Salazar ’11 to share personal story in FOX series

“I remember standing at the edge of that cliff and really wanting to jump off,” recalled the current president of Quadrangle Club and captain of the men’s golf team. “For whatever reason, I was just really beating myself up.”

Salazar had gone from being at the top of his class in high school and the best golfer on his team to a college campus where “everyone’s like that,” he explained. Looking back, he said that his depression had clouded his thought process, and he often felt worthless.

But Salazar took a step back. Over the next months, he battled back from his depression, and found solace in the Bible, which reminded him of his intrinsic value.

With his suicidal thoughts behind him, Salazar is slated to appear Saturday on a FOX television special about young adults who overcome adversity. Though depression never fully disappears, Salazar said that he now has a much better perspective on life. “I had gotten there for no good reason,” he added.

FOX learned of Salazar’s story from the College Golf Fellowship, a Christian organization for college golfers. Producers decided to make Salazar one of the 78 student role models featured on “The Real Winning Edge,” a weekly series that is running from September until March.

Role models featured on the show include athletes, musicians and artists. Each student is introduced by a celebrity from his or her field of interest, including Olympic speed skater Apollo Ohno, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. John Shalikashvili and New York Giants wide receiver David Tyree. Salazar will be introduced by professional golfer Zach Johnson.

Salazar said that filming the show reminded him of the importance of keeping “a solid perspective.”

“Even in college, you think a bad grade or a bad day in school or a breakup in a relationship is the end of the world,” he said. “It puts a lot of stress on you that really isn’t necessary, and you don’t realize it’s not necessary until you’re away from the situation and you look back on it.”

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Diane Preston-Reilly, a former teacher who is the show’s executive producer, said she hopes many youths will follow Salazar’s path from adversity to success.

“Kids look to television for answers, and lots of times we are giving them the wrong answers and the wrong role models,” she said in an interview.

Preston-Reilly added that she hopes to “change the youth culture with this program by demonstrating it’s still cool to be a good person ... We have to get back to the principles that make our country strong and make our people strong.”

Salazar said that the best part of filming was trying to explain the concept of an eating club to the show’s staff. He explained that “the producer and the cameraman couldn’t quite come to grips” with the idea until they ate lunch at Quad.

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Correction: Due to an editing error, an earlier version of this story inaccurately stated that Eric Salazar '11 is the west coast regional leader of the College Golf Fellowship.