by Gabe Mielke ‘16
Wednesday, January 28 was an exciting day for Wildcat High. The inspiring former-NBA basketball player and drug addict turned public speaker, Chris Herren, visited to give a speech on his story and substance abuse. The speech, all a part of the new wellness program, was given to the entire Ignatius community at 1:00pm in Sullivan Gym, and to another audience at 7:00pm in the Breen Center.
Prior to Mr. Herren’s actual speech, the ESPN film, Unguarded, detailing his life-long struggle with drug addiction, was shown. It was a deeply touching account of Herren’s descent into habitual drug abuse and his existential struggle toward rehabilitation.
After the film showing, the man himself, Chris Herren, walked into Sullivan Gymnasium to a round of applause. What followed next surprised many of the audience members. Rather than recount and summarize his story of drug abuse already detailed in the film, Herren proceeded to talk about his experiences in schools since he began travelling the country and speaking to various groups, especially high school students.
Herren discussed and then rebuked the various explanations, excuses, and cop-outs that many high school students use to justify their own recreational use of drugs. He debunked each justification one-by-one, and then concluded, as logically as any philosopher, that the core reason for drug and alcohol abuse among teenagers was that they do not think they can be themselves. After years of experience with teenagers who abuse or have abused drugs, as well as his own experiences with drug addiction, Herren finally came to this conclusion.
“Hurt people hurt people. And sometimes they hurt themselves. People with confidence don’t hurt people. They protect them,” said Herren.
It was a powerful revelation to comprehend for many students. “Mr. Herren was an absolutely incredible speaker. I had already seen the film about him before the assembly yet his speech was a completely different experience. I was completely blown away by everything he said,” recounted Mike Murphy ‘16.
Herren proceeded to talk about education and faith. “The missing component in education is wellness. Why don’t we teach our kids to be the best and healthiest they can be?” asked Herren, after describing a time a principal had given him a 27 minute time limit so that students could return to classes.
He praised us for our commitment to our faith, and stated how it keeps us from the situations that helped lead to his addiction. “My faith has kept me off of heroin for six and a half years. No doubt it could have kept me out of the basements,” Herren said. The “basements” reference where Herren and his friends used to drink alcohol and abuse marijuana in their teenage years.
The main focus of the speech, as said by Herren, was addressing the issue of what he called “Day One.” It is the first day that someone tries illegal drugs or alcohol. It is then that the often mentioned “slippery slope” slithers into effect.
“Most speakers like myself come up and talk about their experiences with hard drugs, heroin and cocaine, but they ignore how it all started, they ignore day one,” Herren said.
This approach was thoroughly praised by both students and staff members, evident through the earth-shaking applause that followed the conclusion of Herren’s speech.
“I thought that Mr. Herren approached the subject of his speech in a completely unexpected way. I know that I really enjoyed his doing it and I think it made the speech more interesting and therefore significantly more effective,” Chris George ‘16 said.
All in all, Mr. Herren’s speech was undeniably both thoroughly appreciated, as well as deeply influential upon the entire community of Saint Ignatius High School. Mr. Herren must be used to this effect upon students, but this writer has never seen 1500 high school men pay that much attention to one speaker for so long. It was incredible.
