St. Mary’s students hear guest speaker at Plainview High School

O’NEILL — From Jan. 13 through 15, Tony Hoffman toured north central Nebraska speaking at five locations (Cody-Kilgore, Rock County, O’Neill High, Niobrara Public and Plainview High School) with 13 schools (Ainsworth Public, Keya Paha, West Holt, O’Neill St. Mary’s, Boyd County, Santee, Bloomfield, and Osmond St. Mary’s) and more than 1,400 students participating. As a recovering drug addict, Tony walked students down the substance abuse road and what it takes to turn one’s life around. 

After being released from prison, Tony became a BMX professional athlete. Though an injury would cut his athlete career short, Tony remained focused and represented the U.S. at the 2016 Rio Olympics as a BMX coach. 

Today, Tony continues to coach Olympians and speaks throughout the county on substance abuse, mental health, work ethic, positive attitude, the importance of self-education and the impact one choice can make. 

Students were encouraged to speak up if they are experiencing depression, emotional neglect, suicidal thoughts, anxiety, or trauma. Often times, youth use alcohol and drugs to find temporary relief from their emotional pain. 

Assemblies at schools in the area were made possible by North Central District Health Department in collaboration with grant funding from Region 4 Behavioral Health, county coalitions across Cherry, Knox, Brown, Antelope, Holt, Boyd, Rock, Keya Paha and Pierce counties, as well as donations from Thrivent Financial, SAMHSA, CHI Health Plainview, Cody-Kilgore Unified Schools, Rock County Public Schools, Ainsworth Community Schools, O’Neill Public Schools, O’Neill St. Mary’s Schools, West Holt Public Schools, Niobrara Public Schools, Santee Community Schools, Bloomfield Community School, West Boyd Public Schools, and Plainview Schools.