KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Chiefs Community Caring Team and the Greater Kansas City Hispanic Development Fund visited the Senior Seminar class at Guadalupe Centers High School in Kansas City, Missouri, Tuesday to discuss the importance of continuing education.
Chiefs wide receiver Byron Pringle and tight end Jody Fortson talked with students and answered questions regarding their college experiences.
"Education is important because it's the foundation to help you be successful in life and some kids need the motivation by seeing a professional athlete, because when I was in high school and elementary, I never saw a professional athlete," Pringle said.
Fortson told the group of seniors to get involved on campus.
"When you get out of college there's so many different outlets and networks, networking opportunities that you wouldn't have had, had you not joined that band group or that dancing group," Fortson said.
The Chiefs Community Caring Team presented a check for $61,860 to the Greater Kansas City Hispanic Development Fund, which was the Hunt Family Foundation 50/50 Raffle beneficiary at Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Chargers.
The fund helps families and students remove barriers when it comes to post-secondary education, and it also helps provide scholarships.
"I'm also a student-athlete and just hearing their words is motivating me, and it's going to make me work harder, just hearing their words," Alexis Ivarra, a senior at the high school, said.
Hearing that their visit and stories helped students is exactly what Pringle and Fortson hoped for.
"I think they got the picture of why I went to college, why I went back to college to get the college degree, and it paid off from being a student first and an athlete second, because if I wasn't disciplined in the classroom, I wouldn't be disciplined on the football field," Pringle said.
