Global Good News: Excellence in Action

Sixteen year old, John DeAngelis is an outstanding youth, poised to really make a difference in our world. John is an honour student at Maharishi School in Fairfield, Iowa, USA and captain of the Maharishi School Pioneer golf team. He owns and runs VHS2DVD, a picture and video digital conversion business and has served as a counsellor at the John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center at The University of Iowa. He is the Jefferson County co-chairman of a Presidential Committee, and is the youngest county co-chairman in the state of Iowa.

In an interview with Global Good News, John tells the secret to his successes:

'The effects I have felt from Transcendental Meditation and the TM-Sidhi Programme have been phenomenal! After the practice of Transcendental Meditation and the TM-Sidhi Programme, I feel alive and bursting with energy. Anything that was previously worrying me and keeping me from tackling my work seems to have disappeared. I feel an amazing drive to work towards my goals. This is what helps me accomplish all of the things I want.

'When I first began Transcendental Meditation at the age of ten, I began to feel the effects immediately. I could be more competitive by using my energy towards the sport I was playing. This still helps me keep a leg up on my opponent in golf. This meditation has helped me so that when I hit a bad shot or have a bad hole, I can keep my composure and focus on the next one.

'Our school is very unique. Because every teacher and student practises Transcendental Meditation, the school environment is substantially more relaxed but at the same time more knowledge is being absorbed by the students. There are no worries about violence in the Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment. I can just go to school to focus on learning.

'This is also the case with the separated genders at the Maharishi School. My initial response to separated genders was that there was no point. But now I realize how much easier it is to focus on my school work when I don’t have to worry about what the girls are thinking. All of these factors combine to create the best possible learning environment.

'If I had one piece of advice to kids thinking about joining this school, community, or just learning Transcendental Meditation, I would say, You have to try it—it’s amazing.'

John's success as an entrepreneur has been written up in the New York Times and Newsweek on line, and he has been interviewed on KRUU 100.1 FM Radio show, 'Talking Freely with Dennis'.

"The potential of every student is infinite. The time of student life should serve to unfold that infinite potential so that every individual becomes a vibrant centre of Total Knowledge."—Maharishi