What the teachers and parents are saying:
(students' comments further below)
"I have been principal of Redemptorist High School for twenty years, and this was the most effective assembly we have had during that time. You could have heard a pin drop during the hour-long program."
- John C. Fabre, Principal, (Baton Rouge, LA)
"It really did make a difference. We had several sexually active girls in the senior class that said they were going to be resolved to be chaste from now on. All of the kids responded well. I am still hearing kids talk about the program and their new resolve to be chaste over a week later. Thanks for the program, It was excellent, just what we needed!"
- Principal, Industrial HS (Vanderbilt)
"Your presentation was excellent and really touched the students here on a personal level. I have seen some real soul searching going on and also some very well thought out discussions that have been a result of your "give it to me straight" discussion."
- Teacher, Richmond High School (Richmond, MI)
"Fantastic! If anyone can get through to high school students, it's you. I'm sure you made a positive impression on everyone there, and the information you presented was invaluable."
- Mrs. Rapp, Teacher
"My teacher said that you were the first speaker that every teacher in the school agreed upon. There's usually at least one teacher who doesn't like the speakers, but every single teacher agreed that you were an incredible speaker and you knew your information well! Knowing the teachers at my school and knowing how critical some are, that's a huge accomplishment!"
- (student)
"I have never seen the student body so attentive during an assembly!"
- Mrs. Bembas, Teacher
"Thank you so much! You and Crystalina were amazing! Your presentation really turned many of the students around completely. Also, I've had many students through writing and verbally tell me how this seminar changed their lives. So much, that there were a few breakups that week, due to pressure about sex and other sexual activity."
- Teacher (Camden, NJ)
"Dear Anne - Have you finally settled down after such a beautiful experience??? We were so blessed to be able to hear Jason's words!! Our teens loved it - especially the boys!!! I can't tell you how many moms came to me and said how much their boy loved it!! They are reading his book and the one of the girls even shared at our Life Night some of the info in the book. Some of the other girls looked at her with a questioning look and she said "I learned it from Jason's book!!!" The girls were amazed as she is struggling quite a bit right now!!!
- Mother, (Bay City)
"Jason captured the attention of the student body and genuinely touched their hearts. His combination of humor, emotion, and fact kept the students attentive and listening. As an educator and principal, I have had the opportunity to listen to many presentations and speakers. I cannot recall any other presentation that was so well prepared, organized, and geared to the level of the students as this one."
- John A. Wray, Principal, B.J.S. High School (Baton Rouge, LA)
I was thinking about those kids who come up to you two, hardly knowing you at all, and just talk to you about their past. I think it's because they see you as a friendly figure, one who is not going to condemn them, and one who can be trusted. A trustworthy figure is probably the rarest and most important person in a teenagers life.
- Teacher (Houston, TX)
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What the students are saying:
"Earlier today you did a talk in front of the freshmen and sophomore class. It really inspired me. I've had a bad past and now i want to change my life. Thanks so much for always being there for all of kids...you have no idea how many of us have no one."
"The greatest thing about your talk was that you weren't an adult who was trying to reach down to our level of thinking and use our language. You are an adult who is really not that much older than we are and who understands the way things are today and talked to us comfortably. It really made a difference with a lot of the people at our school, and just the fact that everyone was so well behaved at the assembly is a tribute to you because we're known for having some of the worst behaved kids around."
"You are my LIFESAVER, Dude. You have NO IDEA! I can't begin to explain to you the profound impact you have had on my life. I am sitting here crying as I write this. In one afternoon you changed me completely."
"The night after the conference and listening to you my boyfriend and I talked to my parents and decided that we would follow your advice and it has been an adjustment. Your talk has changed so many things for me including my relationship with my parents. When it came to my relationship with my boyfriend I felt I could not talk to my parents especially my mother and after your talk and when my boyfriend and I talked to my parents it all changed and it seemed that they cared and wanted to know about our relationship. Having that freedom to talk to my mother about him is wonderful. I feel so much better about what my parents think about my boyfriend and our relationship. So thank you for all the help that you have given me. After hearing you I wish that all teens everywhere could hear you and get questions answered that they have had forever like I did and realize that being chaste and pure is not bad at all."
