Island Trees Athletes Helping Athletes Meet Advisor to Drug Czar at Shea

The New York Mets, representatives from the White House, and Athletes Helping Athletes members stood together on the field at Shea Stadium Friday night to recognize a special program and a group of very dedicated high school student athletes.

The students are active participants in the student Athlete Leadership Program (AHA) and are focused on delivering a strong anti-drug message to children.

The students were actually serving as consultants to chief policy advisor to the Drug Czar, Rob Housman and Athletic Initiative Deputy Manager Jeff Gulko. The initiative is a federal anti-drug program.

Before the pre-game ceremony that would honor the Mets and their student leaders, a meeting was held between the students and members of the White House staff to discuss the virtues of participation in Athletes Helping Athletes and to determine how the program could be used to support the federal government's Athletics Initiative.

White House representative Robert Housman spent over an hour talking with the students about their program. "We are looking to replicate programs like this," Housman said. "Many schools across the country have informal programs, but this is the first we've seen where it is well organized, with in-depth training involved, where the high school athletic directors are supportive and where a professional team has decided to lend its name to the effort. We want to shine the spotlight on programs like this because we want people to know about them.

Although the Mets lost the game that evening, it was a great night for all.