Walking Through Fear - a Talk by Chris Poulos '98

Chris Poulos ’98 is the executive director of Life of Purpose Treatment at the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas. He came to Eaglebrook on April 12 to give a Hilly Chase talk. Before taking on the directorship at Life of Purpose, Chris served at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and the Sentencing Project. He also advised Senator Angus King, (ME) on addiction and justice policy and has served on several task forces related to criminal justice policy. Chris is a graduate of the University of Maine School of Law, where he was president of the American Constitution Society and represented children facing criminal charges as a student attorney in the Juvenile Justice Clinic.

 

The theme of Chris’s talk was “Walking Through Fear”. Chris had a rough patch after leaving Eaglebrook right before his Sixth Form graduation. He struggled with addiction and was incarcerated for a short time. “I did not know at that time how to walk through fear. When I was afraid of something while I was at Eaglebrook, I would quit or I would lash out by doing something I wasn’t supposed to do. Doing that made me sabotage my own experience. That made me not be able to fully appreciate the opportunity I had,” he continued. Chris told the students that the most important thing that Eaglebrook could give them were lasting relationships with each other. Watch him speak about that here.

 

Chris went on to tell the students, “What I didn’t realize when I was in this space and fully a part of this community was just how amazing an opportunity I had to be here. This place is phenomenal. You may have heard this from other people, but literally, this place is a cradle for world leaders, for people in government, for people in business, for people in non-profits. This institution breeds and creates leaders in their respective fields throughout the world. You all sitting in this room, if you take full advantage of this opportunity, you will be leaders and you will excel.” 

 

At the end of Chris’s inspiring talk, Headmaster Andy Chase ’73 called Headmaster Emeritus Stuart Chase ’47 to the stage, and together they presented Chris with his diploma, something he did not get before he left campus in 1998. Watch the presentation here. “What I believe is never believe anyone who tells you that you can’t do something because of what you have done or who tells you that you can’t do something because of where you have been. Instead, show them how,” Chris urged everyone.  

 

The Eaglebrook community was moved by Chris’s story, and students and faculty sought him out afterwards to keep talking. We thank Chris for sharing story with us.