NFL Hall of Famer Derrick Brooks visited Academy on Wednesday, October 21 to talk with the students about receiving a good education and making good choices. A major focus of his speech was geared towards students to teach them what it means to have good character and why it is so important to “stand on your education.”

The student body anxiously waited for Brooks’ arrival while watching an informative presentation featuring some of his greatest achievements. As Brooks walked into the Brady Center, wearing his gold hall of fame jacket, the students stood and greeted him with a large round of applause.

Once at the podium, Brooks began to thank the students and teachers and gave them some background information about his youth and football days. He recalled his high school days, when his father made it clear to him how a person with integrity should act; how gloating about how good you are at a sport means nothing and that school should always come first.

At the age of eight, Brooks quit football with his fathers permission, however he ended up playing football once again and eventually ended up playing for his high school team as the only African-American athlete in his class. Brooks dreamed of being an insurance man, and to do so he wanted to go to college, never dreaming of being a pro-football player. He used his football skills to earn a football scholarship so that he would be able to afford attending Florida State University in order to earn the degree required to pursue his intended career as an insurance man.

Brooks focused on CHARACTER, an acronym that he uses to remember what exactly it means to have character.

c = conduct

h = humility to serve the needs of others

a = accountability- be accountable for your actions

r = respect yourself and others

a = action- be a doer not a talker

c = choices have consequences and the ones we make today will effect jour future

t = that person who can be trusted when no one is watching

e =  effort does not take talent

r = responsibility is something we have to claim and own

AHN freshman, Priscilla Santiago, shared how she felt about Brooks’ interpretation of character. “I thought that making it an acronym was a fun way of explaining it,” says Santiago “I thought he was really funny.”

Even though a lot of Academy students knew of Brooks, some of the students did not know who he was. Derrick Brooks founded the Derrick Brooks Charities, to help give boys and girls the opportunity of a good education. He started the Brooks-DeBartolo Collegiate High School, multiple youth programs such as teen summits and other crime prevention programs, the Brooks Brunch Business Boot Camp, a Derrick Brooks Charities STEM program, and the Young Ladies Rites of Passage Program.

Derrick Brooks Charities in Partnership with Fifth Third Bank Kicks off Brooks Bunch http://t.co/9o06zvcKcV

— Derrick Brooks (@DBrooks55) September 24, 2015

What Brooks said stuck with many of the students. One AHN freshman, Jasmine Weaver, explained what she took from Brooks’ speech. “I thought the most interesting part about his speech was when he connected his speech back to his life so we could relate to it. His speech helped me realize that I should be focused on my education and that I should take it seriously.”

Speaking of Brooks-DeBartolo Collegiate High School, Academy varsity Basketball team will play them on December 8th (away) and January 5th (home). The Academy JV Basketball team will play Brooks-DeBartolo Collegiate High School on November 14th (home) and December 17th (away).