Are you an educator?
Why would you want Dustin to speak to your students?
It would be a great choice.
Because Dustin talks about great choices.
He does more than talk about great choices; he reveals the results of all kinds of choices, good and not-so-good – particularly related to living healthy, free of the corrupting influence of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs.
Why is Dustin in a wheelchair?
Poor choice of friends.
Why is he successful and happy today?
Great choice of friends.
It is late evening, February 3, 2001. Seventeen-year-old Dustin Godnick is drinking, smoking marijuana with his buddies and cruising in a friend’s brand new BMW. They are challenged by another ‘Beemer.’ As they speed through a curve, the challenger drifts into their lane striking their car, sending both vehicles into a spin. The car Dustin is in slams into a tree at sixty mph – backwards. Godnick’s neck snaps and he is instantly paralyzed.
Dustin’s friends run away leaving him alone, fighting for his life. Eventually bystanders call for help and Dustin is life-flighted to the hospital.
He has been in a wheelchair ever since.
He didn’t know what his future entailed, but he did know that he needed to change. The ‘party was over’ – literally. Life, however, had just begun.
Dustin explains in Chicken Soup for the Soul, that is when he faced reality for the first time in a long while. No more lying; no more drugs; no more cheating; no more blaming. It was time to accept responsibility. It was time to accept the consequences of his actions and move forward. He had chosen to drink that night. He had chosen to get in the car with three drunken friends. He had chosen the wrong activities, the wrong friends, the wrong life – and it nearly cost him his life. Now, there are new choices to make. Better choices for a better life.
The most important choice? Choose better friends – and to be a better friend.
Today, though paralyzed from the chest down, with minimal use of arms and shoulders, Dustin Godnick, is a loved and loving husband, a happy dad, a successful businessman. He is also a delightful inspirational speaker whose mission is to redirect the youthful energy of kids and transform leadership teams in hospitals, professional medical and rehabilitation associations, and corporations throughout the world.
How does he accomplish all this? By choosing new and powerfully positive friends – and by being a better, more positive, friend.
Invite the guy in the “transformer wheelchair” to transform your students by speaking at your next assembly. Then invite him to deliver the keynote at your red ribbon week opening assembly. He will inspire your students to establish a DNA-deep commitment to finding and keeping great friends who share the same passion for good grades, athletic achievement, musical creativity, championship drama and debate, and a future filled with success and happiness.
These are the cool kids with a hot future.
Dustin will encourage and inspire them to live clean and sober by seeking out great friends, and being great friends.
Is it really that simple?
Yes, indeed, it is.