Kevin Power, a New York-based teacher who stresses anti-bullying, finished fourth ( third runner-up ) in the annual Mr. Gay World competition, held April 4-8 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Andreas Derleth, 32, from New Zealand was the winner, while South Africa's Lance Weyer, 24, finished second. France's Remy Frejaville was third.
"I was very happy [ finishing fourth, ] " Power said in a phone interview shortly after the competition concluded. "Sure, I wanted to win, but, meeting all of the delegates that I met, it really was anyone's possible title [ to win ] . Everyone had amazing qualities, amazing personalities."
The Mr. Gay World competition is a public performance where delegates represent their nation as the best spokesperson to embody the spirit of their nation. The competition features various challenges, including a photo challenge, sports challenge, fashion show/runway challenge, swimsuit challenge, public speaking and a local outreach challenge where delegates work with a local charity to give back to the community that is hosting the competition.
"I was somewhat disappointed with myself; I thought I would do better in some of the challenges, but finishing third [ overall ] is still amazing," Power said. "It was just an honor to be on the stage with some of these guys. I'm extremely happy.
"Coming in third has really helped fuel my passion, with an anti-bullying campaign, and traveling around making a difference."
Power, 22, graduated from SUNY-Oswego, and hopes to return to the classroom teaching in the fall.
"My favorite aspect of the trip, of the entire experience, was [ on Saturday ] when we [ met local ] children … and I brought about 10 children's books," for them, he said. "We spent hours with these amazing kids—some who have no homes, some who have one parent, etc. It was an amazing experience, very emotional."
Power is a certified high school science teacher, specializing in biology and chemistry.
He formed his own anti-bullying campaign, Common Sense For The Intolerable, and has been traveling to Lower Manhattan-area schools, talking about tolerance. "What I stress to these kids is, it's not just about homophobia, but [ also ] about sexism, racism—all of these social issues and social aspects that we tend to overlook," he said.
Power started speaking in schools on the topic last September.
"Being a teacher, I see [ bullying directly ] , some times kids have the courage to come talk to us and sometimes they won't have that courage," he said.
"Bullying has definitely changed. A decade ago and before [ that ] , bullying in school was mostly physical, emotional and mental. Now, it's largely cyber-bullying. Everything starts with the Internet; everything starts with social media that kids are using without parental supervision. They are going on Facebook, Google Plus and elsewhere and getting into people's business and ripping them to a new level. That includes pictures and status [ updates ] . It can be streamed to millions of people in a hour. Now, the problem isn't just within the classroom, but something that is now on a much larger, global scale."
In his school seminars, Power brings out the fears and possible outcomes from using social media networks without understanding the impact that they really have.
"Something that a person posts on Facebook, for instance, is something that that person will have to live with for the rest of their life," he said.
Power said he did encounter a lot of bullying when teaching, though kids often did not also view it as bullying as well, he said. Such as, name-calling. "The issue is, those tiny acts are what start to build up," he said.
Power often would stop teaching lessons mid-sentence to confront the issues, face them head-on. "A lot of people disagreed with my methods because they thought it was taking away from instruction, but, to me, a school teacher is not just someone who teaches you things that you can find in a book. A teacher is someone who teaches you life-lessons that you will take through life," Power said. "By combating those lessons right then and there, I was able to say that this was something that we weren't going to tolerate, that this is something that we're not going to perpetuate; that this is something that we have to end, now."
Power's speech at the finale of the Mr. Gay World competition was apparently so direct and raw with emotion that the audience responded with a standing ovation, "which was amazing," he said.
Power returned to the United States April 16, after vacationing in the southern tip of Africa.
