Services offered
- Relentless Pursuit- Vaping, Drug and Alcohol Prevention: The Best Version of You
- Relentless Pursuit- Michael Belh’s Story of Relentless Pursuit, Resilience and Sweat Equity
- Relentless Pursuit- Opioids Prevention for Athletes and Coaches
- Relentless Pursuit- Parents/Community For All Programs
- Relentless Pursuit- Pre-Prom Assembly: Don’t Be A Victim of Your Environment Be A Product of Your Decisions, The Decisions You Make Determine The Life You Lead
- Adverse Childhood Experiences(ACEs)
- ALL PROGRAMS CAN BE IN-PERSON, VIRTUAL, OR PRE RECORDED
Michael Belh- Inspirational story of the struggle from Adverse Childhood Experiences(ACEs) to success, from jail to Rutgers and 2 Division Sports, From Addict to Ironman World Championship Qualifier Triathlete.
Michael Belh came to visit Delsea Regional High School last week. His presentation was amazing, he spoke from the heart and delivered a beautiful message to our student body. Our students were engaged, focused, and very attentive. Mike’s interactions with the students were on point and very relatable. I would strongly recommend Mike’s program to every school, you can’t go wrong! Paul Berardelli Assistant Principal Delsea Regional High School
MICHAEL A. BELH
856-264-4527
relentlesspursuitllcmb@gmail.com
Michael’s Youth, Student/Athlete
and Adult Experience
Why He Can Help You
Michael had a traumatic childhood. By age 7, he had all 10 Adverse Childhood Experiences. He developed mental health issues of depression, anxiety, fear, and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). He started drinking at age 12, became an alcoholic, gambling addict, and living a reckless life. He dealt drugs and began breaking and entering and theft. By the end 9th grade, Michael found himself in jail. He missed close to 300 days of school and by his sophomore year had a 1.3 GPA and scored 510 on the SAT. By the end of his senior year he would have a full athletic scholarship to play football at Rutgers University, become the only person in his family to traditionally graduate from high school, graduate from college and receive his Master’s Degree. Michael’s experience with Adverse Childhood Experiences and how to overcome his past makes him the perfect speaker and motivator for students, teachers/school staff, athletes/sports teams, parents, organizations and leaders today. His story connects with everyone and shows that with Relentless Pursuit, anything in life is possible.
What impact does Michael want to have on the world?
“I want all youth to know that no matter how many Adverse Childhood Experiences they may have been through or any other struggles they have or will endure throughout life, with “Relentless Pursuit” they can and will achieve “Greatness”. I want to help people understand the life lessons that I have learned so they don’t have to face the same struggles themselves. I have made many mistakes in my life, but through those mistakes, I have been lucky enough to learn valuable life lessons. I don’t want to hold those lessons in for myself, I want to share them with the world. So, this is why I am doing what I am doing and trying to help people as much as I can.”
~Michael Belh
READ ABOUT MICHAEL’S JOURNEY-NJ.COM ARTICLE
Why I can help students
Having experienced all 10 Adverse Childhood Experiences, makes Michael the perfect advocate for speaking on ACEs and education. When he speaks of his own struggles in school, students feel like he is speaking on their level. Not only did Michael overcome all these obstacles, he was able to become only the first person to traditionally graduate high school in his family, receive a full athletic scholarship to Rutgers University, first in his family to graduate college and receive his Masters Degree. In addition to his educational success, he has been teaching high school history for over 19 years, started a Leadership Development Club, started his own motivational speaking business, and is an Ironman Triathlete. Through his motivational speaking, Michael shares his downfall in life and rise to success. Going from addict to Ironman Triathlete, this serves as proof to your students that with Relentless Pursuit anything is possible.
Why I can help teams
Michael had a trauma filled past of Adverse Childhood Experiences yet still was able to excel in athletics due to the great leadership that he had in his teachers, coaches and community in Paulsboro. Michael played sports at Paulsboro High School in New Jersey. A power house in football and wrestling led by two coaches that combined for over 1,000 wins. The football team won 3 state titles and started a 63 game state record winning streak which still stands today in New Jersey. He was a wrestler on team that was in the middle of a national record 25 consecutive team state titles. He played two D1 sports at Rutgers while on football scholarship and learned many lessons through his years at Paulsboro, Rutgers and his own coaching experiences at Glassboro High School in New Jersey. Michael has personally trained high school athletes and currently is mentoring students and adults. He uses leadership, mindfulness, social/emotional learning, character education and team building to take the people he mentors to the next level.
