The Lance

On March 31st, DR. IVEN and Teen Truth came to Bishop Gorman High School to tell the students their stories about life difficulties and drug and alcohol abuse in hope of affecting at least one student. Students completed activities in their homerooms and also attended a concert in the gym and a video screening in the Tiberti Student Commons. Teen Truth came to BGHS to show the students their video on drugs and alcohol abuse and DR.IVEN came to play songs about the difficulties teens and young people experience in life. The members of Dr. IVEN also explained how they each got where they are today, giving inspiration to the students of BGHS.

Teen Truth is an organization that creates student-shot films and takes them to different schools for other students to watch. The video shown on March 31st was about drug and alcohol abuse. Along with watching the video, students got to hear the story of Michael Sarich and how he developed into who he is today. He talked to the students about how he was a baseball player since he was little with a big life goal–he wanted to play MLB. Sarich also told the students about how his life goal was ruined in the blink of an eye due to his problems with drugs and alcohol . After listening to his story, the students were given the opportunity to ask him any questions or just talk to him about how he got through his struggles.

Then DR.IVEN  sang about life difficulties and told the BGHS students about the obstacles that they have encountered during their lives. Gino De Leva (lyricist, drummer), Domenico Pilato (composer, piano, lead vocals), and Josh Taddeo (bass) told the students how they all wanted to try something other than music, but it  the other paths all actually led them back to their original passion.

Outside of the gym and the Commons, the students completed activities such as making anti-drug and alcohol posters and completing discussion packets with different scenarios for students to ponder. Each class at the end of the day had to turn in a poster to represent their class. Alex Vasquez (Frosh.) said, “This assembly made a big impact on me and also I think that it made a big impact on the school as a whole.” Thepresentations and the activities completed in the homerooms were completed in the homerooms highlighted a school-wide effort to both save a life and help the rest of the school.