"Today you spoke at Lake Orion High School and impressed me very much, you and your fiancé. At first I thought, wow a boring lecture about sex, meaning people get up there and lecture you about not having sex. Like kids our age would listen. Although you 2 were different. You both impressed me. You not only made an impact on me but others as well, I would greatly enjoy the book you had mentioned when some of us stayed after. Thank you for taking your time out to talk about the myths of safe sex and the things that not everyone tells us about, you have made a major impact on my life :)"
"I dont know if you remember me. Its Ashley from SHHS. You spoke to our school one day last school year. I was just writing to you to tell you something. I just wanna let you know that i still have not had sex i am holding on strong, plus i still think i am way to young and wanna wait until i am married. I know a lot of my friends have had sex but i am not going to do something because everyone else is. The is not the thing to do. Well just wanted to let you know that your words got to me and i am holding on strong."
"I would like to say several things in this e-mail. I will start with a large THANK YOU! You came last year to our school too and it was right after my best-friend had died. She was the most amazing person in the world and with her we planned what our lives would be like. One night we made a pact that we would wait to have sex until we were married. It was something we believed in...and with her i could do anything. After she died, I started to let go of everything i loved. I stopped listening to my heart and everything it was saying. At one point I actually said screw the stupid pact...im not waiting. Then...You came. Turned my life around, and gave me the opportunity to make myself realize, i wasn't doing it for her i was doing it for me. Thanks Jason."
"I cant thank u enough, u made such a huge change in my life on wed. night. I never believed that two people could change and help me that much in one night, but somehow u did and it just amazed me how u knew that more was wrong with me that was i was saying. Right as soon as I stepped outside i burst into tears, u had that big of an impact on me. On the way home i just looked out the window and tried to understand what had just happened. I used to think that if i had a boyfriend who loved me and i loved them that i would feel compete and better. All feeling this did was make me an easy girlfriend that wasn't going to do anything to loose a relationship. i was wrong and u put that in perspective for me tonight. i used to think that sex would be the ultimate thing to prove love between my boyfriend and me. i was actually thinking that sex was nothing big ,after i had people who have had it talk to me about sex, and i was definitely thinking that i was going to loose my virginity before i got married, i thought it was almost humanly impossible to have that gift until u were married. but i showed me different. Once again, i cant explain how much u have helped me. i think u are an unbelievable and amazing person, u and ur wife. i congratulate u and her for the baby and i wish u the best of luck. i hope we can keep in touch and stay friends."
"Yours was the best talk I've ever heard. Especially a sex talk. Usually people are like "Ok, sex talk," I groan and hope that it's short, but when I heard you I wanted you to talk forever."
"I think your doing a great thing. Everyone i talked to raved about the assembly. it was nice to hear that it is never to late to still be pure. you didn't judge any of us. thank you for everything."
"Hey thanx for all the help. it really helped me to talk to u. when i got home i got my pornography(with out looking at it) and trashed it."
"I just can't tell u enough how much I needed that talk u gave. It really took a lot of pressure off of me, and I hope that u can help other girls or boys as much as u've helped me."
"hey, im Melissa and i heard about you coming to my High School for a presentation on abstinence. I missed the presentation but I really think it's awesome what you are doing in highschools, it's making a big impact on teens lives. Alot of my friends got the purity cards that you passed out and i thought it was really neat to see how many of my friends were willing to change there ways to become pure for a second time."
"I think that your talk gave a new and different hope to those in my school that have made mistakes already. I think yesterday DID let them clean their slates and start a new life. You related to all of us in a way that no other guest speaker has EVER related to us. I know this because I have done setup for all of the speakers that have spoken here since my freshman year. Every time, I always notice people that are falling asleep or talking. When I looked around the gym yesterday, i didn't notice a single student that wasn't fully engaged in what you were saying."
"It was really cool that you came and talked at my school. It is a topic that teachers are afraid to address but it is the single most important issue for teens."
"Today's talk was so much more powerful than the rest. To put it simply, it was Bomb! I mean, I think it just made the whole idea more meaningful with how you two gave the examples about having your future wife or husband somewhere out there and what if he or she were doing the things that YOU were tempted to do. I really put things into perspective."
