No Place Like Hope: A journey through poverty

Stanley Leone Jr.'s family was full of criminals, substance abusers, and philanderers. Beginning with a grandfather who was murdered by his lover's jealous husband-Stanley's father continued the cycle of abuse, crime, and addiction. He terrorized his own family, giving Stanley an image of masculinity that prized violence and control and left no room for love or tenderness. Enduring both verbal and physical abuse from his father, Stanley knew the destruction that a grown man could cause, and he resolved to be nothing like his tormentor.

By adolescence, however, Stanley had joined a gang and begun using drugs, and he discovered that he harbored the same anger his father so often exhibited. Sometimes that anger won out; sometimes Stanley's determination to be different held strong.

Choosing to become something different, something outside the cycle of violence, was not easy. But immersing himself in education helped, and so did examining who his father really was, with all his negative traits and redeeming qualities. Eventually Stanley found hope and began to forge a path to a better tomorrow.

After graduating from South Houston High School, Stanley Leone Jr. attended Saint Xavier University on a football scholarship and an academic scholarship. He then became an All-American Scholar, was named to the National Dean's List, and graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor's degree in literature before going on to earn his master's degree in educational leadership. He is currently pursuing his PhD in Psychology with an emphasis on Organizational Behavior.

Leone has given keynote speeches at various state conferences on education and at conferences hosted by the National Association of Elementary School Principals and the American Association of School Administrators. His inspirational story was shared during a pregame segment of Super Bowl XXXVII.

Leone credits his teen leadership teacher, Monda Simmons, for keeping him alive and out of jail. Building on the help she gave him, he nurtured a passion for at-risk young people and the adults in their lives. Leone honors his dedication to the well-being of children and adolescents by sharing his story with people across the country.