Motivational speakers use personal stories to teach students

As homecoming week continues, new activities occur every day. Champions For Tomorrow executed their annual visit to FC and wowed the crowd with their feats of strength and skills, Oct. 3.

Champions For Tomorrow is an organization dedicated to inspiring youth to reach for success. The program brings former professional athletes to Central Valley schools to teach kids about important values through their own personal stories. It is the largest program of its kind in the U.S. and it has turned into a three-day event in Fresno County.

Last year, the athletes visited 10 Central Valley School districts on 55 different campuses, which reached over 30,000 students. This number is expected to grow this year, with 12 new athletes joining the program. Former NFL player Devin Wyman and professional singer Emille Crawford arrived around 9:30 a.m. in the GL Johnson chapel to talk to campus students.

Going into the event, Jacob Provost, ’18, knew about Champions For Tomorrow from last year and was excited to hear the motivational speeches.

“I’m expecting to have a good time and be champions of tomorrow,” Provost said. “I’m always excited for new things. This is something new and I was excited to watch the athletes do their thing.”

The event started with Wyman speaking to the students about his experience in the NFL and how it affected his life. He was drafted by the New England Patriots in 1996 and played with them for over two seasons, winning two Super Bowls.

He then proceeded to talk to the students about how having fun and working hard pays off. He spoke of the three E’s that changed his life: effort, education and excellence. Without giving school much effort, he was not receiving an education and that led to living a life without excellence.

Wyman brought out a steel bar and told the kids that the strongest bars that they would ever face would be their own. He bent the metal bar with his bare hands to show everyone that you can bend them too with God’s help.

“I want to see myself as one of the greatest speakers in the world and my ministry impacting people around the globe,” Wyman said. “This is something God has called me to do. I look at Moses and Joshua and a lot of leaders in the Bible and I believe he’s given me their leadership skills.”

Emille Crawford walked onto the stage next, with a song in her heart to share with the student body. She sang TLC’s song Waterfalls, with an impressive rap at the end. She then shared her testimony about how she signed with Atlantic Records and moved to Nashville to record.

However, she made some bad decisions and ended up in jail. There she found God. After she was released, she participated in prison ministry, which got her involved with Champions For Tomorrow.

“This is like my job; I want to speak and sing all over the nation at schools and churches,” Crawford said. “It’s been fun seeing other people’s reactions and the impact we’ve made. The challenging part is being away from family but I know God’s calling us to do this.”

Wyman came back one more time to share his story with the kids . He grew up in the No. 1 murder capital in the world, East Palo Alto, and his mother took care of him and his three siblings alone. He ended up in jail after the police caught him crack-dealing on the streets.

He found God behind bars, and after he was released, he played professional football and got involved with Champions for Tomorrow. He decided to “start making right choices by listening to right voices.”

“The fun moments of this program are seeing young people smiling,” Wyman said. “The tough moments are seeing kids that are ready to commit suicide, cutting themselves, depressed. You never know what a kid will think so I just don’t take life for granted.”

Junior Ronnie Peterson thought the event was very fun and had a positive experience.

“My favorite part was when he bent the bars,” Peterson said. “It was interesting to see how he was able to overcome his obstacles. I took away from the messages that you have to make it through the tough times knowing God will help you.”

Roman Endicott, ’18, was impressed not only with Wyman’s abilities but with his motivational speech and his lifestyle.

“I thought it was a really cool opportunity for kids to be reached about following your dreams and setting big goals and achieving them,” Endicott said. “He had a great message to convey to the audience. It made me realize that your circumstances don’t really matter. It really matters how much work you put into it and how badly you want it.”

He went on saying how change is not change until it’s changed. To explain it, he bent a frying pan like a burrito. His speech ended, with him preaching how the most important team to play for is The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit.

To see what Champions For Tomorrow did last year, read Professional athletes put on show, encourage students. To find out what FC did for Homecoming Day 1, see Homecoming for Humanity: ‘Merica Monday.

Slideshow below includes images from Champions For Tomorrow’s speakers, Devin Wyman and Emille Crawford, during their presentation in chapel.

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This writer can be reached via Twitter: @schultz_kamryn and via email: Kamryn Schultz.