Ray visits Saint Louis in October for year #3
Ray spoke to over 3100 students. Elk Lodge involvement included attending the presentations, helping arrange the presentations and helping provide meals while Ray was in the St. Louis area. In Ray Lozano’s report to the Grand Lodge, he stated “This had been an excellent tour because there were so many different Elk Lodges involved.” The cooperation between lodges and districts helps make our organization more dynamic and represents how one lodge helping another lodge can strengthen our visibility in the Drug Awareness Commission and the message to Live Drug Free to our youth.
You might ask what topics are discussed during these presentations. Some schools re quested Ray speak on alcohol to student leaders to help them set an example for other students at their schools. Vaping was requested by almost every school as this is a problem beginning in the middle schools and progressing through the high schools. One high school principal was concerned Ray may not be able to hold the student’s attention for 45 minutes, but after the presentation he came to Ray to say thank you as he was so totally impressed by the way the information was presented and how it reached the students. Before reaching the next school, that principal had sent a request for Ray to come again next year. This was a message received over and over. Principals and teachers are impressed with the energy Ray brings to the presentations which allows Ray to hold the attention of the students. Have you ever been in a middle school with over 800 silent students as they listen to a story? Students write on Ray’s websites how much they learned from the presentations. This is the important work we can accomplish by working together.
If you see representatives from the following lodges, please say thank you for their participation in this visit: St. Louis #9, Affton Lodge #2635, Troy Lodge #2805, Warrenton Lodge #2662, and Mineral Area Lodge #2583. St. Louis #9 is holding October 28 – November 1, 2024, for Ray Lozano to be in the area again. If your lodge would like to be in volved, please contact Beth Schnettler at St. Louis #9, [email protected]) to see how you can get involved.
2022
His website . . . https://raylozano.com
2021
PHILOSOPHY
“I truly believe young people have amazing potential. With the right tools and direction, that potential can be realized and even soar. My mission is to make a difference in the lives of young people and teach them to do the same in others.”
BIOGRAPHY
Since 1986, Ray Lozano has educated and entertained thousands of students in hundreds of middle schools and high schools from Alaska to Florida, and internationally in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda. Ray has a talent and gift for conveying what could be construed as boring drug and alcohol prevention information in such a fun and humorous way that his audiences come away informed and entertained. The best analogy would be giving your kids medicine in a spoon-full of sugar. There’s a good reason that Ray’s audiences feel like they just came back from the Improv rather than from a “lecture.” Ray has performed stand-up comedy at the Improv in Hollywood and Ontario, CA. It is his background in comedy that keeps his audiences coming back time and time again. The fact that he has been asked to return to many of the same schools across the nation, some for as long as 15 years, speaks to Ray’s ability to keep his information updated, fresh and relevant.
Ray’s varied experience professionally has equipped him to become the unique speaker that he is today. His career started out in the Teen Challenge Ministry Institute, where he saw firsthand the ravages of drug use in young adults. Having not used drugs or alcohol, this was an eye-opening experience to see firsthand the deleterious effects that drugs have on a young person. He saw how drugs stripped away a person’s chance for an extraordinary life. From working with people fighting their way back from addiction, he realized he wanted to work with kids before they got involved in drugs and alcohol, which led him to his work in prevention.
As a Vice Principal for a private elementary school, he launched an after-school program with an emphasis on promoting a family-oriented, drug-free philosophy. This gave him an understanding from an educator’s perspective that schools are looking for the best for their students.
Ray Lozano was the Program Specialist for a very successful youth prevention program at an internationally known, Level-A teaching hospital. The youth program provides drug and alcohol education for youth ages 14-18. Through the program, Ray increased the adolescent’s knowledge of the effects of drugs and alcohol on the body, the addictive process, consequences of risky behaviors, alternative choices and the ability to make positive life decisions.
Ray holds a current certification as Prevention Specialist from the state of California as a drug and alcohol counselor.
