Former Hawkeye speaks with students about education and careers

Former Iowa Hawkeye scoring leader Greg Stokes recently spoke to Diane Schnoebelen-Kramer's eighth grade civics classes at Cedar Rapids Roosevelt Middle School about the importance of hard work, making good choices, education, and career choices.

Stokes, who is now Program Director for Continuing Education at Kirkwood Community College, talked about the challenges he faced growing up and stressed the importance of grades, hard work, and getting a good education.

After sitting on the bench his entire eighth grade year, Stokes said he decided to take his grandmother's advice and work hard to get better. He went on to have a successful high school career earned a scholarship to the University of Iowa. After that he went on to play in the NBA and then played overseas for several years.

His message to Roosevelt students was, “Don't ever let anyone tell you that you can't do something or can't be someone. You can do it. It takes hard work and determination.” He discussed career exploration, the importance of a college education, and encouraged students to look at everything when it comes to careers. “Make sure that you do something you love. Then it won't seem like work.”

Roosevelt students have been working on career exploration with the Career Pathways Cluster which includes planning high school courses, exploring careers and setting goals, preparing for the ACT/SAT, and exploring scholarship opportunities. Summer camp opportunities tied into career exploration were made available to students, as well.