SCNUSD #5 7th and 9th Grade Students Attend Clint Pulver Presentation through ESU #9
Below is the article from the Hastings Tribune written about Clint Pulver's presentation, which our district's 7th and 9th graders attended on September 19th and 21st. The article can also be found here: http://www.hastingstribune.com/news/speaker-encourages-youth-to-lift-one-another-up/article_948b49e6-bc59-11e8-a5f6-a7aaf99da890.html.
Fame is fleeting, but helping others can make a life-long impact, a speaker explained to a room of ninth-grade students Tuesday at the North Shore Assembly of God.
International motivational speaker Clint Pulver offered to prove the point to students.
He asked the crowd if they could name the last three NFL football players to be named Most Valuable Player. Getting no answers, he asked about the names of the last two Academy Award winners for best actor, and then the last two Miss America pageant winners.
Still no answers.
But when he asked who could name a teacher or adult that had a significant impact on their lives, most hands rose to the air. He said people remember the names of those who have a positive impact on their lives.
“When you help other people rise up, you rise, too,” he said.
For Pulver, it was a teacher named Mr. Jensen.
Pulver shared a story of his trouble at school in fifth grade and how his subconscious tapping and movement during class caused him trouble with teachers. His inability to sit still sometimes got him sent to the principal.
It wasn’t until Mr. Jensen asked him to stay after class for a conversation, which ended with a revelation.
“He said, ‘I don’t think you’re a problem,’” Pulver recalled. “’I think you’re a drummer.’”
The teacher pulled out a pair of drum sticks and handed them to Pulver.
Finding an outlet for his subconscious energy, Pulver went on to become a drummer. He obtained scholarships to make his way through college and even made his way to the stage of “America’s Got Talent.”
But without Mr. Jensen, Pulver said none of it would have been possible.
“Find people in your life who believe in you,” he said. “If you can’t find that person, become that person for someone else. If you believe in other people, eventually they will believe in you.”
People, especially youth, have enough negativity in their lives and he said students should avoid causing each other even more pain.
Pulver said studies have shown people have anywhere between 15,000 to 60,000 thoughts a day and about 80 percent of those thoughts are negative.
He shared statistics to reflect the result of that: 1.2 million kids drop out of high school in the first week, another 3.2 million kids are bullied each year and suicide is the one of the highest causes of death for teens.
One point he wanted to drive home was that those negative thoughts have an impact on everyone.
Pulver asked students to take note of one portion of his speech in particular.
“Treat everybody as if they’re going through the hardest time in their life,” he said. “Chances are, they probably are.”
Motivational speaker Clint Pulver uses drumming to teach a lesson about leadership while speaking to high school students Tuesday at North Shore Assembly of God Church.
Following the opening speech, students broke into groups for stations around the church. Each demonstrated the importance of people working together and ways to foster youth leadership.
The event was organized by the Educational Service Unit No. 9 and funded by various organizations and businesses in the community.
On Monday, 337 seventh-grade students attended the program. On Tuesday, 231 ninth-grade students participated.
Youth leaders attended from area schools including Adams Central, Blue Hill, Doniphan-Trumbull, Giltner, Hampton, Harvard, Hastings Catholic Schools, Hastings Public Schools, Kenesaw, Lawrence-Nelson, Red Cloud, Sandy Creek, Silver Lake and Sutton.
Avery Kellar of Aurora said she liked how Pulver was able to relate to the students.
“Being a high school girl, there’s a lot of gossip,” she said. “We need to stop that.”
Ellie Hutsell of Aurora said she took away the idea that students need to remember to be kind to one another.
“You need to be treating others the way you want to be treated,” she said.
Justin Gyhra of Hampton said Pulver was very motivational and he hopes the message will continue at school.
“It’s important to be more positive to others because you don’t know what they’ve been through,” he said.
Drake Schafer of Hampton said the message was good and presented well.
For Schafer, the Mr. Jensen-like teacher is Kyle Ediger, math teacher at Hampton.
“He’s positive every day,” he said. “He always thinks highly of us.”