Gian Paul Gonzalez \u201907 doesn\u2019t waste time dwelling on limitations. Gian Paul is an educator of high school\u00a0students from his home city of Union City, New Jersey as well as high school students across the state and has\u00a0also been an adjunct professor to graduate students seeking their master\u2019s degrees in education. In addition, he is managing a successful career as a motivational speaker and as founder of a community-based youth initiative. With a schedule like his, Gonzalez is determined to make every minute count.<\/p>\n
When Gonzalez, a recent Montclair graduate and first-year history teacher, was invited to offer words of inspiration to the New York Giants in December 2011, he seized the moment. With his infamous \u201cAll In\u201d speech, Gonzalez motivated some of the country\u2019s most elite athletes to turn their season around and win the 2012 NFL Super Bowl.<\/p>\n
It is tempting to think of Gonzalez\u2019s speech, and the national recognition that followed, as a fortunate twist of fate. But doing so would ignore the level of dedication this educator and community advocate pours into everything he does \u2013 whatever the circumstances.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was a high school athlete, so naturally I had sports in mind when I was researching colleges,\u201d he says. \u201cI started out at Pennsylvania\u2019s Messiah University, which offered me a basketball scholarship. It was a good experience, but the coach who recruited me was let go at the end of the first year. It didn\u2019t feel like a good fit anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gonzalez visited several colleges, and learned that in most cases transferring meant sitting out of his favorite activity for a spell until he could be integrated into the team. \u201cMy mom and uncle, also Montclair graduates, suggested I consider their alma mater,\u201d he recalls. \u201cCoach Ted Fiore, Head Basketball Coach at the time, invited me to his team and said that I could start playing as soon as I enrolled. I wanted very much to play, but there was more to my decision. Fiore said he\u2019d like to have me on the team as a player, and also as a person. It was the first time a coach spoke to me in that way. I really appreciated that.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was an approach shared by Gonzalez\u2019s professors. \u201cThey respected me as a person,\u201d he says. \u201cThey posed challenging questions and guided me on how to make decisions. I learned how to have a purpose and conviction of my own.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gonzalez indeed kept an open mind as he sampled a variety of majors. \u201cAll I knew at the time was that I wanted to serve and give back to others,\u201d he says. \u201cI tried sociology, social work, anthropology. Then I took a history course with Professor Michael Whelan. He made every class feel like we were watching a movie. I was hooked.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMontclair is a community that allows freedom, as well as encouragement and support, to explore,\u201d Gonzalez continues. \u201cFor example, gym space was limited, so Coach Fiore offered to open the gym for me at 5:00 a.m. to allow me to practice my skills. My advisor encouraged me to attend an NCAA leadership conference, which introduced me to players from around the country. I still use some of the team-building exercises that I learned at that conference.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gonzalez\u2019s eye for opportunity and passion for giving back sparked a new way of thinking in his senior year when an assistant coach asked him to play as a fill-in for a celebrity all-star game. \u201cAfter the game, kids were coming up to me for my autograph,\u201d he says. \u201cI started to think about the power of sports in peoples\u2019 lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soon, Gonzalez was reaching out to athletes he had played with, and against, during his college years to invite them to play basketball with youth at an Essex County juvenile detention facility. \u201cWe played ball and had pizza,\u201d he says. \u201cThese are simple things that we often take for granted, but I saw how much it meant to these kids.\u201d<\/p>\n
These visits became more regular and continued after he graduated, drawing the attention of George McGovern. McGovern, who was chaplain for the NY Giants at the time, heard about the work Gonzalez was doing playing basketball with justice-involved youth at New Jersey juvenile facilities. When a scheduled speaker for the team had to cancel, McGovern reached out to the basketball player he saw bringing so much hope to troubled youth.<\/p>\n
Gonzalez is reflective when he talks about his moment as an NFL speaker. \u201cIt seems like things came fast, but really, everything happens with the proper timing,\u201d he says. \u201cA lot has to do with building relationships over time.\u201d<\/p>\n
At times, it seemed that the relationships and timing were right, but the goal itself didn\u2019t compute. \u201cAfter I graduated Montclair State, I had the opportunity to train for the NBA Combine,\u201d Gonzalez says. \u201cSince\u00a0I had kept in touch with my coach from my freshman year at\u00a0Messiah, who was training players like Greg Oden and Mike Conley of the Utah Jazz, he trained me for the NBA Combine and I was chosen from the summer roster in Los Angeles. I was on track for a career in professional basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLiving the dream\u201d was falling short for Gonzalez, however. \u201cI couldn\u2019t get past the desire to make a difference in my home city,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Gonzalez began making a difference by teaching world history to 9th graders in Union City. Once again, however, his keen eye caught a detail that others missed. \u201cI noticed that there were few after-school programs in the community, and none that were open into the late evening, when most of the crime in our neighborhoods was happening,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
That observation manifested into Hope + Future, an afterschool health and wellness program. Working hand in hand with teachers and school administrators, Hope + Future is teaching students to lead, and then providing them with opportunities to do so. More than 2,200 student members have participated in the Hope + Future Youth Community Center programs since the organization opened its doors in 2015.<\/p>\n
Hope + Future draws students in through its focus on sports, but it doesn\u2019t stop there. \u201cWe recently received a competitive state grant award for an anti-gang violence program and another grant will enable us to open a caf\u00e9 that will train youth to become baristas,\u201d Gonzalez adds, noting that the latter program sprang from his own love of coffee. \u201cAccreditation as a barista is a marketable trade that can take you around the world, if you want.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yet another grant will help purchase a sound-proof pod that will serve as a home for cognitive-behavioral programs. Every Hope + Future program is developed with the community\u2019s needs in mind and \u2013 importantly – Gonzalez is cultivating the organization\u2019s next generation of leaders from within, to ensure that it will thrive beyond his own involvement.<\/p>\n