Why I can help teachers
Michael believes teachers are the real heroes in this world today, but the stars of the world are the students in the classroom, the future heroes of our world. Teachers shape the lives of our youth and develop our future leaders. Yet they don’t get the credit they deserve, are underpaid and overworked. Michael can be a perfect motivational speaker for your teachers. Michael’s experience with Adverse Childhood Experiences led him to success in his own classroom using leadership, mindfulness, social/emotional learning, character education and team building activities. He can relate to and add value to your teachers, showing them how to build the best version of a classroom possible and change the culture of your school.
Why you need help and why we need to educate students and staff on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs).
- ADVERSE CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES(ACEs)
- Household ACEs
- Abuse: Sexual, Physical, Emotional
- Neglect: Physical, Emotional
- Dysfunctional Household: Domestic Violence, Drug/Alcohol Abuse, Mental illness, jail, single parent/divorce
- Community ACEs: Poverty, Violence, Discrimination, Community Disruption, Economically Disadvantaged, Poor Housing Quality/Affordability, Lack of Opportunity/Mobility
- Environmental ACEs: Natural Disasters, Pandemic, Climate Crisis
- IMPACT OF ACEs
- Behavior: Drug/Alcohol, miss school/work, smoking, lack of physical activity
- Physical/Mental Health: Mental health issues, suicide attempts, obesity, diabetes, heart/lung disease, stoke, cancer, STD’s, broken bones, lack of growth
- Community ACEs- racism, poverty, violence, discrimination, community disruption, poor housing quality/availability, lack of opportunity, economic mobility
- Students with ACE Score of 7 are 3,100% more likely to attempt suicide than a student with Zero ACEs
- Students with ACE Score of 6 are 4,600% more likely to inject street drugs than a student with Zero ACEs
- With the COVID 19 Pandemic, all children have 1 ACE, Many have more!
- 76% of children exposed to 5 or more ACEs face a likelihood of having delays in their language, emotional, or brain development.
- Over 7,000 students will dropout of school per day, that is 1.3 million per year.
- From ages 12+ there are 21.5 million students battling with substance abuse.
- Over 24.7 million students live in fatherless homes.
- There are over 6 million abuse referrals made annually to child protective services.
- Approximately 123 people per day commit suicide.
- There are approximately 428,000 students in the foster care system. Only 50% of them will graduate and only 3% will attend a 4 year college.
Michael will share his story and motivate students to chase their dreams with relentless pursuit. He will help you understand the impact of ACEs and why it is important to understand your feelings. STAYING SILENT IS NOT SAFE with Mental Health issues or anything else that they may carry as a burden. We need to teach that IT IS OK, NOT TO BE OK, WE MUST COMMUNICATE OUR FEELINGS! Michael will help students find “Greatness” and help teachers add value to all students dealing with Adverse Childhood Experiences.
Students Motivational Topics
The 4 Things You Control Every Single Day
Use Social and Emotional Learning, Mindfulness, Leadership, Character Education and Team Building Activities to add value, growth, self awareness and self acceptance
The 7 Laws of Leadership
The 7 Pillars of Living a Successful Life
Fighting through adversity with Relentless Pursuit
Take personal Responsibility for your life
Goal setting
Developing an action plan for your goals
Understanding human behavior– open people up and listen with empathy, use your ears, eyes and heart
Being the best version of yourself on a daily basis
Establishing trust
Correcting improper behavior correctly
Leading from the front and by example, adding value to people
Best Self and One Word Activity- Changing the your life with ONE WORD
Teachers Motivational Topics
The 4 Things You Control Every Single Day
Responsibility of teaching challenging students and students with ACEs
Use Social and Emotional Learning, Mindfulness, Leadership, Character Education and Team Building Activities to add value, growth, self awareness and self acceptance to your students, class, school and community.
The 7 Laws of Leadership
The 7 Pillars of Living a Successful Life
7 C’s of Championship Organizations
Goal setting for you and the student
Developing an action plan for you and the student
Understanding human behavior–open people up and listen with empathy, use your ears, eyes and heart
Being the best version of yourself on a daily basis
Best Self and One Word Activity- Changing your school culture with ONE WORD!
