On behalf of Mr. Stephenson and the entire Riverside Education Academy family, I want to express my sincere thanks for affording Riverside the opportunity to participate in the Choices Matter assembly. We cannot begin to tell you the profound effect this amazing program had on our students and staff. The commitment of Alliance and the Connecticut State Highway Department to students across the nation to make the right choices is greatly appreciated. Participating in the Choices Matter Program has been an invaluable opportunity or our school. We are forever grateful to you for the resources and support you provided. We are also indebted to Mr. Emt, J.J., and Jonathan for the outstanding presentation and their unwavering commitment to the Choices Matter program.
Thank you again for your generosity and leadership.
Warmly,

Thank you so much for presenting to our students! I believe your message touched them and they will be more likely to think about driving consequences in the future.

I wanted to send you a quick thank you for your persistence in getting Choices Matter to Winslow High School. I know that principals can be hard to reach sometimes, but I truly appreciate you keeping on me to get Choices Matter and Steve Emt to Winslow High School. There was a great buzz at the school yesterday and I have heard from parents how their students had come home talking about the presentation.
I truly appreciate the opportunity for our school and hope we can work together again to make it happen. Not to mention that your team was awesome yesterday! Please share my thanks with them as well!

There are no words to describe how wonderful our day at school was yesterday.

David was an outstanding speaker – his humor, music, honesty, was all spot on.

Teachers were telling me this morning that yesterday was one of the best experiences in their 20 years of teaching. The students were still talking about it today, we have been able to have conversations about forgiveness, determination, will power, and decision making.

We look forward to working with you all in the future. We can not thank you all enough, please send our sincerest gratitude to your speakers, activity organizers and your sponsors.

I wanted to send you a quick thank you for reaching out about visiting BFMS. Fletcher and the VPA team were super flexible, patient and awesome to listen to! My students were super engaged and I’m really grateful they got to experience Fletchers story. I think it made a huge impact.

Thank you so much, I hope we can stay in touch in the future!

I just wanted to reach out and thank you and your wonderful team again for coming to Mount View High School and speaking to our students and staff about safe driving practices in your Choices Matter presentation. I was grateful for the time we had together and really appreciate your ability to not only educate but engage and empathize through your difficult experience with others.

Warm regards,

“We were so thankful to have David! It was a very worthwhile experience. The students and staff were very complimentary. Students in particular found the presentation to be relevant and meaningful.”

I was left without words. Truly amazing speech that I will not forget. I’ll see you on TV next year for the Olympics.

Thank you so much, your words were really inspiring and make me want to push myself further.

Thank you for your time and truly amazing wisdom spread to our school!

Thank you for sharing your story and inspiring our students to be their best selves!

It was absolutely fantastic! From the set up to the presentation- everything was very well done! If you have any kind of evaluation form for me to fill out, I would be happy to. It was a blessing for our students and staff! Fletcher did a great job relating to and engaging with the students.

So glad you reached out to us and we have this connection now!

I thought it went super well. Our kids were so engaged with the presentation. I think as it sits it is great. It is very unique to get somebody like Chris who has gone through what he has be willing to share his story and hurt over and over again. I think the message in that is powerful.

I highly recommend Tammy as a speaker on driver and passenger safety. She shares her son’s story with heartfelt compassion, creating a powerful and personal connection with students. Her genuine concern for their well-being is evident, and her message truly resonates. Tammy’s dedication to promoting safety among young people is both inspiring and impactful.

Dear Fletcher Cleaves,

Thank you for visiting our school. Your presentation was so hearwarming. You are so strong. I wasn’t prepared, I thought this was just gonna be some lecture but actually it was your story. Amazing. You proved everyone wrong that doubted you. I almost cried your presentation was so nice!! It was interesting and amazing. You blanaced your presentation so nicely with humor and inspirational information. You are so positive and always see the good.

Sincerely,

Just wanted to say thank you for coming to Angola High School on April 8, 2025. Cara did a traffic job with her presentation and I have received multiple compliments from student, teachers, parents and staff.

It was great having your assistance in reaching out to our kids and trying to make them understand that choices do matter.

This assembly is fitting in great with the mock crash we are having on April 15, 2025 and with both presentation maybe we can make a difference in kids lives and bring the rising number of traffic fatalities down.

I hope we can work together next year and bring you back to Angola High School for another great presentation.

Thank you,

Recently, Tammy spoke at our school about the importance of safe driving, but most importantly driving with a license. Her speech at our school really altered the way I view life, because within seconds her son was taken from her in such a violent way. This outlook has caused me to always consider the consequences of my actions before I commit them, and how they would affect my loved ones. I really appreciate the time she took to spend at our school speaking out about things that altered her life so dramatically, to hopefully keep us and our loved ones safer.

We are very thankful for the program yesterday. Chris was sincere and did a great job sharing his story. We would love to be considered in the future for similar programs. It was a tough but necessary message for our students.

Dear Mr. Cleaves,

I just wanted to let you know how much you sharing your story and talking with our students means to me. I graduated from this school and during my freshman year of college I lost my best friend in a car accident. I think this is one of the reasons that I decided to become a teacher. So I could make a difference in my students’ lives and explain to them the importance of vigilance while driving. Sharing your story here is extremely important, and it is inspiring me to be a better man and teacher.

Thank you for coming to visit us.

Best,

Thank you so much. That was fantastic and Chris was captivating. Feel free to use me as a reference in the future. I have also cc’d Cheryl Johnson, the school nurse at Baltic Academy, she may contact you to see if you have any remaining availability in Connecticut.

Thanks again. We would love to bring you back in 2-3 years.

Good morning!

We absolutely loved Choices Matter and Cara as well! Her story and the activities definitely had an impact on our students. Personally, I also loved how easy it was to work with everyone – I could not be happier with it all!

One thing teachers talked about is that none of it came across as “preachy.” Students are told all the time to make better choices, but it usually stops there. With Choices Matter and Cara’s presentation, it wasn’t like that – she gave scenarios, alternate decisions, and a personal story that put things into perspective, followed by the student experiences with the Goggles, VR, etc. I believe that’s what made it stand out vs. other experiences.