[Applause]
there I was standing on top of my
mother’s couch was my favorite toy in
hand and a blanket tied around my neck
truth is if my mom knew what I was doing
at the time she would have probably
killed me sorry mom when I was five
years old I tried to fly I didn’t have a
plane I definitely didn’t have a pilot
license but the one thing that I did
have was an imagination confidently I
stood and I probably said something
along the lines of this on this day I’m
gonna defy the odds of gravity and soar
around this living room if you think
back to the first Toy Story you could
imagine me as Buzz Lightyear as he flew
around Andy’s room leaving all the other
toys and all maybe some of you had a
moment similar to mine as a child and
for a moment I’d like to ask you to
close your eyes and imagine yourself as
a child maybe you were swinging on the
swing at a playground
maybe you jumped off of a bed or like
myself a couch but think about how
confident you were in that moment you
can open your eyes you might have been
sure of your ability to fly even if you
had never done it before but you tried
and then even when realizing I was
actually humanly impossible to fly you
probably got back up and tried again not
to be disappointed in your inability to
fly but to feel the exciting rush that
trying that jumping that taken the risk
brought you know I actually know that
some of you attempted to do the
impossible as a child because I did a
little research of my own I surveyed
over 100 people asking them if they made
an attempt to fly as a child 73% said
interesting upon entering I also asked
them what made them believe that they
could find I also asked him what that
moment felt like I’d like to share a few
of those responses with you all today I
had no reason to believe that I could
not fly even after I failed I felt
excited because for a moment I did and
wasn’t hitting the ground that mattered
it was that I had jumped my parents
instilled in me that I could do anything
don’t know until you try today I want to
share with you a moment where I truly
lost my wings but through that
experience I actually learned what it
truly meant to fly as you listen to my
talk today I want you to think about a
moment where you may have lost your
wings as well but instead of choosing to
settle in moments like these I want you
to consider standing up and choosing to
fly again as a child I not only wanted
to fly but the basketball star to me I
had the handles of Allen Iverson and
scoring ability of Michael Jordan but
that was rudely interrupted after I was
cut from the middle school basketball
team two years in a row
it was a rough it was a rough moment for
me it was then that I had decided that
it was time to try something new so I
went out for track and field and by the
age of 18 running had become my world to
me it was flying I lived it and I
breathed it I had reached my senior year
and everything was going well but
throughout the season I had a small
discomfort and feeling in my left foot
if you were young athlete like me you
probably thought as I thought oh
everything will be fine this will go
back to normal so I thought little of it
I trained through it and I tried my best
to block it out mentally April 9 2013
I’m running an anchor leg on a relay and
as I took the baton
we had the lead and my job as the anchor
was to keep it that way and finish the
race you know I had plans of finishing
that race and regrouping for practice
the next day but little did I know that
on that day I would be running the last
race of my high school athletic career I
felt excited as I prepared myself for
the last 100 meters the finish line
seemed so close I took a routine stride
and as I picked my left foot up off the
ground it began to come down as my foot
hit the ground I heard a sound that I
had never heard in my entire life It was
as if someone had snapped their finger
in my left ear It was as if everything
slowed down I felt nervous anxious and
fearful and as I look back at the
incoming competitors they were making up
ground and I had a decision to make so I
put my head down and with every piece of
strength that I could find in that
moment I decided to finish the race I
had won the race but to me it felt like
I had lost something my wings you know
maybe some of you have had moments in
life where you felt like your wings were
damaged maybe things indoors you
expected maybe you felt like you failed
or maybe even when you jumped off the
couch as a child you landed on the
ground you got back up and said man
what’s wrong with these things I had
surgery two days later and during my
eight-week recovery process I felt that
everything that I had worked hard for
was now out of reach but eventually I
made it back to my feet through extreme
amounts of physical therapy I had began
running again and by summer 2013 I was
ready to leave home for Fort Wayne
Indiana where I would be continuing my
academic and athletic career Indiana
Tech I had dreams of racing again of
flying again but during my first
two years of college I ended up breaking
my foot two more times it was during
these moments that I knew if I allowed
the weight of the pain and the amount of
frustration to get to me that I would
had refused to get back to something
that I loved so I looked for something
that was equally as important to me as
running I’d like to ask you is there
something that you need to fly back to
is there something that you once loved
that you need to reconnect with for me
that was art so I picked up the pencil
see I’ve been an artist since I was a
child I love to create things but I was
so caught up with everything that
running had put on my plate that I
stopped creating for nearly two years I
couldn’t tell you why but I knew that
all the free time that I had due to my
injuries could only be beneficial if I
looked at it from a completely different
