Wakefield School welcomes Chris Herren, former professional basketball player, to speak Jan. 18

Wakefield School in The Plains, is excited to announce that Chris Herren, a motivational speaker and former professional basketball player, will be speaking to Upper School’s students and faculty on Jan. 18, 2018. Mr. Herren will speak to Wakefield students about the dangers of substance abuse as well as his own personal battle with drugs and alcohol addiction.

During the early 1990’s, Herren was one of the best high school basketball players in the nation. Soon, he was being recruited by nearly every college with a Top-25 basketball program and eventually decided on Boston College.

Fast forward a few years and Herren was battling a serious drug addiction while trying to keep his professional basketball career together.

Today, Mr. Herren has been sober for more than nine years and spends time speaking to more than 200 student groups a year.

Through “Hoop Dreams with Chris Herren, Inc.” and The Herren Project, a nonprofit dedicated to providing treatment navigation and educational and mentoring programs to those touched by addiction, he is teaching basketball from a unique perspective.

We are grateful that Mr. Herren is coming to speak to us and look forward to welcoming him to Wakefield School, a news release said.