Speaker to address F-M high school students and community about the dangers of drug use

By Riley Bunch

Contributing writer

On Nov. 29 Fayetteville-Manlius High School has invited Jeffery Veatch, a longtime network news writer and 2007 Writer’s Guild Award winner, to address students with his multi-media presentation “A Message from Justin.” Veatch’s presentation will be followed by an evening event open to community members.

Veatch lost his 17-year-old son, Justin, in September 2008, to a heroin overdose. Justin was on the verge of his career as a talented singer-songwriter and musician. His band, The Ivoryton Piano Factory, was in the process of recording their first album.

After his death, the Veatch family created The Justin Veatch Fund, which awards scholarships annually to young artists and musicians to give them the opportunity to advance their career in music and connect them with other like-minded students.

In addition to fostering opportunity for young artists, the Veatch family is dedicated to spreading the message about the dangers of substance abuse to students throughout the Northeast. Veatch has traveled to schools in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut and presented his talk detailing the legacy of his son and the importance of drug prevention.

Ray Kilmer, executive principal at Fayetteville-Manlius High School and member of the East Area Support Network steering committee, heard about Veatch through an EASM colleague and has been attempting to bring Veatch in to talk to his students ever since.

“For me, Mr. Veatch aims to empower young people,” Kilmer said. “I think his message, more than anything else, is there is a lot of change in adolescent lives and how to navigate those teen years. But more importantly, [he speaks of] bringing good from a very tragic series of events and trying to empower students to avoid [drugs].”

Veatch will address Fayetteville-Manlius’ approximate 1,450 students in two assemblies throughout the day and return to the school at 7 p.m. that night in an open discussion with parents and community members.

“We look for as many opportunities as possible to bring people to our community to address and talk about these things with our students,” Kilmer said. “We really hope we get a very large number of community members and parents will come out and listen to him as well.”