FLEX TIME Upp e r S choo l : C l ass of 2 0 0 5 S p e a k e r S e ri e s
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Eric Greitens, founder and CEO of The Mission Continues, addressed Upper School students in March.
‘An Untapped Capacity for Courage’
“IT
By Courtney Kennedy
takes courage to be who you
how international humanitarian organizations
are, to fulfill your own potential and be of
can best serve war-affected children.
service to others,” Eric Greitens, founder
and CEO of The Mission Continues, told
witnessed children willing to stand up, face life with
Upper School students in March. “Every one of us has
Amidst pain, suffering and loneliness, Eric
courage, and begin to live their lives again as if they
an untapped capacity for courage.”
were whole because, he said, “the mission continues.”
Eric’s experience with children as they faced and
The Mission Continues, a national nonprofit
organization, challenges veterans to serve and inspire,
overcame exceptional adversity fueled his trust in the
out of uniform, in communities across America.
strength and power of the human spirit. That abiding
Greitens, named one of the world’s most inspirational
trust helped guide Greitens through Navy SEAL train-
people in Time magazine’s April 29 issue, visited
ing, four deployments in the Global War on Terrorism
Brunswick’s Upper School to take part in the Class of
and, later, to founding The Mission Continues.
2005 Speaker Series.
Eric’s remarks sparked a fire: The boys seemed to
receptive and open to the challenge,” Greitens said.
hang on his every word, not only because his stories
“In order to make a change in life, you have to be
“You have to have humility.”
about war and Navy SEAL training sounded like a
In 2007, after returning from his last tour in Iraq,
Steven Spielberg movie script, but also because he
Eric, along with two other service members, used his
spoke of worldly truth in our volatile world.
combat pay to found The Mission
Continues. Since his return, he
Originally from St. Louis, Mo., Eric was an Angier
B. Duke Scholar at Duke University and a Rhodes
has also authored three books:
and Truman Scholar. He attended The University of
Strength and Compassion; The
Oxford between 1996 and 2000, where he received
Heart and the Fist: The Making of
“ In order to make a change in life you have to be receptive and open to the challenge,” Greitens said. “You have to have humility.”
his Master’s degree and D.Phil. In completing his
a Humanitarian and a Navy Seal; and The Warrior’s
education, Eric worked as a humanitarian volunteer,
Heart: The Making of a Man of Compassion and Courage.
documentary photographer, and researcher in Rwanda,
Cambodia, Albania, Mexico, India, Bosnia, and Bolivia.
students sought an opportunity to shake Eric’s hand, thank-
His doctoral thesis, entitled Children First, investigated
After he concluded his remarks, more than half of the
ing him for coming to speak and for his courage and honor, both abroad and at home as “the mission continues.”
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