FB Manase Tonga speaks to the students of St. Isabella School.
Recently, Oakland Raiders rookie FB Manase Tonga visited St. Isabella School in San Rafael, Calif., to speak to students about the importance of education and making smart life decisions.
Tonga emphasized how imperative it is to set educational goals and to stay motivated until that particular goal is reached. Tonga related to the students that having a positive role model was his motivation to success. "At their age, my inspirational role model was my dad and sports players that I saw on television. I always tried to imitate my work ethic after them. Looking up to my role models has helped me become the person I am today," said Tonga.
Tonga added, "The biggest thing that I hope they took was that they can pursue whatever dream they have and to go forth with it. I wanted to stick it in their mind that there's nothing that can stop them."
FB Manase Tonga signs autographs for the students.
Richard Calcaterra, parent of two St. Isabella students, said that the students need a role model to look up to such as Tonga who has worked hard to reach his goal. "Hard work will get you wherever you want to be whether your goal is pro football, accounting, finance, or an insurance agent," Calcaterra said. "We want the students to feel confident that anything is possible and we appreciate Manase can be that role model today."
Tonga understands the significance of being a positive role model and left the school's campus hoping he helped motivate the students to continue to work toward accomplishing their goals.
