Two men in tuxedos play instruments at the front of a school gymnasium filled with kids. The music stops and they say: “You… are… weird.” In unison, each child screams back: "But that’s what makes me awesome."
Blake Fleishacker, 27, and David Anderson, 26, are the creators of "The Acoustic Opera," a positive bullying prevention program aimed at teaching students to appreciate each other for being different.
Fleishacker and Anderson take their program to elementary schools across Canada, and will tour the GTA in November.
"The core of the program is the things that make us weird are the things that make us awesome," said Anderson.
Through music and storytelling, "The Acoustic Opera" focuses on encouraging students to build each other up rather than tear each other down.
"We knew we wanted to impact students in a positive way through communication, appreciation skills and help them develop healthy self-esteem,"said Anderson.
They are planning to take the program beyond the presentation. The goal is to create a space online for parents and students to continue the conversation.
"We don’t want geography to impact how we reach kids," said Fleishacker.
He said with the Internet becoming a toxic wasteland for kids, it’s important to teach students their real world and online world need to match each other.
"There are so many people who can visibly hurt someone because they can hide behind these walls and treat each other terribly," he said. "We try to show how we can create positive experiences on Facebook and blogs to showcase people’s talents, skills and weirdness in a positive way."
A teacher at Clara Brenton public school in London, Ont., Fran Gorbasew, was the first to bring "The Acoustic Opera" to her school.
"Their strategy is to help kids take control and give them the power to stop bullying," said Gorbaswer. "Kids need to be more proactive about standing up for each other."
She said the increase in cyber bullying and texting has made it less obvious, which is why teaching students to be proactive is so important.
"Taking power away from bullies sends a message to the people behaving that way that there are consequences, and it’s not going to be tolerated," said Gorbasew.