"Hey! I am a 17-year-old junior at BCS High School. I play soccer and football. I just got home from school and realized that what you said today has changed my entire life. I have heard many speakers talk about sex and teens and all, but never has it moved me and affected me so much. I really thought the things you said were explained much better than I have ever heard. I came home and started telling my mother about the things you told us and I couldn't. I had to stop half way and go in my room to hide the tears that I could not hold back. Even now, as I write this, my heart is melted with the thoughts and feelings you have brought to mind. Many of the things you spoke of I have thought about many times. But never were they brought forth with such amazing explanations. I thank you with all my heart for what you have done for me."
"I thought that you and your girlfriend were such generous and kind people. On Tuesday you also went to my boyfriends school, and he thought that you were very funny and
informative! I talked to you and your girlfriend about anorexia due to the fact that for the past year I have been dealing with it. When I left school yesterday I felt so good about my
self because of you guys and I just wanted to say Thank You from the bottom of my heart. As soon as I got home I ate something, lol, and threw away all my Ym, Cosmopolitan, and Teen magazines so once again Thank You for helping me to feel better about myself."
"I just wanted to thank you and let you know how much your talk meant to me personally. it totally changed my views on women. you really know what your talking about when it comes to the whole porn thing and that was pretty important to me. anyways i have a girlfriend and were not sexually active but im totally gonna try to respect her so much more and i think about what you were saying the whole time im with her now. i think you and crystal are doing so much for high school students. more than you may realize."
"Thank you for letting me know that i am not alone and that you do not have to have Sex to feel good about yourself. I know now that you can feel EVEN better about yourself for saving it. So thank you so much. Thank you thank you Thank you thank you."
"I wanted to extend oodles of thanks to u for coming out to my high school way back on february of 2001 in Illinois when i was a senior. i now am a sophomore at in college, and what u said is still etched in my mind. (by the way, my dad went to the presentation at nite on that same day in february and he likewise enjoyed it; it's cool how u can relate to more than one age group."
"I asked you how I could keep your message fresh in my mind. Wow, I was impressed with you my sophomore year and was super excited to hear that you were coming back this year. As I told you today after your speech (in not so many words), I lost my virginity at 15 to a 17 year-old guy I had been dating for a little over a year--as your wife once rationalized, I thought that if he could hold out that long, he really loved me. Maybe he thought he did. Well, we beat the statistics—at least for a while--and dated for about a year after that up until he went to college at which point he informed me that college was his time to "sow his wild oats" or some idiotic metaphor like that. We continued to sleep together after the breakup, and then I found out from a mutual friend that he had slept with a girl he had just met on his collegiate swim team. I was heartbroken, no wait--try absolutely destroyed. He assured me when I asked him that he didn't love her, he loved me but he didn't want to keep "doing" the same person forever. How sweet. But I wanted so desperately to believe him that I convinced myself that he did love me and that he just totally lacked in self-control and any kind of moral upbringing. I got depressed, couldn't sleep, stopped eating--lost about 10 pounds which, as you probably know, 10 lbs. lost on a 5 foot tall body is pretty noticeable, all this before my biggest swim meet of the year. And, surprise surprise, I did horribly for an event I train for for 9 months of the year. I was so sick of being mad and depressed and holding all of this resentment that I came up with what I thought was the perfect plan, I would have sex with yet another guy, and if I still felt like I loved my ex-boyfriend, then it meant that a.-he could still love me and b.-I couldn't be mad at him anymore because I had done the same thing, right? I told myself that I felt better afterwards, I still loved my ex. I continued on this downward spiral up until I heard you talk for the second time. I didn't realize that during this process I had used an innocent person (someone who I couldn't help but notice kept glancing at me during your talk) to make myself feel better, and also compromised what little values I had left. The speech you gave at my school shook me up sophomore year. But this year, it really sunk in that even after everything I've been through, that I deserve someone who will love and respect me the way that I deserve and want to spend time with me and not my body. I feel this renewed hope and sense of relief that someone like that is out there waiting for me. Just me. No more baggage: no alchohol, no drugs, no excuses, no hasty rationalizations, no lies, just PURE LOVE. I think that is what I have been looking for this whole time. I'm so overwhelmingly grateful to you, thank you for changing my entire outlook on myself and life in general. I will never forget you or your message."