perspective at first I was down on
myself I lacked belief and what had once
been my wings to fly to feel purposeful
and impactful I could not do so I relied
on my art and as I I I relied on my art
after hundreds of pieces of crumpled up
paper this is what I came up with let me
introduce you to my character’s idea my
firstborn he’s a charismatic live in his
own life in which he leads us to find
the treasures that we have buried deep
inside of us dream is ideas imaginative
brave best friend and although he looks
very inviting he’s not always easy to
grasp knocks he may look like a simple
box but he can either serve as a friend
or an enemy he could either box you in
or serve as a step up as I got more
engaged with my art I felt as if my
wings were beginning to spread again I
regained confidence to myself my dreams
and my ideas I felt as if I was flying
again sometimes life may call us to slow
down we may fall but when we do the
magic is in getting up and deciding to
fly again I really believed that I can
do something special with my art it was
a long shot
but with one wing damaged I refuse to
leave the other unused life may call us
to slow down we may fall but when we do
the magic isn’t getting up and deciding
to fly again I never sought out to
answer the question can I fly instead I
imagined myself as the five-year-old
filled with confidence standing on top
of my mother’s couch and I jumped only
this time I didn’t hit the ground I
allowed my mind to show me all that
could be possible and all the small
achievements along the way allowed me to
know that I could fly so I told you a
little bit about my art and a little bit
about the challenges that I had was
running but track and field still meant
a lot to me I’d wanted to be a part of
the history that my track and field team
at Indiana Tech was making but I was
afraid I would always question myself
can I do this but i had my coaches my
teammates and my family standing beside
me as they believed that I could fly
it was 2015 in that season I ended up
traveling to the national championship
with my team as an alternate for the 4
by 100 meter relay
as we traveled I looked out the window
with the feeling of achievement feeling
as if I had done it I was racing and my
art was impacting others I believed in
myself more than ever
who would have thought that after such
little activity deciding to jump would
allow me to see such a beautiful view in
that view was something that we all
deserve to see you know if we let life
tell us how high we can go we might find
ourselves on the ground with the
imagination the imagination is boundless
so I ask you what is it that you want to
do who is it that you want to become and
I challenge you to imagine herself as a
child filled with confidence and belief
in jumbo
I’d like to leave you all with a quote
and ask one small favor of you Erin
Hanson once said there is freedom waving
for you on the breezes of the sky and
you ask what if I fall oh but my darling
what if you fly lastly I would like to
ask you to repeat these words after me
one by one I can yes you can
there I was standing on top of my
mother’s couch was my favorite toy in
hand and a blanket tied around my neck
truth is if my mom knew what I was doing
at the time she would have probably
killed me sorry mom when I was five
years old I tried to fly I didn’t have a
plane I definitely didn’t have a pilot
license but the one thing that I did
have was an imagination confidently I
stood and I probably said something
along the lines of this on this day I’m
gonna defy the odds of gravity and soar
around this living room if you think
back to the first Toy Story you could
imagine me as Buzz Lightyear as he flew
around Andy’s room leaving all the other
toys and all maybe some of you had a
moment similar to mine as a child and
for a moment I’d like to ask you to
close your eyes and imagine yourself as
a child maybe you were swinging on the
swing at a playground
maybe you jumped off of a bed or like
myself a couch but think about how
confident you were in that moment you
can open your eyes you might have been
sure of your ability to fly even if you
had never done it before but you tried
and then even when realizing I was
actually humanly impossible to fly you
probably got back up and tried again not
to be disappointed in your inability to
fly but to feel the exciting rush that
trying that jumping that taken the risk
brought you know I actually know that
some of you attempted to do the
impossible as a child because I did a
little research of my own I surveyed
over 100 people asking them if they made
an attempt to fly as a child 73% said
interesting upon entering I also asked
them what made them believe that they
could find I also asked him what that
moment felt like I’d like to share a few
of those responses with you all today I
had no reason to believe that I could
not fly even after I failed I felt
excited because for a moment I did and
wasn’t hitting the ground that mattered
it was that I had jumped my parents
instilled in me that I could do anything
don’t know until you try today I want to
share with you a moment where I truly
lost my wings but through that
experience I actually learned what it
truly meant to fly as you listen to my
talk today I want you to think about a
moment where you may have lost your
wings as well but instead of choosing to
settle in moments like these I want you
to consider standing up and choosing to
fly again as a child I not only wanted
to fly but the basketball star to me I
had the handles of Allen Iverson and
scoring ability of Michael Jordan but
that was rudely interrupted after I was
cut from the middle school basketball
team two years in a row
it was a rough it was a rough moment for
me it was then that I had decided that
it was time to try something new so I
went out for track and field and by the
