Dennis Goodwin pressed start.

A years-old news report began to play, detailing the 2017 death of 18-year-old Max Gruver. Gruver, a former student at Louisiana State University, died during a hazing incident while trying to join the ranks of Phi Delta Theta, a fraternity.

The day following his death, Gruver’s blood alcohol level came in at four times the legal limit. “I mean, this shouldn’t happen to anybody,” Gruver’s mother, Rae Ann Gruver, said in the report, which ended with a photo of the mother and son’s last embrace.

Goodwin pointed out that following their son’s death, Gruver’s parents worked toward legislation to stop hazing — just like parents in Florida, Texas and Pennsylvania did after losing their children in hazing related incidents.

“It’s going on in every community in America, we just don’t know it yet,” Goodwin said to the crowd of teachers, administrators and parents gathered at Franklin Township Fire Company on Fairyland Road in Lehighton on Monday.

Goodwin was halfway through the first of four presentations he planned to deliver on behalf of the Anti-Hazing Collaborative, an organization he helped found that educates communities on the dangerous practice.

Locally, an alleged hazing at Lehighton Area Middle School has resulted in an unknown number of juvenile referrals being filed in Carbon County court. Authorities — including Carbon’s district attorney, Michael Greek — have remained hush about the incident and the investigation it sparked, as it involves minors.

In his presentation, Goodwin encouraged teachers, coaches and parents to be proactive in the fight against hazing. He said students should be taught about hazing and its dangers, and communities should work toward empowering and protecting its victims.

“Let the legacy in every community say, ‘We stopped that (hazing). We changed the paradigm,’” Goodwin remarked.

Autumn Abelovsky, who sits on Lehighton Borough Council, brought her 12-year-old son Landon Abelovsky and his friend, 11-year-old Konner Nalesnik, to Monday’s seminar. Both boys are sixth graders at Lehighton Area Middle School.

“I think Landon and Konner are really great kids, but I think even the greatest of kids can get pulled into peer pressure,” Autumn said.

“Parents don’t always know everything that’s going on, so I just think that any type of reinforcement to the positive behavior is a good thing, and that’s why I decided to bring them.”

Landon and Nalesnik were the only two students to attend the first presentation. When asked what he took away from it, Nalesnik echoed a statement Goodwin made earlier, where he encouraged kids to aspire for more than just academic success.

“It’s good to be an ‘A’ student, but be an ‘A’ person as well,” Nalesnik said.

“I couldn’t have said it any better,” Landon added to his friend’s remark.