2 Former Neptune Athletes Will Run in Marathon
Wilson and Levasseur are running to benefit Katalusis Foundation
By ANDREW CANGIANO
Two former Neptune High School athletes are trying to help others enjoy the same success they had on and off the field.
Max Levasseur and David Wilson have been friends since kindergarten, as the two were in classes together and participated in many of the same activities.
Both were members of the Neptune High School soccer and wrestling teams and enjoyed success in academics and athletics.
Wilson was a first team all-state soccer player and was his classes salutatorian. Levasseur was a first team all-county wrestler and was the classes valedictorian.
After the two graduated from Neptune High School in 1993, Wilson attended Monmouth University and Levasseur went to Harvard University.
The longtime friends now both live and work in Virginia and are helping to raise money for a non-profit organization called the Katalusis Foundation (Katalusis is a Greek word that means catalyst).
The two will participate in the New Jersey Marathon in Long Branch on April 30 to raise money for the foundation, which was started by Levasseurs college roommate.
According to its website, the foundation is dedicated to providing individuals in distressed communities with the education and training necessary to maximize their personal development… (www.katalusis.org).
The Katalusis Foundation was founded in 2004 by Trenton Allen, one of Levasseurs roommates at Harvard University.
Levasseur was involved with the organization from the beginning, and he helped to organize the foundations flagship program, called the DELTA3 Academy, which launched in the summer of 2005.
(DELTA3 is an acronym for Developing Exceptional Leaders Through Academics, Arts, and Athletics.)
The free program, which had about 40 children from grades fourth – sixth, was hosted by various universities in the Philadelphia area.
The purpose of the DELTA3 Academy is to teach young people leadership qualities through various types of activities.
The idea behind the delta academy is to impart the leadership traits of our greatest leaders to our children, Levasseur said. We try to impart these leadership traits into the children and the way we do this is through athletic, art, and academic mediums.
Levasseur partnered with universities in the Philadelphia area to help develop the curriculum and facilitate the program.
Wilsons involvement with the organization happened after a recent discussion with Levesseur, when Wilson realized that the two shared a similar vision about character development.
Before long, Wilson decided to run in the marathon with his good friend to help raise money for the Katalusis foundation.
Wilson said the coaches and teachers that pushed he and Levasseur drove the two friends to achieve greatness.
They put it to us, sometimes not how we wanted to hear it, Wilson said about the tough love he received.
He stresses the importance of teaching youngsters personal mettle and personal responsibility to help them overcome obstacles.
Yes the cards might be against you, yes it may be hard; but you are being mentored by those who have done it and those who believe you can do it, Wilson said.
He also believes that overcoming a fear of failure is essential for children to learn, as he said often times people are afraid to try because they are afraid to fail.
If kids knew that it was okay to fail, and that failure led to success, then there would not be such a stigma attached to failure, he said.
Levasseur lives in Alexandria, VA and works for a tech startup in the Washington, D.C. metro area called BizLogix, LLC. He is a member of the board of directors for the Katalusis Foundation.
Wilson lives in Alexandria, VA and works in sales for a credit card processing and payroll company called Heartland Payment Systems.
Levasseur said he is happy the two are coming back to Monmouth County to participate in the marathon.
Im happy to go back to the Jersey Shore to do something like this, he said. I couldnt think of a better place.
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