Rondo Makes Surprise Visit To Local Schools

Great Story about Rondo lending support to local students. Guy is really taking big steps in his maturity. Glad DA and Doc stuck with him.

http://www.nba.com/celtics/community/news/rondo-makes-surprise-visits-local-schools

DORCHESTER, Mass. – Boston Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo came into this season with the goal of leading his team to a championship. He returned to the court earlier than required in order to work out with the rookies and new members of the team. He even organized a trip for the whole team to go to Los Angeles in early September to build camaraderie before the start of training camp.

Embracing his new role, Rondo also wanted to make an even bigger impact on the youth in the community. His efforts were realized Tuesday morning when he visited two Boston Public Schools, Burke High School and Harbor Middle School. Wanting to keep the experience intimate and all about the kids, the visits weren’t pre-planned but instead spur of the moment to surprise the youth.

“It was great visiting the schools this morning,” said the All Star point guard. “I’ve been blessed to play in the NBA and know it’s important to give back. If I didn’t have people in my life who pushed me to be the best I could be, I don’t know if I would have reached my goal of playing professional basketball. Today I was fortunate to meet a lot of students and hope they continue to take their education seriously because the sky is the limit if they do.”

Rondo’s first stop was Burke High School, where he spent time with students in the cafeteria prior to the start of school.

“When I saw him come into the cafeteria I thought he looked a lot like Rajon Rondo,” said one youth. “Then I realized that was him!”

Rondo took photos with students and answered their questions about what it was like to play in the NBA, as well as how hard he had to work to get there. When the class bell rang, Rondo headed into a freshman algebra class while admitting that math is his favorite subject.

He worked on an assignment with the students and even went up to the board to answer one of the equations. While this, in and of itself, would have been a great moment for the students, Rondo was able to resonate more because he solved the problem in a different way than what was taught in the school books. One student, in particular, had been having difficulty with the algebraic equations because he had a different thought process as well, saw that it was ok to solve the problems in his own way.

Following his visit with Burke High School, Rondo then went to Harbor Middle School where he visited with three classes, two English Language Arts and one math class. As he walked into each class the students became very quiet due to the shock that Rondo was actually in their class.

Rondo visited with each student and inquired about what they were working on. The one-on-one quality time meant a lot to the students as they excitedly explained what they were learning in class.

As the visits came to end it was obvious that the youth appreciated the time Rondo spent with them. Sometimes it takes just a few minutes of someone showing interest to change a child’s trajectory in school, and the point guard did his best to make that type of impact Tuesday morning. [i]

Kleen,

I'm glad you posted this; it's nice to see an NBA player encouraging students. I've read in the past that Rondo is talented in the classroom as well as on the court, especially in math.

Great to have someone they admire from the local sports scene showing interest in area youth and reinforcing the importance of academics.

Regards

Mrkleen and NYCelt,

It's hard to realize that Rondo's in his seventh season with the Celtics. His social maturation has been as interesting to follow as his pro basketball maturation. I wonder whether he's a closet musician. I know there's often a correlation between math ability and musical ability.

Sam