#297 - WE ARE NATE ZAYONC, THE MAKING OF A YOUNG ARMY MAN

This is a very special and personal episode for me. I want to introduce you to Nate Zayonc, a young man whom I am very proud of. His life was not in the most positive place a bit more than a year ago, but now he is thriving as a private in the U.S. Army. Nate was a top distance runner on the cross country and track teams at Bear Creek H.S. where I helped coach him. His desire was to run in college and then professionally. However, his life at home was difficult, and in fact he did receive a partial scholarship offer from UConn, but his parents for whatever reason never told him about it. Actually, his parents were an aunt and uncle who had adopted him. His biological mother was 14 when she had him and hasn’t been in his life since he was a toddler. Nate was also born with fetal alcohol syndrome, which led to him having behavioral issues growing up. His father was 18 at the time and subsequently served time for statutory rape and is currently imprisoned on another charge. Nate’s adoptive parents weren’t great about supporting his running career, and after an incident with another boy on his high school team, they prohibited him from running during his pivotal senior year. Nate had told me that when he hit his 18th birthday, he planned to move out of the house, even though he had nowhere to go. This is where things got interesting. In today’s society, and especially in public schools, insanely, it is frowned upon for an adult to show concern for a struggling young person who is not their own. A Bear Creek H.S. teacher reported me for offering to aid Nate, and I was immediately fired and all the athletic director and principal would tell me was “I don’t know.” I only later learned that it was because I’d offered to help Nate out of his dilemma. At that point, there was no reason not to invite Nate to move into my spare bedroom in the basement. My original thought was that he would only be there for a few months until he left for Army basic training. We immediately got him back onto the track team so he could do what he liked best for the remainder of his senior year. The best part of Nate staying with me was watching him thrive in a positive environment for the first time. I’ve jokingly called it my late life fatherhood because all of a sudden, I was driving him all over and helping him in various ways to navigate his new independence. Following his basic training and subsequent stationing in Arizona, he has been assigned to Fort Carson, near Colorado Springs. What has been a pleasant surprise is that he is now home on most weekends, and we have bonded over everything from running to our common love of sports. He jokingly tells his fellow soldiers that he is staying with his stepdad. He’s very proud of his status in the Army and is strongly considering going for Army Ranger school. And I’m proud of him, too. I likely forfeited my coaching career to give him this opportunity to live in a more positive home, but I have zero regrets about that. I don’t understand why any school district would not support an educator being willing to go above and beyond for a student in need. My bottom-line message is to get involved when there is a young person in need – the rewards go both ways! I really hope you will enjoy this very special chat with a young man who is going to do great things and who has become like a son to me.

Nate Zayonc
Instagram @nathanzayonc

Bill Stahl
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