now; There’s nothing stronger than love; And nothing nothing nothing is stronger: Than us.”
The Lehigh Acres Be The Voice students connected with Meredith through social media, and a concert soon followed.
Meredith performed “Stronger” to students at Varsity Lakes Middle School and Lehigh Senior High School in Lehigh Acres on November 19 and 20. Her visit mimicked many other concert-like appearances at schools and theaters throughout the nation. On a large screen, the lyrics were displayed, and the students sang along. She also spoke about how bullying can cause low self-esteem, and told the students, “Whether you have depression, anxiety, problems at home, or whatever issues you face, you will be stronger once you survive them than you were before.”