During the morning assembly on Monday, September 18, motivational speaker Terrence Talley came to speak at West High.
Over the duration of his career as an assembly speaker, Talley has become sought after by schools around the country. “Terrence Talley has been on our radar for a while but he is usually booked,” said Andy Miehe, the head principal at West High.
While his goal is to be entertaining, Talley has a message to spread; everyone matters. Be it through stories of his own or those of other people, Talley travels the country, speaking at different schools in order to let students know that they matter; that they are important.
During the assembly, Talley shared several stories showing how never giving up is beneficial. Of these stories, Talley shared one of an earthquake that caved in part of a school.
The father in that story ran to the school in search of his son and ended up searching for over 30 hours. Rather than giving up and waiting for emergency services, the father kept digging through the rubble until he found his son. On that day, his persistence saved around 13 students, one of which being his son.
Reflecting on the assembly, Shiron Mormon said, a senior at West said “my experience was very positive, while he was talking about his childhood I felt bad for him. But I definitely went into the assembly thinking it wasn’t gonna be anything I would be interested in, he made me realize how easy it is to give up but I have to keep going so it kind of hit home a little bit.”
During the assembly, Talley did more than just talking; he got some of the staff members to get on stage and start dancing. While it was unpredictable, it got the audience’s attention, an essential thing for a motivational speaker.
“I may not know who you are in this room but I am telling you right now, no matter what anybody has said to you, no matter what has been done, don’t give up,” said Talley.
