Grad gives students life lesson
By jeanne starmack
hubbard
So far, it appears as if Marc Kanetsky has made some pretty good choices.
Before he graduated from Hubbard High School in 2008, he excelled in academics and athletics.
He was a quarterback for the Eagles for three years. He won athletic letters in football, basketball and baseball. He was class valedictorian and earned a full academic scholarship to Youngstown State University, where he majors in biology and is a quarterback for the Penguins.
Eventually, he intends to be a dentist.
So far, so good — his life is on track. He came back to Hubbard High on Monday to urge four assemblies of freshmen, sophomores, juniors and then seniors to make sure their lives don’t derail as well.
It’s all about choices, said Kanetsky, who came at the request of the Hubbard Police Department as part of an anti-drug program it runs in conjunction with the school district.
His message was timely — seniors are going to their prom Friday night. Drinking and driving is one decision the school district doesn’t want them to make.
“The main thing is decisions,” Kanetsky said. “You’re faced with them every day, and you are gonna make a good one or a bad one. It sounds simple, but it’s not. It’s gonna mold you into the person that you are.”
“Say you go out this weekend after prom and you do something stupid,” he said. “It’s on your record and stays there. You’re gonna miss out on an opportunity ’cause of something stupid you did in high school? That doesn’t make sense.”
“You think you’re invincible — it’s not going to happen to me,” he continued. “But crazy things do happen.”
“Every year during prom season, something happens to someone, and it devastates a community,” he said.
Kanetsky pointed out that drunken people are not at their most attractive.
“It’s not the person you want to be with,” he said.
It all comes back to decisions, he said.
“If you think about it and make the right decisions, you’re going to have a successful life,” he said.
After the assembly, some seniors shared their thoughts on what he said.
“I thought he brought up a lot of good points,” said Courtney Angelo. “I hope our fellow classmates listen.”
“It made it more influential, to have someone young that we kind of know,” said Lauren Baker.
Hubbard Sgt. Lou Carsone said the police department runs the anti-drug program with a state Attorney General’s Drug Use Prevention Grant of $6,000. The grant pays for overtime for officers who work for the program.