Superheroes have long been depicted as cape-wearing figures, soaring through the skies and saving the day with superhuman strength.
CivicLex is working to shift the spotlight to a different kind of hero — those who work tirelessly behind the scenes, often without recognition: educators.
Justin Royal may not wear a cape, but his impact as an educator shows that true heroism isn’t about superpowers.
According to the CivicLex website, a nonprofit organization in Lexington, Kentucky, the Lexington Unsung Hero Awards celebrate individuals who “embody the true spirit of community service.”
Royal, a psychology and criminal justice teacher at Bryan Station High School, was one of nine who were given a 2025 Lexington Unsung Hero Award.
Originally from Ironton, Ohio, Royal attended the University of Pikeville to play baseball and pursue a degree in psychology.
Upon his graduation in 2009, Royal moved to Lexington, where he discovered his passion for teaching while working as a counselor at a children’s home.
“The teachers couldn’t get the kids to behave, and the kids didn’t want to listen to the teachers, and I was in this weird middle ground of not being a student or certified teacher, but I was the peacemaker and I could get each side to listen to each other,” Royal said.
After a decade in alternative education, Royal chose to return to school, earning his master’s degree in learning and behavior disorders and his teaching certification from Kentucky State University in 2015.
“I’ve always been fascinated with that (learning and behavior disorders) because you can have a kid that struggles in one class and excels in another, and usually school tends to focus on the negative,” Royal said. “But if you find one positive, you feed the positive, then the positive grows and you feed what you want to grow, you starve what you want to die.”
Royal is now in his eleventh year of teaching at Bryan Station High School.
Walking into Royal’s classroom, one is greeted with posters lining the walls depicting people such as Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X and Barack Obama. A podium stands in the corner, plastered with historical figures including Anne Frank, Harriet Tubman and Martin Luther King Jr.
Rugs and yoga mats offer alternative seating for students, reflecting Royal’s commitment to creating an inclusive and flexible learning environment.
“As far as people on the wall, it’s mostly Muhammad Ali because he stood up for what he believed in . . . and was willing to lose everything for it,” Royal said. “If you stand for what you believe in, then that’s what you gotta do in life.”
According to Royal, high school students are at the perfect age to ask questions about the world and challenge everything they are told, which Royal strongly encourages them to do in a way that is “truly craving knowledge.”
While Royal said he hopes his students crave knowledge and achieve academic success, it’s the human connection in teaching that he finds most rewarding.
According to Royal, knowing that some of his students face adversity yet still show up to class with respect and kindness “brings a very deep level of joy that is unexplainable to the average person who’s never worked in the public schoolroom.”
“And at that point, you throw out the concept of grades and it’s pure humanity and it’s a beautiful thing to see,” Royal said.
However, teaching comes with its challenges for Royal, who said declining attention spans and student mental health are two of the most pressing issues he faces in the classroom.
While Royal said he has the “unique” ability to keep his students’ attention and relate to them, he has not yet found the “magic button” to keep them engaged all the time.
Instead of reprimanding his students for being distracted by their phones and social media, Royal said he uses psychology to teach them what’s happening in their brains. Royal said that because of social media, students are constantly living in “fight or flight” mode and are afraid to make mistakes.
“If a kid got in a fight in the hallway in a public school today, there’s gonna be 30 cellphones recording that kid’s pain,” Royal said. “If that same child, the day before, got an A on a physics test, no one cares. Maybe not even their parents, and there’s no social media sites that are gonna profit monetarily from the A’s on the test, but they will from the child’s pain.”
To combat this mental health crisis happening in schools, Royal said he is simply there for his students and lets them know that he cares about them as individuals.
“Sometimes you just have to be there for the kid. They don’t always need your words,” Royal said. “Sometimes they just need someone to sit beside them. Sometimes they just need someone to realize they’re going through something when they’re walking through the hallway.”
Royal’s work at Bryan Station High School does not go unnoticed by fellow teachers or students.
“There is not a more deserving person as it relates to unsung heroes,” Eric Hale, executive principal at Bryan Station High School, said.
According to Hale, students want to be in Royal’s class because Royal wants to help them better the community and their own lives.
“As much as he’s teaching his kids, his kids teach him a lot more and that’s a beautiful thing to witness in a classroom setting,” Hale said.
Royal has been working with kids since 2001 through residential treatment facilities, juvenile detention, alternative schools and public high school, however, the Lexington Unsung Hero Award is his first teaching award.
While Royal said he was appreciative of the award, he said he doesn’t teach for awards or recognition. He does it because it’s his passion and, according to him, “passion never extinguishes.”
“When something exists in this world that frustrates you and drives you crazy to the point where it exhausts you, when that thing also becomes the fuel that fuels you, you found your passion,” Royal said.
