Williamsport, Pa. — Tom Murphy, co-founder and director at Sweethearts and Heroes and Retired U.S. Army Sgt. Rick Yarosh are making a much-anticipated return to Pennsylvania Free Enterprise Week (PFEW) 2024 on the Lycoming and Penn College campuses. Considered a duo of superheroes (sans capes), the pair has been incredibly popular with students in their nine years of participating in PFEW.
Murphy and Yarosh will offer participants a presentation about HOPE (Hold On, Possibilities Exist) and how students can change the world.
Sweethearts & Heroes is a team that aims to empower students and encourage empathy among them. Their goal is to prevent hopelessness, bullying, and suicide with a focus on social-emotional learning. Their signature presentations call for HOPE, Empathy, and Action. They also offer Circle, a program built on the ancient ritual of communicating in a circle formation to build empathy and the B.R.A.V.E. Youth Leadership Program, which trains older students in bully drills. The trained students are then asked to teach students in younger grades.
The Sweethearts & Heroes team is: Tom Murphy, director and founder, from St. Albans, Vermont; Ret. U.S. Army Sgt. Rick Yarosh, a HOPE expert, Purple Heart recipient, and motivational speaker from New York who survived severe burns that he received while serving in Iraq; and Pat Fish, B.R.A.V.E. program director & circle specialist.
This is Sweethearts & Heroes’ ninth consecutive year of presentations at PFEW, though Yarosh appeared without Murphy in 2023.
“I don't think we could be more excited about rejoining PFEW as a team,” Murphy said. “The landscape in education and our culture is changing at a pace that’s difficult to keep up with, however, our message could not be more relevant. For 16 years, we have been empowering young people to be the change within their social network. The next generation must be the one that moves the ball down the field. They have been raised differently than any other generation, but the fact remains, they are the solutions to the challenges we’re facing in the world today. Our job is to shepherd them, not to engineer who they are. Sweethearts & Heroes gives them the tools and supports them as they take the baton for humanity into the future. PFEW students better hang on to their seats!”
Organized and run by the Foundation for Free Enterprise Education, PFEW provides practical, hands-on business, economic, and career preparation education unlike any other youth development program. Students are immersed in the world of business and in one short week, they come to understand, celebrate, and embrace the American free enterprise system and unlock keys to successful careers and lives.
PFEW registration is up by more than 200 students this year, and students from 56 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties will attend (as well as one student each from Delaware, New Jersey, Michigan, and Texas).
Presentations will be made at Lycoming College on July 2, July 9, July 23, and July 30. An additional presentation will be made at Penn College on July 31.
“Since 2016, Sweethearts & Heroes has impacted the lives of more than 12,600 PFEW attendees, and this year, we are so proud that both Rick and Tom will address all five sessions of this summer’s program,” said Scott Lee, VP of Marketing & Development for PFEW. “Without a doubt, the most impactful part of the students’ week is PFEW’s world-class motivational and business speakers, and Sweethearts & Heroes always delivers. We are absolutely blessed to have Sweethearts & Heroes as a very special part of the students’ experience. I’ve literally seen lives change right in front of me. Because of their powerful messages and mere presence, students and volunteers are moved to tears, and more importantly, moved to action. S&H is always rated as one of the most powerful and meaningful parts of their week.”
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 workshops for businesses, non-profits and civic groups. Murphy said, “We go where we’re needed. That’s what heroes do.”
Sweethearts & Heroes has also created The HOPE Classroom, a digital subscription service designed for various grade levels and different school sizes. This lets Sweethearts & Heroes "travel" to any school in the U.S.
In April, Sweethearts & Heroes released Boredom School: For Those Bored in School, a collection of captivating, humorous and thought-provoking poems by Pat Fish. The book offers a unique perspective on the monotonous trials of school and the students who yearn for change.
Sweethearts & Heroes’ first book, 13 Pillows For Affective Teachers, is a novel that covers the themes of HOPE, empathy, and action in the Sweethearts & Heroes curriculum. 13 Pillows is also based on real students and teachers that Sweethearts & Heroes has encountered. Murphy cowrote the book with Brian McKeon, of New York.
For more on Sweethearts & Heroes, find them here on social media .
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