Schools
Ex-NBA Player Brings Powerful Message To LI High School
The former Boston Celtics player spoke about his struggles with addiction and touched on subjects like substance abuse and bullying.
FARMINGVILLE, NY — Former NBA player Chris Herren dropped by Sachem High School East on Tuesday to share a powerful message about his struggles with addiction, school district officials said in a news release.
Tenth graders first watched a video outlining Herren’s basketball career from his high school days in Massachusetts, to playing for Division 1 teams, to going pro in the NBA and overseas. Herren then shared his path to recovery with the students, according to officials.
Herren "empowered students to rethink how they look at addiction" and through sharing his own experiences, touched on topics like drinking and drug use, peer pressure, and bullying, officials said.
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Herren told school officials that through each presentation, he hopes to make a difference in at least one person’s life.
Herren overdosed from heroin in 2008, but turned his life around and formed the Herren Project in 2011 to help others struggling with addiction, according to the non-profit's website.
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