Opening Session and Music!
Wow! Today has already been full of events and learning. It started early this morning with a great opening session. To kick things off, the Flowing Wells High School JROTC did the presentation of colors. The JROTC and ROTC presentations always amaze me because the students are so disciplined and precise, which is often just the opposite of what most people think of middle and high school students.
If that weren’t amazing enough, there was some wake-up music by the Marichis from the Mariachi Aztlan de Pueblo High School. These students got the crowd clapping and really waking up to start the day. Take a quick listen to this one-minute clip.Mariachi Music Clip
Now that the crowd was jazzed and awake, the stage was set for Roger Crawford. I have to say that not only was Roger a nice guy–very down to earth and easy to talk with–he was also a great speaker. I heard more than one person comment on how good he was. So, what did he talk about? Well, Roger talked about optimism. As you can see, Roger has some challenges–including his hands and a prosthetic leg. However, that never stopped him from trying everything. In fact, he attributes his success to his teachers, specifically one that told him “You’ll never reach higher with your hands in your pocket.”
Crawford urged attendees to ask themselves three questions:
1. Where are you coming from?–We all learn from the past and we need to use that knowledge to move forward.
2. How long have you been there?–Crawford reminded us that success can bring complacency and indifference. If you don’t want to stay where you are, you have to put some work into it. He relayed the story about Judy Young, his mother in law who is in the National Skeet Shooting Hall of Fame. When he asked her how she became a world champion, she said “You practice when you want to and you practice when you don’t want to.”
3. Where are you going?–Crawford is a big advocate of continuing to move and improve. He said, “You’ll find what it takes today when you see hope tomorrow.” Basically, he encouraged people to continue to look where they want to be and work to accomplish that.
Crawford’s message was extremely well received–so much so that he got a standing ovation!
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