Connellsville resident motivates teens to reach a higher path
Melanie Gillott
"If you've got a dream, you've got to grab it and never let go." -Carol Burnett
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Mary Dreliszak spreading her message.
“Once you can set your mind to do something, you can do anything.”
When she’s not working at Geibel Catholic Junior-Senior high school as director of advancement or at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort as a concierge in Farmington, Connellsville resident Mary Dreliszak is encouraging young people into making wise decisions.
Although she planned on becoming a secretary out of high school, her brother, John, persuaded her to go to college and major in communications. After getting her degree in communications, Ms. Drelizak ended up becoming a secretary for the president of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Art Rooney. Although becoming a secretary was her original plan in high school, what she discovered was that she wanted a career in public relations.
Since she would have to drive from Connellsville to Pittsburgh every day while working for the Pittsburgh Steelers, she resigned from her job to work at a local doctor’s office. After had working there for six months, Dreliszak was promoted to public relations in health.
“This job led me to where I am today,” she said.
For the past 10 years, Dreliszak has been motivating students and has spread her message to over 100,000 students.
“I work non-profit, I get local businesses to sponsor and together I deliver a motivational statement to motivate students to do their best,” she said.
In addition to public speaking, Ms. Dreliszak has also created a blog called Mary Motivates.com. She has also written a book called People Who Inspire: Stories of 27 Ordinary People Who Are Living Extraordinary Lives, which is available on Amazon and BarnesandNoble.com.
“I wanted to write stories about people who are ordinary people but have extraordinary lives,” she said. “I choose to write about people locally, in the Connellsville-Pittsburgh area. We can be inspired by ordinary people. Everybody has a story.”
Dreliszak’s book release party was at the Carnegie Library in Connellsville and raised over $1,000 for a program called Circles Connellsville Community which helps lift people out of poverty.
Recently, Ms. Dreliszak has started a new tour called “The Stand Up and Choose! Tour.”
“I asked local schools what type of messages they want to get across to their students, and that’s how this tour came to be,” she said.
During her presentation in Connellsville, she emphasizes on the importance of “standing up and being the difference in someone’s life.” Her message to students includes, anti-bullying, anti-drugs, empathy, leadership, encouragement to respect themselves and others, and reaching a higher path.
Another part of Dreliszak’s presentation is a music video to The Voice 2015 winner, Jordan Smith’s song, “Stand in the Light.”
Dreliszak said that the moment she heard the song playing on the radio, she knew that there had to be a video to it.
“I wanted no other song. It’s a song about the gifts that we have inside and being kind,” she said.
Her brother, Paul Rugeiri, a 30-time Emmy award winning video photo-journalist, was the director of the video. She said at first Rugeiri told her that the video would be “too expensive” to make, however, “nothing was stopping her.”
Dreliszak had to get permission from Universal Music and Republic Music in order to proceed with her plan. She got the music licensing, but what she needed was actors to act in the video.
Dreliszak met Gayle Cuneo through Geyer Rhythm Nation.
“I asked Gayle Cuneo to be the consultant for the video,” Dreliszak said. “She has inspired so many and she helped me find my actors.”
Cuneo said that she was “extremely honored” to have been asked to be the consultant for the video.
This had not been the first video the retired Connellsville School District music educator of 38 years has consulted for. Her MTA Nation students would make videos and upload them on Youtube, one video reaching 40,000 views.
“Mary is a one of a kind lady. She does incredible work. She is motivating and inspiring teens,” Cuneo said. “It’s a life saving message and I hope that every teenager is listening.”
As for the future, Dreliszak hopes to visit Southmoreland to spread her message.
You can visit her blog here:
Very inspiring woman in this article. Excellent read. Keep it up!
Nice story Melanie!! I’d love to see her visit Southmoreland someday. She sounds like an amazing woman!