ERMA — Michael Sarich, who lost a college scholarship and a chance to play Major League Baseball due to drug abuse, spoke in two assemblies at Lower Cape May Regional High School, Oct. 4.
The motivational speaker from Teen Truth told seventh, eighth and ninth grade students the choices they make now will affect the rest of their lives.
“What I’ve noticed when I travel all over North America is kids these days think they are invincible and they never think that something bad is going to happen to them until it’s too late,” said Sarich. “When they make choices to drink alcohol and use drugs, that’s when bad things happen and those are the kids we need to talk to, to make better choices because they just don’t get it.”
Sarich said illegal drugs today are 20 times more powerful than they were 30 years ago especially with marijuana since much of it is synthetic.
He said his problem with drugs and alcohol began in high school.
“I try to keep kids off the path of the same choices that I made,” said Sarich.
He said when speaking to an audience of 200 or more students, there are some in attendance that “just don’t get it and just don’t care.”
“I do know most kids care about their future and they are paying attention,” said Sarich. “Those are the kids that really get the message that I’m trying to portray.”
He said he noticed a rise in heroin use along the East Coast of the U.S. in both suburban and urban neighborhoods without regard to economic status.
Sarich showed a film offering firsthand accounts of drug users and the consequences they faced from a health standpoint and in their careers and relationships. He told students the tragic results of a day of drinking and smoking marijuana that resulted in a car accident that killed his best friend. The accident also ended Sarich’s chances to play major league baseball due to a broken back.
The assembly was the result of a partnership between the Lower Township Recreation Department and the Lower Cape May Regional School District.
Wildwood – So Liberals here on spout off, here's a REAL question for you.
Do you think it's appropriate for BLM to call for "Burning down the city" and "Black Vigilantes" because…
