ROCK FALLS, Illinois -- A man who has served time in prison for a deadly crash caused by driving under the influence has turned himself into a motivational speaker. His life experience turned into life lessons for a group of Rock Falls Middle School students.
Nathan Harmon is a popular motivational speaker who travels worldwide to share his personal experiences with drugs, alcohol, and his choice to drive under the influence.
Even though they're at different stages of life, school social worker Susan Kavanaugh said she knows the students go through a lot at school and home.
“The longer I’m here the more I see,” says Kavanaugh. “And I don’t think anything really shocks me, it just saddens me.”
Harmon finds a way to relate to his younger audiences by the way he talks and the questions he asks students that sticks with them.
“Even though they are in sixth, seventh, or eighth grade, when you ask questions – how many of you know somebody struggling with an issue when it comes to suicidal thoughts or self-harming or drugs and alcohol,” Harmon contemplates. “All their friends are doing it, they’re in the middle, they’re struggling with it.”
And the hands show – each student is going through similar struggles.
“My friend was sitting next to me and it brought tears to her eyes,” says seventh-grade student, Addison Watts. “When he was talking about hurting yourself and self-harm.”
Harmon’s message to students is that they’re not alone and they have their own stories ahead of them.
“It can be the teacher, the custodian, the secretary,” says Kavanaugh. “As long as there is someone who recognizes them and see their worth.”
One of Harmon's next stops is a school in Guatemala.