“Tony delivers an inspiring and important message that all adolescents need to hear. This is not a ‘don’t do drugs speech.’ Tony’s inspiring and raw story is about life lessons and deciding who you are and who you want to be. Passionate, honest, and impactful. This is a home run for any high school age audience, especially boys!”
– Mike Neller Commandant/Dean of Boys, Culver Academies
I’ve been to Indiana a few times now in the past couple years and I’ve gotta say, that state can go from gigantic city to ‘Where are we’ middle of nowhere. Don’t misunderstand me though, when I say, ‘Where are we?’ I don’t mean that in a bad way. The drive to Culver, Indiana from Indianapolis airport was about 2.5 hours long and I didn’t see much on the way there. When we finally arrived, however, I was treated with one of the coolest places I’ve been to and will definitely not soon forget.
Turns out Culver Academies, in Culver, Indiana, is one of the best college/military prep schools in the world and boy does it have HISTORY! The opioid epidemic has taken my work to a lot of historical parts of the United States, like Savannah, Georgia, but this place, Culver Academies, was amazing. Students come to this prep school from all over the world. There is a large population of students who’ve come from Mexico & China. This school has a library built by Michael Huffington, an arena where students play polo, two hockey rinks, a real-life entrepreneur class where students run an onsite coffee shop, dorms, the nation’s top boys’ lacrosse team, and MORE! I spent hours before the presentation touring this amazing campus and learning all about it. Honestly, these are the types of things I never dreamed of when I wanted to be a motivational speaker. My focus has always been on helping people, but this is a major perk!
The presentation went extremely well, and the boys were extremely respectful, as you might expect at a military campus. After the speech concluded, I helped the commander hand out awards for a competition the boys had just finished. I’m extremely grateful for my opportunity to pass through Culver, Indiana, and make a lasting impact! It’s a time I will not be forgetting!
