"'I Am Someone' is the name of the presentation. 'Speaking of Harvey' is my company, where I travel around and do presentations like this," he said recently after addressing Graves County Schools students divided into assemblies by three basic age groups. "We talk to the elementary kids about bullying, then middle and high school, we mostly focus on technology use – how to use things responsibly, that when you send things out electronically you can't get them back, and about social media, including sexting."
Harvey has been a full-time police officer in central Kentucky for nearly two decades. In that time, he has taught the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program and currently supervises both the DARE and School Resource Officer units for his agency. He has been speaking to both large and small groups for more than ten years. He addressed more than 60,000 people and conducted 62 presentations in 2014 alone.
"When kids find themselves in a difficult situation, all they're wanting is someone to help and they're hoping that it's a peer," he continued. "When these kids leave here today, I'm hoping they see themselves as part of the solution, instead of part of the problem. We hope these kids come to realize that they have more power than they think they do to help the students who are really hurting and I hope that's what they take away from this."
In between assemblies in the Graves County Schools, Harvey noted, "I just got an email from a student through my web site. I funnel everything through my web site so that there's a written record. This student wrote, 'I've done some of these things you're talking about. I have a photo out there I'm concerned about.' So, I forwarded that to that student's school resource officer. I always put them in touch with the adults in their school every day who can help them."
"This was a great experience for our students," said Graves County Schools assistant director of pupil personnel Christy Puckett. "We got very positive feedback from students as well as teachers and administrators. They believe these are topics that need to be discussed in schools and that Mr. Harvey provided some very useful tips, helping students think through their decisions and actions to look at the consequences involved with social media and with bullying. He provided students with some solutions, including coping mechanisms for bullying, getting in touch with adults, and other ideas to implement in their lives to deal with a very serious problem."
