On Dec. 19, recovering drug addict Christian Maki spoke to the junior and senior classes about his experiences including drugs and what to avoid, how he overcame his addiction, and what he went through from high school into his adult years.

What did you think of Christian’s presentation?

“He was a lot more chill than I would have expected, and he made it a pretty humorous presentation.” – Brandon Spitz, Senior

“I thought it was pretty good since it wasn’t as structured as Chris Herren’s usual presentation.” – Dan Nagle, Junior

“He was more honest, and I got more out of it than when other speakers have come, because I thought he was just talking to us and telling us how it is,” – Nina Sacco, Senior

How did Christian’s presentation affect you? Was it impactful?

“I thought it was a great presentation, however, it was not very impactful to me, but probably to other students.” – Clare Caulfield, Junior

“It definitely made me think a lot about other people at our school.” – Alyssa Cogan, Junior

“I would say so, it was a pretty crazy story.” – Jordan Smith, Senior

After Maki’s presentation, The Rebellion searched for more junior and senior students to inquire about their favorite parts of the presentation and how it affected them personally.

What did you enjoy the most about the presentation?

“I liked how he was a real dude, you could tell it wasn’t practiced.” – Brandon Spitz, Senior

“He wasn’t so focused on saying things like ‘Don’t do drugs, don’t ever start’ but he was more focused on how it is an experience that everyone is going to have to go through.” – Molly

Brousaides, Junior

“He was really casual about it, and I wasn’t afraid the whole time, so that was good. He had a really good message.” – Nina Sacco, Senior

“I could tell it was really from the heart, he was really honest.” – Jacob Hutnick, Junior