During the week of Sept. 14, speaker Eduardo Torres visited campus to speak to students about substance abuse with experience of addiction through his teenage years into adulthood.  

Torres talked to Upper School students in Foundations of Fitness and Wellness and Chemistry classes, along with speaking to juniors and seniors in their class meetings. 

 In varying levels of depth, he offered students a chance to ask questions and hear direct insight on how substance abuse, gambling, smoking and other addictions can harm teenagers.  

Director of Counseling Kathy Roemer met Torres over 12 years ago at Trinity Valley School and has invited him to speak at Greenhill for the past few years.   

“I love that he has a perspective that I can’t speak to, being someone who’s in recovery,” Roemer said.   

In Foundations of Fitness and Wellness, Torres spoke to ninth graders about advancing substance technologies, the effects of specific drugs and the consequences he faced in his personal life while battling addiction.   

“When you’re of age, you can use substances like alcohol or you can smoke, but it made me think a lot about how much control you have over your use of it,” ninth grader Lily Moore said.  

In Chemistry, tenth graders learned about the chemical makeup of drugs in relation to the brain from Torres.  

“In order for a prevention program to be effective, it has to be salient, it has to be memorable and it has to address three things: reducing risks, intervening in unhealthy behaviors and nurturing protective factors,” Torres said.  

While Torres may be knowledgeable in addiction to substances like alcohol and nicotine, he has realized that technology, especially social media, has become a growing source of concern for teenagers.  

Despite never experiencing addiction to technology himself, he has found that its consequences may even be equal to those from hard substances. Technological advancements that create risk for addiction are constantly emerging, so Torres learns and builds lessons to ensure students are informed of all possible dangers.  

“The use of tech devices is incredibly elevated, and anxiety and depression are at levels that are considered unprecedented amongst the younger generation,” Torres said.  

Roemer and Director of Sports Performance Jessen Houston hope to bring in more experts like Torres to the Foundations class to speak about other topics concerning the physical and mental wellbeing of students.   

“I truly want our students to know how to take care of themselves for the rest of their lives,” Houston said.