Graduation
At 18, it appeared Greg was on his way to the college of his dreams -- until an unexpected roablock turned his seemingly set future upside down. Ultimately, he made his way into college and seemed to get things back on track -- graduating with Highest Distinction. But despite the degree & honor that came with it, he never experienced the graduation ceremony he always envisioned. Driven by his own difficult path to making it to and through college, he devoted his post-graduate years to helping other students reach their educational dreams. He became a teacher, started the BrunchBunch.com Mentoring Program and launched The 11-10-02 Foundation, which has provided college scholarships to many students over the past two decades. For his civic efforts, Greg received the Jefferson Award for Public Service & was named one of America's Daily Points of Light. The Washington Post. wrote a kind story about Greg's academic experiences, his legacy & his first time serving as Commencement Speaker. He has also been featured by media like College Bound, Newsweek Kaplan College Guide, Education Week & Good Morning America. SCROLL DOWN FOR NEXT PARAGRAPH
Greg has been invited to speak at a variety of events -- including Graduations & Commencements at the middle school, high school, community college & college levels. Along the way, he has received a number of college / community college honorary degrees. Raintree Montessori School brought Greg in to do Readings of his upcoming picture book, The Milkshake Man, as a Final Day of School surprise for its younger students (its older students each received a copy of his book for their age range, The First Thirty). He also has been guest speaker at 'end of year' events for other kinds of educational programs (i.e. Final Day lecture for a course at Cook School of Business; Leadership Wisconsin had him serve as keynote speaker at their end-of-program dinner & ordered copies of his Legacy Poster for each graduate).
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The book ,The Silhouette Man (& the condensed edition for students, The First Thirty) includes an extensive look at Greg's academic experience (including Graduation). The First Thirty has been highlighted by media like College News. Schools have ordered copies for every graduate as a graduation gift (i.e. Suffield High School). In other cases, local companies or organizations have sponsored the purchase of the books for the graduates (i.e. Mount Joy Chamber of Commerce ordered copies for each graduate at a school in its community; Rockville Bank ordered copies of the book for 50 middle school graduates in CT).
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In other cases, groups have done programming with the books in advance of Graduation. The Janus School in Pennsylvania did a staff & student Common Read of The First Thirty in advance of Greg serving as Graduation Speaker. The books have also been used as Graduation Gift in less traditional graduation settings. Multiple chapters of Diller Fellows have given the books to their participants when they completed their Fellowships. Leadership York did the same thing with the books & its participants. An organization in New York gave copies of The First Thirty (and companion workbook, A Place To Sit) to each student in the Life After High School program. In Colorado, Latino College Fair organizers ordered copies of the book for 200 students. To order copies of the books, click here