By Betsey Bruce FOX2now.com

September 19, 2009
BELLEVILLE, IL (KTVI - FOX2now.com)—
A veteran of the NFL is reaching out to Belleville West students urging them to take pride in their high school despite the negative attention from a video taped attack on a school bus. Former St. Louis Rams Chris Draft, known for his community involvement efforts, met with the schools football players Thursday and appeared in an anti-bullying video shown to the entire student body on Friday.

"I go talk to a lot of different groups all over St. Louis and one of the things I've been committed to doing is making sure when negative things happen that we are able to really find a way through it rather than just focusing on the negative," explained Draft. He said as soon as he saw the video of the bus attack he knew there would be a "stain" on the school's reputation. "There was a few students that really made the school look bad."

Draft urged the students to work to overcome the negative perception "We have to make a choice that we want to change this," he said.
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