Making an impact

Whitefish High School students were treated to an hour of fun, games and important life lessons last week, which culminated in Principal Kerry Drown breaking through a stack of bricks with his arm.

The school hosted iThinkBig, a nationwide school assembly program, for a motivational talk that emphasized self-reliance and dreaming big through games and personal stories.

The program featured games like apple bobber, where teams of two boys and two girls competed to see who could finish eating a suspended apple first without using their hands, and “bloody bunny,” a take on the “fluffy bunny” game where players fit an increasing number of marshmallows in their mouth until they can no longer say “fluffy bunny.” In iThinkBig’s variation, which was won by Business Teacher Willie Roche, the marshmallows had some delicious ketchup added to them.

In between bouts of fun, however, iThinkBig got real with the students.

Jaim Connor, a speaker with the group, shared his story of perseverance.

Connor was born a month and a half early at just over 2 pounds, and was diagnosed with Russell-Silver Syndrome, which involves low growth, low birth weight and short height.

Throughout his life, Connor explained to the students, he always felt small, both physically and emotionally, and growing up in an abusive household made matters worse.

Eventually, Connor discovered San Diego’s Rock Church’s TWELVE mentoring and leadership experience, and met iThinkBig founder Chad Furlong.

As time went on, Connor found within himself the coach he needed, a skill he urged the students to develop as well.

“Coaches are professionals of getting inside of the heads of their own athletes in situations where that athlete has an obstacle that they’re up against, and the coach knows exactly what to say to that athlete, to get them to overcome what they’re facing in that moment,” he said. “Really life is like a big game. We’re out there on this field, and we’ve got these dreams that we’re trying to pursue, these goals, and a lot of times it can be tough. You can have circumstances in front of you that you really couldn’t do anything about.”

Connor shared with the students that he had recently taken his exit exams and is now a college graduate, which was met with loud applause from the student body.

In the final and most dramatic demonstration, Furlong directed students’ attention to a stack of several bricks and announced that someone they know and love would soon be smashing through them.

Furlong quickly revealed the smasher to be Principal Kerry Drown, and turned the demonstration into an important metaphor.

Referencing French Impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh, who explained his art by saying, “I dream my painting and I paint my dream,” Furlong urged students to let their imaginations run free and to follow their creativity.

A bundle of black Sharpie markers in hand, Furlong then invited students to come down and write the one thing or problem in their life that they felt was holding them back before Drown smashed through those problems.

“We’re here to tell you this — don’t let anything hold you back from the potential you have inside of you. Refuse to buy into those negative voices, somebody punking you or telling you you’re not good enough or there’s no way you can do what is in your heart to do with your life,” Furlong said. “Some of you have so many negative voices surrounding you all the time, and you believed it. And you lost the ability to imagine what you can be and do. I challenge you to dream your painting, and then paint your dream. And break through whatever this is that’s been holding you back.”

More information on iThinkBig is available at ithinkbig.org.