Early College High School speech

Picking up from the previous blog, the speech at Early College High School in Costa Mesa was interesting. The group was 9th graders, age 14-15. The first topic we discussed was the idea of choosing a major before choosing a college. The idea of choosing a profession or a major at this age was complicating the decision process for kids. I introduced the idea that college isn’t something people do simply to get a job. The idea of college is to become educated and understand the world better. Lots of people change jobs in their 30s, 40s, or 50s. People change majors, some people even change colleges and there is nothing wrong with that.

I also discussed the topic of college parties and the alcohol culture that comes along with these parties. Many colleges around the USA will have a student die of alcohol oversdose during their freshman year. My school was no different. When I attended Adelphi University in 1995, a freshman who lived in the same dormitory as me died from alcohol overdose after some late night drinking on campus. This story is all too common, and it seems to happen every year.

In all of my drug prevention speeches, I try to give high school kids a realistic idea of what they are walking into in terms of college drinking. They will have the opportunity to drink as much as they like, as often as they like, and there will be external pressure on them to drink more than they would like. It will be acceptable and encouraged. When you’re drinking at a party everyone supports you. When things go wrong and you have a DUI or a hospital visit, you will find that you are utterly alone.

In 2024 I’ve been including more information about the addict lifestlye in all of my anti drug speeches. Stay tuned for more on that.