"I am a senior and I just wanted to tell you how much your talk moved me today. I don't even know if I can describe in words how much it meant to me. I have had sex with two people in my whole life, and now I want the third person to be my husband. I always wondered why my relationships never worked out with guys. I have dated a lot of guys in my time, and I never really got anything out of it. And now I know why. I mean I didn't have sex with all these guys or anything, but I was looking for the wrong things in them. And since I was looking for the wrong things in them, I always got tired of them after like 3 weeks. I'm going to start a book like your wife's. Letters to my future husband every time I get tempted to do something that he wouldn't want me to do. I just wanted to let you know how much your talk meant to me and how close it hit to home. I downloaded it offline and I keep listening to it. And when I think about some of the things it brings tears to my eyes. I've never felt this way before in my life, and I just wanted to thank you for it. I didn't get a chance to get a copy of any of your books, so could you please send me one? Thank you."
"I talked to you after school, I was the tall red head from the hockey team. I just wanted to tell you that the speech that you made was amazing. I have had a pretty hard life and I have made some mistakes but I never looked at it like the way that you put it. I went into that gym thinking that it was going to be some boring sex talk but you connected with me and I think with alot of other people. From what I have heard from other students they loved it to."
"Your speech was so moving that I am now writing about my experiences and I am finding myself relieved. I thank you more than you could know. I just wanted to let you know that you guys are touching people even if some don't show it. Thanks."
"First, thanks again for that incredible talk you gave to my school and I. Our high school will never be the same. Your message buzzes through the hall all day long even though you are gone. You have left a new mark on many kids who didn't know the way. I am eager to get to read your book. You said that if I e-mailed you that you could send me a copy when you were available. I sent this from my girlfriend's screen name. I told her all about you and your message. I came home so excited to tell her about the epiphany that I had during that school day you came and talked to us. I don't know if you remember me telling you this, but I had goosebumps throughout your entire speech. They got higher during every story, anecdote, or result of this or that study. It has changed me 100%. I can't thank you enough for helping me see the light. Thank you again."
"I am a 16 year old girl from Indianapolis, IN. You spoke at my school and I absorbed everything you said. You were real and spoke to us like we were people, not like we were dumb sex-crazed kids. You are amazing, and your talk was the best I have ever heard in my entire life. Your facts were so interesting, and I will quote all your wise words and information for my entire life. Everything you said made sense, and I think kids need someone to tell them the blunt, honest truth. I was planning to stay a virgin until I was married, but I was beginning to wonder if that was the right decision. I didn't have any reason to stay chaste, untill I heard your speech. I now have thousands of reasons to stay totally pure, and it is all thanks to you. My future husband will thank you when I tell him about how I waited for him, all thanks to a speech I heard in high school. I will remember you always. Your message changed my life, and I owe you my thanks. You truly make a difference in the world."
“Last night I was thinking about the talk and I’ve decided to make a promise to myself, to not have sex before marriage. I wouldn’t have made this decision without Jason, and I’m grateful for that.”
“It was like the things he was saying were coming straight out of my head because he answered all of my questions and he wasn’t boring.”
"First off, i just wanted to say that you're little talk will be something that i will carry with me forever. it is one of those things that already has a place inside my heart, and i know i'm going to look back on it when i have to make some tough decisions."
"Hi. My name is Kelly, and I just wanted to email you and tell you that I really enjoyed your talk today. It made me realize that I do want to save myself for my future husband and I do want to be chaste for him. Thank you for all the factual information. I know that I'm not the only one that got something out of the talk. One of my closest friends is dating a guy that is 19. She is only 15. I tried explaining that that is not quite normal. I don't think they are sexually active, I at least hope they aren't. He doesn't treat her very well, that really bothers me. Anyway, I've tried talking to her about it, but I think that today really hit her. I think it especially hit her when you were making comments on older guys not having enough social skills to date girls their own age. I turned around right after you said that, and she had this "deer in the headlights" look on her face. Hopefully it sunk in and she realizes she's dating a loser. Anyway, thank you very much for all the information and helping me see what is clearly the right choice to make. I appreciate it greatly. I hope you and your fiancee are doing well."
