The following are just a few of the thousands of letters that BTO has received.
Please take a moment to read over them to see how our program has touched the
lives
of America's youth and helped them to become winners in life.
Dear Mr. Wieland and
Mr. Scalzi,
I am writing this letter
to thank you for speaking to Raub Middle School. Your speeches
really helped me try and achieve my goal. Before you came
to this school I was thinking of quitting the basketball
team. Your speeches made me want to keep going and try harder.
You taught me that if I mess up I should not give up and
just keep doing my best. Thanks alot for helping me and
I am happy I met you.
Anthony
Dear Mr. Wieland,
I would first of all like to thank you for
coming to our school. I would also like to tell you that
I loved your speech, it touched me very much, and to be
honest, brought tears to my eyes, just to see that you have
no legs but you have a heart and a spirit that lives inside
of you. And you have a will that is inside of you that says
"Bob you can't give up" and so I think that that
is great. See I have a few problems in my body and people
make fun of me, but now that I've seen you, I will not let
anything put me down. All I have to do is think of you and
how you never let people get you down. I really hope you
come back to visit us again.
Thank you for coming,
Ashley
R. Middle School
Hi Mr. Scalzi,
My name is Christina. I am 13 years old. Today, April 15, 2008, you spoke at
my school, Trafford Middle. I really liked your speech. I felt bad for you when
you told us the story of how you shot a hostage in that one house by mistake.
I really listened to your speech. I didn’t just blow it off and thought it got
me out of class. The things you said are true, we are getting older and in a few
years we will be in the real world on our own. It is important to prepare yourself
for the future and think about what you would like to do and how to make good
choices.
Since I was about 7 I knew that I wanted to be a teacher when I grew up. I always
loved playing with my younger cousins and being involved in programs where I can
help teach younger children. In the past year I have started babysitting for my
cousins and for families in my neighborhood. Being able to babysit, I have learned
to be responsible. Babysitting has also helped me want to be a teacher or some
kind of person who works with kids. Also, over the past few years I have had some
great teachers. They have been really nice and helpful. Watching them help me
and others around me has taught me that to become a teacher you must be willing
to help those who need it and to never give up with your work. I have seen some
students give teachers a hard time but the teachers always get through those situations.
I think being a teacher would be a great job for me. If you have any thoughts
or suggestions for me, please reply to my e-mail.
THANK YOU,
Christina
My name is Linzey, I am 14 years old, and I am in eighth grade. My dream is
to be an actress in a movie or a makeup artist for a motion picture. I have it
all planned out. I will major in language arts and I want to minor in acting,
and after I graduate I want to attend cosmetology classes at night.
An obstacle that I am still overcoming is my mom died last year about a month
after my birthday. I didn’t do what other people say they did though, I stayed
on track and kept to my path. My friends were a big part of my strength; they
stayed with me and did everything to help me. I really think this experience
helped make me stronger, and I will be ready for anything that is thrown at me.
Thank you for reading this letter it feels good to tell someone else about my
dreams and obstacles thank you for listening and God bless you.
Sincerely,
Linzey
My dreams for my life are to become a surgeon and to help people when they come
to the hospital. Another dream is to become a professional baseball player or
a football player.
If I were to do these things when I get older, I would like to help other people
either through the medical field or through speaking to kids like you. You have
shown me that people with problems through their lives can still be the big dogs
and help other people.
Things I had to overcome during my life, were having my parents divorce when
I was 8. I also had to overcome having 2 alcoholic parents that did some drugs.
When I saw these problems it just made it harder for me to try to work for these
goals like getting good grades in school and working hard in sports. But when
I thought about it I began to work harder and now my mom and I talk to other people
with bad addictions, like drugs and alcohol, to give them a hope and let them
know that no matter what, you can work and get over your addictions.
Sincerely,
CJ
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