By: Jenn Youells, Senior
I decided to spend my Tuesday evening in Pennridge High School, walking the halls like a lost dog only to find that my destination was right by the door I came in. I got to meet very interesting people, including other student journalists and even publishers from The Intelligencer and the Bucks County Herald. My night had moments filled with happiness as well as teary eyes. I could relate to the things spoken by a man on stage whom I had never met, and I never would have met him if it wasn ́t for this opportunity. I don't think I will ever have a more thrilling moment in my life.
Meeting Mr. Leaf
During the first few moments of sitting in an auditorium seat, much comfier than the one I am used to, I could see a man being circled by people, and he appeared to be much more underdressed. I could feel the attraction of everyone's eyes towards him but I can ́t understand why; he looked just like an average man. I had seen people with cameras and computers and notebooks in formal dresses and suits as I sat there in my school outfit. The man approached my group of people as we were sitting, talking about questions to ask him and how to approach the tall man. He had come over to us and we all immediately stood up with joy and anxiety in our eyes. He had a large smile with droopy eyes, as he greeted all of us with the utmost sincerity. He shook every individual’s hand and thanked us for coming to listen to his story.
About Mr. Leaf
His story started in high school, playing football and wishing to make a career out of his passion. At the time, he had ignored how his passion had changed his attitude and had turned him into a very careless, cocky athlete. He struggled to get some words off his tongue but he began to speak on his issues with “My first drug of choice was competition.” He continued about his passion for football, later taking his career to the college level where he was drafted to the San Diego Chargers. He took the offer and, soon after, had suffered an injury. At 21, he became addicted to Vicodin (opioid pain reliever) after he had suffered his injury. His addiction followed the idea that it had ̈taken “his pain away.” He had also turned to alcohol a lot and went to a lot of parties where he was very careless about what he did. He struggled for a few years with partying, drugs and alcohol until he got fed up with a lot of things and quit playing football. He got into even worse things, such as robbing houses or people to buy more vicodin. He was caught and arrested and put in jail for 32 months in 2012. Once released, he realized that he needed help and had reached out to the Penn Foundation.
Conclusion
Ryan Leaf had gone through a lot of treatment and drug and alcohol counseling to have a better mindset and a better idea and feeling in life. He had started out with nothing once he was released from jail and he felt“more pleasure getting hired at a job making $15 an hour, rather than $5 million a year with football ̈. He continued his speech with advice to all people, he stated “be the solution. Don't think that because you are talked down to or things are said about you that you can't fix a problem. AND, just because you are a good athlete, does not mean you are a good person.” He spoke a bit about Penn Foundation and how helpful they were to him, and they helped him to get out of the rut in life.
About Penn Foundation
The Penn Foundation is a non profit organization that bases their help and research on drug and alcohol therapy as well as inpatient and outpatient treatments. They also help people with their addictions and help to forward mental health awareness. They work together to encourage people to show up, tell their story and be honest so they can get the best out of the help that they are offered.
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