Penn Manor High School students were recently inspired to go “all in” during an assembly featuring Gian Paul Gonzalez, who is credited with helping the New York Giants secure their most recent Super Bowl title.
Gonzalez told the students how he was an unknown Union City, N.J., social studies teacher when the Giants asked him to give a motivational talk prior to their first playoff game in 2012.
Gonzalez said he was approached by the Giants organization after the original speaker canceled at the last minute. A team representative had noticed him working with students in a nearby juvenile detention center and asked him to step in.
He urged the team to “go all in” on the playing field, giving each member a poker chip, and the phrase caught on. Players credited Gonzalez with inspiring them, and he became a highly sought-after motivational speaker for Fortune 500 corporations, sports teams and schools.
During his visit to Penn Manor on October 17, he gave two 50-minute addresses to students and then met with small groups of student leaders for more in-depth conversations.
“The discussions in the breakout sessions were inspirational and included practical leadership-development strategies,” said Doug Eby, high school principal. “Students were challenged to be ‘all in’ in every aspect of their lives and to seize the opportunities that Penn Manor offers.”
Gonzalez told the students how he became a standout basketball player an All-American who scored nearly 1,400 points in three years at Montclair State University. He was offered professional basketball contracts, but turned them down to continue working as a teacher and counselor to at-risk youth.
Gonzalez founded Hope + Future, an organization dedicated to using athletics and physical fitness to inspire excellence in inner-city public schools and juvenile jails.
At the end of his addresses, he handed out poker chips to each student and encouraged them to write their goals on them and keep them handy as a reminder to go “all in.”
Gonzalez’s visit was sponsored by the Penn Manor Education Foundation and Willow Street LCBC.
Many thanks to these organizations, and to Gonzalez, for bringing this inspirational message to our students.