Saquon Barkley’s Super Bowl LIX victory was the perfect seal to a terrific 2024 season. What, perhaps, wasn’t anticipated was how much more celebrations it would open up.
After being honored last month with a key to the City of Allentown and a proclamation from Whitehall Township Mayor Joseph Marx, Saquon Barkley received an even more overwhelming welcome at Milton Hershey School.
Saquon Barkley’s visit to Milton Hershey School was part of his post-Super Bowl tour. However, this particular visit had surprises written all over it. Barkley, who attended high school at Whitehall Township–about an hour away from Hershey, surprised the students after they had written to him to come pay them an unlikely visit.
“Our third-grade class wrote letters to Saquon a few months ago when they won the Super Bowl and they did a lot of research,” Elementary School Principal Amanda Smith said (Via PhiladelphiaEagles.com)
“They were like, ‘Do you think he would come?’ And we thought probably not, because he’s so busy and has so many things going on. But I think really just building the kids up and getting them excited about seeing a role model while getting them ready for the testing – it’s a whole community event.”
Saquon Barkley’s visit at the private boarding school happened during its kickoff assembly ahead of Pennsylvania System of School Assessment testing week, a coincidence that made his visit more timely.
“It’s really a way just to kind of get them locked in, celebrate their success from the ‘raise the bar’ year that they’ve had, which is our theme for the year, and really just get excited for the testing,” the Principal added.
The school, which has a population of about 2,200, had its auditorium filled to the brim, as the Super Bowl winner came out from backstage to an overjoyous throng.
For a crowd of just 2000+ students, their welcome was so overwhelming that, despite being no stranger to the 60,000+ crowd at Lincoln Financial Field and the other audiences in other NFL Stadiums, the star running back said, “that was the best welcome I ever got in my life”.
Once he was off the blushes of the heroic welcome, he did a Q&A with the students, while giving them advice on the importance of shutting down naysayers on their journey through life and sharing some of his best moments from the Super Bowl winning season.
“Don’t ever allow anyone to tell you can’t accomplish anything. Not only professional sports, whatever you want to do – don’t let anyone ever tell you that you can’t,” Barkley said. “I have a saying – shoot for the stars, land on the moon and anything you put your mind to you can accomplish it.”
After a wonderful 2024, Barkley will be hoping to receive more welcomes make even more people proud with his performance in the coming season.
REUTERS/Mike Segar