Establishing trust with students
Correcting improper behavior of students correctly
Leading from the front, by example and taking kids to a place they couldn’t get to on their own
Testimonials
“Michael’s energy and enthusiasm during his presentation kept the audience engaged and looking for more. We had so many attendees say they were up late that night writing down thoughts about how they could implement Michael’s ideas on how to serve young people with intergenerational trauma. He made a huge impact on our community and made our conference a huge success!” ~Amanda Guajardo, Executive Director, Tulare County, California Child Abuse Prevention Council
Paulsboro High School and Middle School was blessed to have Mr. Belh share his personal story with students 7-12 and staff members. He kept it real and captured the attention of everyone present. This interactive, life-changing assembly was moving and uplifting and should be shared with the world. Mr. Belh, continue to be a beacon of light wherever you go and effect change! Monica Cook, Paulsboro Junior High School Principal
“As a school you try and try to find assemblies that resonate with your students and that will stay with them long after the assembly is over. Michael’s visit to our school did just that. The middle school students were attentive, engaged and afterwards gave unanimous thumbs up feedback when asked about the assembly. They even went home and told their parents about the Michael’s visit. That is a feat in itself to get students to talk about their school day. Michael’s story is multifaceted reaching different students in different ways. His style and communication spoke to the students on their level. In just a short 45 minutes he connected with our students in a way I haven’t seen from any other speaker. We are keeping Michael’s message alive with a focus on leadership and the qualities needed for “Relentless Pursuit” of our goals and dreams.” Kristin K. Williams, Chief School Administrator Mannington Township School
“If you are a coach looking to build leadership skills in your student-athletes, Mike
Belh and his vision of “Relentless Pursuit” is your answer! I can’t say enough
about the message Mike delivered to the Gloucester City Wrestling Team and
the response from our wrestlers. Upon completion of the meeting, every wrestler
was eager to complete their task of choosing “One Word” to give focus to their
offseason. The mindset and focus of our athletes is changing in a positive
direction. The Gloucester Wrestling Program would like to thank Mike Belh and
Relentless Pursuit for helping build leaders within our community. We are looking
forward to Mike coming back in December to review our progress and refocus
our goals for the season.
Coaches of all sports should consider having Mike deliver his message to their
team. You will not be disappointed!” Tom McConnell, Head Wrestling Coach, Gloucester City High School, New Jersey
As a youth, Michael experienced Adverse Childhood Experiences. At age 7, Michael had all 10 ACE’s, 5 Community ACEs for a total of 15 ACEs and struggled in life socially and emotionally. He was able to rise above his environment into an empowering teacher and speaker who inspires and instructs students, teachers, and leaders on how to take control of their lives and the 4 things we control every day: attitude, actions, behavior, effort and have relentless pursuit in life.
Michael Belh’s story has taken him from tragedy to triumph. He has persevered through a childhood of domestic violence, physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. Michael excelled at high school sports and earned a full athletic scholarship to Rutgers University to play football. While at Rutgers, he was also a member of the wrestling team. He went on to obtain his bachelor’s and master’s degree in Special Education.
He even dabbled in competitive eating. In 2007, Michael competed in the Wing Bowl 15. He ate 68 wings in 10 minutes which was a wing bowl wing off record.
Today, Michael has transformed himself from a 305-lb football player and competitive eater to a 175-lb triathlete and marathon runner. He competes in Ironman triathlons, half Ironman, short distance triathlons and running races of all distance. The Ironman is a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and 26.2 mile run. He has qualified for the Ironman World Championships and the Ironman 70.3 World Championships twice and raced October of 2022 in the championship in St. George, Utah.
Michael has been teaching at Glassboro High School since 2002. He joined the website ACEs Connection in 2020 and started the South Jersey ACEs Initiative, SJ ACEs Initiative has a mission of educating all of South Jersey about the 5 parts of ACEs Science to build a Resilient Southern New Jersey and beyond. He developed and is the Resilience and Leadership Development Club adviser at Glassboro High School. He was inducted into the Paulsboro High School Sports Hall of Fame in 2017. He is the owner of Relentless Pursuit LLC a motivational speaking company. He has been speaking to schools, sports teams and organizations adding value to all in attendance. Michael currently lives in Washington Township , New Jersey
Motivational Speaker 
Sample
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