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BOSTON – Following the NBA All-Star break and a three-game trip out West, the Boston Celtics arrived home early Tuesday morning and were ready to get back to work with a number of things on their agenda.
Celtics forward Jae Crowder started off his first day back by giving back to local students of the Sarah Greenwood K-8 School in Boston.
Students who attended the morning assembly with Crowder and other Celtics representatives all exhibited the most improved attendance record in the Stay in School program during the month of February.
The Celtics’ Stay in School Program, presented by the Arbella Insurance Foundation, is the longest running educational initiative in all of American Professional Sports. The program works to improve the attendance in the Boston Public School system and increase student engagement with incentive-based prizing in the form of school-wide assemblies.
Tuesday's session consisted of various roundtable discussions focusing on the program acronym of P.R.I.D.E – perseverance, respect, integrity, decision-making and education. Celtics guests shared stories of their past while the students had a chance to reflect on things affecting their performance in and out of the classroom.
A recurring theme began to develop through the conversations, as several students explained the various roadblocks standing in their way of reaching a given goal.
“People will always doubt you,” explained Crowder as he offered words of guidance. “My dad is someone I have always looked up to. He always told me that I could be anything I wanted to be and that bit of strength always helps me persevere through anything.”
For a little more than a half-hour, the students and VIPs connected through the guided conversations. Students began to see synergy between situations they face and the experiences that the successful guests sitting in front of them also encountered at some point during their lives.
“Don’t limit yourself, give yourself every opportunity to succeed,” Crowder said, closing out the session.
The connection made during such a small window of time surely encouraged the students at Sarah Greenwood to use each day as a stepping-stone to a bigger future.