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Michael Vick speaks to Philadelphia high schoolers about making good choices

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Michael Vick spoke to a group of 200 incoming freshmen on their first day of classes at Nueva Esperanza Academy, a charter school in North Philadelphia, earlier today. In his speech to the students, Vick used himself as an example of the dangers of succumbing to peer pressure rather than being a leader -- but, at least in the portion of the speech shown in the above video, mentioned the dogs he abused and killed only in the most tangential ways.

‘Growing up, I had dreams and I always wanted to have this great, lavish life and make it to the NFL, go and accomplish great things and leave a great legacy. That was my goal from a young kid,’ Vick told the students. ‘My future was promising . . . at some point, I got sidetracked. I started listening to my friends and doing some things that were not ethical and not right.’

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Vick urged the students to make good choices regardless of the choices their friends and classmates make, according to the Associated Press. (We’ll assume more specific advice like ‘Don’t electrocute a dog,’ ‘Don’t forcibly drown a dog’ and ‘Don’t put a family pet into the ring with a trained fighting dog because you think it’d be entertaining to see what happens’ were implied, if not specifically addressed.)

Vick attended the event with Wayne Pacelle, president and chief executive of the Humane Society of the United States, with which the quarterback struck an unlikely partnership earlier this year.

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-- Lindsay Barnett

Video: Associated Press

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