Speakers
Chris Cannon
Chris Cannon, author of "Winning Back Our Boys", is a national youth empowerment speaker and innovative educational trainer. Chris developed the first virtual program (D.E.C.I.S.I.O.N.S.) that helps teens identify and overcome their barriers to success by teaching them how to maximize their skill-sets, mind-sets, and environmental settings. After struggling to overcome the appealing temptations of sex, drugs and other pressures as a college football player, he discovered his passion and purpose for helping others overcome similar pressures. Delivering powerful and engaging messages, being a happy husband and faithful father is his source of strength for today’s youth and those who serve them.
Dr. Scott Poland
Dr. Scott Poland is a nationally recognized expert on school crisis, youth violence, suicide intervention, self injury, school safety, threat assessment, parenting and the delivery of psychological services in schools. He served on the President’s Roundtable on Youth Violence and has testified about the needs of children before the U.S. Congress on four occasions. Dr. Poland is a founding member of the National Emergency Assistance Team for the National Association of School Psychologists and serves as the Prevention Director for the American Association of Suicidology.
Richard Santana
Richard Santana, nationally recognized speaker, delivers powerful and graphic illustration of cultural relevance in schools. His inspiring, unsettling and thought- provoking presentation will challenge audience members to critically assess their own perceptions and helps them to recognize how these perceptions influence work relationships, effectiveness and productivity. His message is one of making choices: between hope and hopelessness, between evaluating young people based upon our own standards or accepting them in the context of their own, between giving up on our most challenged youth or truly becoming their advocates.