Robert Sanders: Combatting Bullying in the 21st Century
Bullying is an epidemic growing in schoolyards around the world. The psychological effects of bullying can last for years after school, and in the 21st century the nature of bullying has moved into online territory. So Robert Sanders decided to take actions.
For over six years, Robert Sanders has been working within the education sector focusing on early intervention with at-risk students. Robert has worked with students with a range of challenges, from students with behavioral issues to students in danger of becoming involved with local gangs and dropping out of school.
Preventing rather than healing
With this background, Robert has begun developing Pecons, an online application to address increasingly high levels of bullying within schools. Many approaches to bullying attack the issue in a way that deals with the consequences rather than trying to prevent it.
Unlike many programs that address bullying after the fact, Robert believes in an upstream approach, that focuses on prevention completely within the control of the students, “to encourage students to take more control”. He describes bullying as a product of the ‘snowball effect’; it starts off as a number of seemingly insignificant incidents that gradually becomes more serious and potentially dangerous.
“Bullying is a hard and complex topic, and it has a lot to do with intent, frequency, and imbalance of power.”
He notes that bullying is difficult enough for adults to understand, and believes that by empowering students to take an active role in preventative methods, rates of bullying are effectively curbed. “We are working to develop tools to make schools safer; a safer community.”
A Modern Solution
Robert has developed an app for smartphones that allow students to raise their voice and address problems in an online, anonymous, yet regulated capacity. Robert addresses that bullying is often unaddressed due to the lack of confidence students have in their mentors and teachers, or peer pressures within the schoolyard.
Robert’s program, however, would be implemented in addition to policies already set in place by school boards and administrators. The project uses smartphones, an increasingly common piece of technology owned by younger and younger students in the United States.
By using this widely owned piece of technology and common form of communication, Robert addresses the issue of affordability and practicality in his program for young people. He also understands the reality that a lot of schools do not have the resources to implement his program to its full effect, so having the app personalized to student’s smartphones allows a more effective distribution, and the ability to use the app outside of school hours.
However, he does hope that eventually, he can implement his program directly into schools, where schools are able to invest in high-speed internet access and other devices.
Plans for expansion
Ideally, Robert hopes to work with after school programs, to encourage kids to use these lessons learned outside of their normal class environment. He also plans on partnering university students with secondary students in a supportive, mentoring role.
University students at local institutions would act as mentors, as well as help conduct workshops with Robert’s anti-bullying tech.
“The technology itself is very focused on creating safe, anonymous peer feedback, students to students. It helps them speak up in such a way they can feel comfortable reporting something their best-friend said, acknowledging that it is often the most difficult to address the people closest to them.”
How Bridge for Billions fits in
The two problems that Robert faced before joining Bridge was prioritizing time to structure and create a strong business plan, and finding a mentor that could support him through the process — two things that Bridge helped him address.
“The immediate thing that attracted me to Bridge was structure… I had an opportunity to work on business plans in the past, and I was attracted to the concept of Bridge because it is a platform with a set of tools that is a better, structured way to create a business plan.”
Since he joined the program, Robert says that “there’s more realization about how to create a strong business evolution process. One tool opens up a new line of thinking and forces us to reflect on our process all of over again. You start to understand all of the components of your business and product — it’s not monolithic; it’s a series of individual pieces that when you make adjustments leads to new thinking. We would not have reflected as much if we had done it on our own.”
Robert attributes his mentor, in combination with Bridge’s eight-step guide, as integral to the long-term development of his product.
However, Robert makes it clear that although the program is incredibly structured and has improved the development of his program immensely, he reminds us that “the platform doesn’t do the thinking for you. It’s not a silver bullet, it requires a lot of work”.
Robert is now a Bridge for Billion’s graduate, and while his product is continuing its evolution, this November he will reach a great milestone and partner with students from Saint Louis University in Madrid to begin launching his product. We wish him the best of luck!
If Robert’s story has inspired you to finally turn your idea into real social change, apply at BridgeforBillions.org, or become a mentor where you can help create change with passionate entrepreneurs like Robert.