"Thank you once again for everything! My priorities have changed, and life is good!"
"Hi my name is Chris we met when you came and spoke to my school in New York. I just thought id tell you a little bout my life and what your speech did for me i moved to ny about 2 years ago i was a virgin but since ive been here things have changed i became sexually active and started having sex at first i did because i thought i would make me feel better inside about my self and the way my life was going i had slept with 4 different girls 3 of them were one night stands and one who is my current girl friend since your speech i have chosen to give up sex and any sort of sexual conduct until i get married my girl friend being the true friend she is has agreed with me and is helping me through it i have also thrown out all the pornography i have most people other then my true friends don't think i can do it but im determined to live a better life style thanks to you."
"I wanted to thank you for speaking at my school on Friday, November the 8th. You have no idea how much you and Crystalina (sorry if i spelt her name wrong) impacted all of my friends and I. You couldn't have come and spoke to us at a better time. I can't speak for the all the people who went to the assembly, but i know how much of a difference you have made in many of my friends and my life by opening our eyes and making us think about some of the situations we have put ourselves in. Everything you talked about i found myself relating to. I have been in a pretty bad verbally abusive relationship for about 10 months now. What you said made me get in touch with myself and realize that it wasn't right. I talked to my boyfriend about the assembly we had at school and he just kind of laughed at me. But he wasn't there, and he knows what most people say yo me never impacts me in any way. But you did. I want you to know you reached the most unreachable people, and my friends and I continued to talk about it throughout the day and even when we went out Friday night. I think i'm in a place in my life where right now i don't really want to be. So i wanted to thank you, from the bottom of my heart. There is no doubt in my mind that you are changing the lives of people everywhere you go. If it is at all possible, i would like to stay in touch with you and Crystalina. I have tons of friends to talk to about my boyfriend and those kinds of things, but i think it would help me a lot if i talked to you."
"You did a wonderful job. You changed my mind and a few of my friends minds about sex before marriage. I always thought that it would be okay if i had sex but now i realize it really is not with all the things that could happen. I am now not afraid to tell a complete stranger that i am a virgin. I thought that if i met i guy that i liked and told that i was a virgin or told that i wouldnt do any of those sexual favors that people talk about he wouldnt like me. I now realize that that is not the kind of guy that i would wanna be with if that is the way that he acts. I think it is a very good thing to save yourself for marriage, and for you and this lifetime to be 26 years old and still a virgin may be hard at times but you still do that. I hope i can do the same. I know i will. Like you said it is a special thing that only a married couple should share with each other. I thank you for giving me a new perspective on sex. I think you probably have changed many teenagers lives just by showing them that you care."
"My name is Jean and I am a Freshman who attended your talk at the University in Philadelphia. I was blown away to say the least. Your talk was absolutly amazing and approached sex and relationships in a way I have never thought of them. Instead of looking down on sex and making it seem like it was a terrible thing, you made me look at it in a totally different light- you made sex seem so beautiful, that it is worth waiting for."
"I just wanted to say THANK YOU! I thought your talk was awesome and the way you talked to us was even better. You had talked to us in a way that would actually make us think instead of falling asleep. Whether people liked what you had to say or not I think that in one way or another you've affected all of us and opened our eyes a little bit. You made a lot of people at my school think about their actions and whether they would admit it or not I don't know. It really truly opened a lot of peoples eyes and made them realize that omg there are actually consequences to our actions! For a lot of people your talk was a slap in the face...that they needed!! Thanks for laying it all out there and not telling us what to do, but rather giving us choices to make for ourselves. Well once again THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!"
"you are probably the only person in the world that could make a serious and sometimes boring topic such as sex and abstinence one of the funniest things i have ever seen. thank you so much, you have truly reached my heart."
“After you gave us "Romance without Regret," many people broke up with there boyfriends cause they new that they where not the right person. Thank you for all you do. Your an inspiration.”
