‘Survivor’ Star Uses Fame To Raise AIDS Awareness

By Susan Coney

Survivor star Ethan Zohn spent an entire day at Newtown High School on Thursday, October 6, speaking to students about the next challenge in his life: educating young people about the devastating disease AIDS.

A Lexington, Mass., native, the charismatic former pro soccer player and winner of the hit reality series Survivor: Africa is one of the founding members of Grassroot Soccer, a nonprofit organization dedicated to training professional soccer players in Africa to teach kids about HIV/AIDS. Kick AIDS is an educational and fundraising program that is run by Grassroot Soccer at schools throughout the United States.

In speaking with students and staff at Newtown High School last week, Mr Zohn emphasized that on Survivor his goal was to win a million dollars and now his goal in Kick AIDS is to reach a million students with his message.

Mr Zohn told the students that originally he had auditioned for the television show Survivor on a lark, but ended up being one of the 16 finalists out of 800 people who auditioned for the show. Soon he was off to Kenya to compete for a million dollars on national television.

The premise of the reality show is that it selects 16 contestants and places them in rugged settings where they must battle nature and each other for 39 days. Every three days a contestant is voted off by fellow players until there are two remaining. At that time the most recently eliminated contestants form a jury to select the ultimate winner.

Of his experience on Survivor Mr Zohn reflected to the students, “I wasn’t prepared for the isolation, stuck in Africa with nothing. When all your possessions are taken away all that is left are your ethical values and how you are able to master life’s challenges.” Mr Zohn joked about winning the contest by saying, “I think I wasn’t voted off because as the days progressed and my hair and beard grew I began to look like Jesus.” He went on to say, “I did alright out there because I proved that I was a leader and a teacher. I stayed true to my core values.”

Mr Zohn confessed to the students that the moment that changed his life forever came when during a portion of the show he was visiting a hospital in Africa. Many small children were playing outside of the hospital; all were HIV positive. He was playing hacky sack with the group and found them to be absolutely delightful. He gave away, to one of the young boys, his only possession he was allowed to keep in the Survivor contest, his hacky sack. Seeing the child’s reaction Mr Zohn realized that the whole “survivor thing” was just a game and that in life it is truly better to give than receive.

When Mr Zohn won Survivor: Africa, he was uncertain what he would do with his winnings. Tempted to purchase dream cars or a gigantic plasma screen television, Mr Zohn returned to his true core values and decided to use his winnings to help change the world by starting the Grassroots Soccer organization. Inspired by rock superstar Bono’s global effort to fight AIDS, Mr Zohn committed himself to enlisting star athletes to be trained and used as inspirational educators in the fight against AIDS.

Grassroot Soccer trains and sends top athletes into schools, targeting mostly 12- to 14-year-olds, to teach AIDS prevention. In his inspiring lecture to the Newtown students Mr Zohn told the group, “I hope that when you leave here today you will have the knowledge of who you are and the challenges and power of what you can do to make a difference in the ultimate reality show, survival on earth. I want to motivate you to do the following: educate, advocate, and donate.”

At the close of his lecture, Mr Zohn answered questions, signed autographs, and exchanged words with students. He distributed pamphlets and postcards with additional information on how students can help the Grassroot Soccer organization in fighting the spread of AIDS.

Athlete director Greg Simon said, “His message is truly inspiring. He is an example of a positive role model who is putting forth great effort in an amazing endeavor.” Senior Alex Konneker who is a member of the girls soccer team, said, “I am a huge fan. It was a great speech and the videos he provided really touched me. It’s neat coming from someone on television. He inspires and motivates you to go out and make a difference. At the girls soccer game tonight all the proceeds will go to Kick AIDS.”

Mr Simon later told The Bee that the proceeds from the game as well as donations from members of the boys and girls soccer teams raised more than $1,250.

For more information call 802-649-1995, email info@kickAIDS.org, or visit kickAIDS.org.