"I really think you made a difference in a lot of people's lives. I am a currently a virgin and will maintain that status until my wedding night. I wasn't planning on saving this wonderful gift, until i heard your speech freshman year. i can honestly say I was moved and in awe by what you said. No one has ever made a decision in my life before that night when you made mine. You made the biggest impact on my life that night and I'm sure you made a huge impact on other freshman's lives last night. Last year you gave me your book and I read it and put i next to my bed as a reminder of what i promised. I know this all sounds real corny, but i look up to you Jason. I really hope you come to our school soon so i can talk to you again."
"Hey Jason, I really wanted to let you know that I think your speaking to us meant a lot and it changed my life and i see things a lot differently now. i've been going through things lately and really need someone who understands me to talk to and i think that i can talk to you. i've been feeling like i'm missing out on something because i'm a virgin, its just not common anymore to be one, and i don't just mean sex, i mean other things sex-related. there's so much pressure to do all of these things and i'm afraid guys wont like me if i'm not willing to. There are very very very few guys that actually respect girls saying no, like you. I feel like i will never find a respectable guy like that. Anyways, I just want to let you know how much impact you had on me and I really appreciate what you told me because I'll never forget what you said."
"hey, i was at a recent umm i guess little lecture of yours and it was really good. i am not sexually active but you just opened my eyes in a new way like how porn just kills our mind, since today i have gotten rid of all of it i have and i have always believed in waiting for marriage till sex and now it is finally great to see someone actually talk about it with teenager. you are an inspiration to many and i hope you and your girlfriend live a long happy life."
"you came to talk to my school yesterday and i wanted to say thanks it helped me figure a lot of things out and now I know that i want to wait till im married to have sex. I wish i would have waited to do the other stuff that i have done. if i wait to have sex until i get married it would mean so much more. and if u didnt come in to our school and talk i might not have realized it, so i wanted to say thank you for that speech and i learned a lot from it."
"I wanted to just thank you for coming to our school. And you talking personally touched me and a lot of my friends. Usually when we're told that a speaker is coming its no big deal half the school just sleeps. Today though i really believe you touched a lot of people. My one friend even who is known around school as easy and a slut really was affected by what you said."
"First of all, I'd like to thank you so much for coming to talk to our school. It was evident how your talk got through to so many people. A lot of the boys were talking about how they've never thought about marriage and their future wives, and it was very refreshing to finally hear them talking about the other side to relationships and about their futures. It was great! : )"
"My name is Kelsey, you came and spoke at my school yesterday. And i just had to write you and tell you how AMAZING you were. You almost had me in tears seriously. You definetly got me thinking. You have an amazing gift and i think it's wonderful that you are sharing it with the people who need it most. Even the huge jocks standing in the back of the room with their arms crossed, the guys that go get trashed every weekend, were cracking up. That's talent. I think your a wonderful person who is going to change the world. You've changed my heart. Also best wishes to you and Crystalina...another amazing story. Thank you for sharing your talent with me and my classmates, we ALL loved you."
"Thank you very much for coming and speaking. I would have loved to talk to you but time ran short. You said everything in such a good way and it made me realize that I am worth waiting for, and now any question in my mind that I have had about having sex or doing other things with guys that I'm not sure I want to do have been answered. I don't need to do things in a sexual way to be happy, I have known that, but-- I know that you have also answered my friends questions too about what to do about their relationships and problems that they have had with their boyfriends. You definetly got through to a lot of people."
"I just wanted to tell you that you did an awesome job. I see things so differently now. Your talk really enlightened me. It made me think of all the things I have done in my past that I have regretted, and now I am going to try to be a totally different person, and change for the better. I am going to make a promise to myself and to my future husband that I am going to wait for him, and not make any more mistakes like I have in the past. I have to learn that I am worth waiting for. You have really helped me be more aware of what is going on around me. I never knew someone like you could change my ideas about sex, but you have. Today, after school I went and baught a white candle like you told us to do. I think this symbol will remind me forever of what you shared with me when you came and talked with us. Thanks so much for sharing your time with us. Never forget us here in Elmira, NY, beacuse I know I will never forget you."