age of 18 running had become my world to
me it was flying I lived it and I
breathed it I had reached my senior year
and everything was going well but
throughout the season I had a small
discomfort and feeling in my left foot
if you were young athlete like me you
probably thought as I thought oh
everything will be fine this will go
back to normal so I thought little of it
I trained through it and I tried my best
to block it out mentally April 9 2013
I’m running an anchor leg on a relay and
as I took the baton
we had the lead and my job as the anchor
was to keep it that way and finish the
race you know I had plans of finishing
that race and regrouping for practice
the next day but little did I know that
on that day I would be running the last
race of my high school athletic career I
felt excited as I prepared myself for
the last 100 meters the finish line
seemed so close I took a routine stride
and as I picked my left foot up off the
ground it began to come down as my foot
hit the ground I heard a sound that I
had never heard in my entire life It was
as if someone had snapped their finger
in my left ear It was as if everything
slowed down I felt nervous anxious and
fearful and as I look back at the
incoming competitors they were making up
ground and I had a decision to make so I
put my head down and with every piece of
strength that I could find in that
moment I decided to finish the race I
had won the race but to me it felt like
I had lost something my wings you know
maybe some of you have had moments in
life where you felt like your wings were
damaged maybe things indoors you
expected maybe you felt like you failed
or maybe even when you jumped off the
couch as a child you landed on the
ground you got back up and said man
what’s wrong with these things I had
surgery two days later and during my
eight-week recovery process I felt that
everything that I had worked hard for
was now out of reach but eventually I
made it back to my feet through extreme
amounts of physical therapy I had began
running again and by summer 2013 I was
ready to leave home for Fort Wayne
Indiana where I would be continuing my
academic and athletic career Indiana
Tech I had dreams of racing again of
flying again but during my first
two years of college I ended up breaking
my foot two more times it was during
these moments that I knew if I allowed
the weight of the pain and the amount of
frustration to get to me that I would
had refused to get back to something
that I loved so I looked for something
that was equally as important to me as
running I’d like to ask you is there
something that you need to fly back to
is there something that you once loved
that you need to reconnect with for me
that was art so I picked up the pencil
see I’ve been an artist since I was a
child I love to create things but I was
so caught up with everything that
running had put on my plate that I
stopped creating for nearly two years I
couldn’t tell you why but I knew that
all the free time that I had due to my
injuries could only be beneficial if I
looked at it from a completely different
perspective at first I was down on
myself I lacked belief and what had once
been my wings to fly to feel purposeful
and impactful I could not do so I relied
on my art and as I I I relied on my art
after hundreds of pieces of crumpled up
paper this is what I came up with let me
introduce you to my character’s idea my
firstborn he’s a charismatic live in his
own life in which he leads us to find
the treasures that we have buried deep
inside of us dream is ideas imaginative
brave best friend and although he looks
very inviting he’s not always easy to
grasp knocks he may look like a simple
box but he can either serve as a friend
or an enemy he could either box you in
or serve as a step up as I got more
engaged with my art I felt as if my
wings were beginning to spread again I
regained confidence to myself my dreams
and my ideas I felt as if I was flying
again sometimes life may call us to slow
down we may fall but when we do the
magic is in getting up and deciding to
fly again I really believed that I can
do something special with my art it was
a long shot
but with one wing damaged I refuse to
leave the other unused life may call us
to slow down we may fall but when we do
the magic isn’t getting up and deciding
to fly again I never sought out to
answer the question can I fly instead I
imagined myself as the five-year-old
filled with confidence standing on top
of my mother’s couch and I jumped only
this time I didn’t hit the ground I
allowed my mind to show me all that
could be possible and all the small
achievements along the way allowed me to
know that I could fly so I told you a
little bit about my art and a little bit
about the challenges that I had was
running but track and field still meant
a lot to me I’d wanted to be a part of
the history that my track and field team
at Indiana Tech was making but I was
afraid I would always question myself
can I do this but i had my coaches my
teammates and my family standing beside
me as they believed that I could fly
it was 2015 in that season I ended up
traveling to the national championship
with my team as an alternate for the 4
by 100 meter relay
as we traveled I looked out the window
with the feeling of achievement feeling
as if I had done it I was racing and my
art was impacting others I believed in
myself more than ever
who would have thought that after such
little activity deciding to jump would
allow me to see such a beautiful view in
that view was something that we all
deserve to see you know if we let life
tell us how high we can go we might find
ourselves on the ground with the
imagination the imagination is boundless
so I ask you what is it that you want to
do who is it that you want to become and
I challenge you to imagine herself as a
child filled with confidence and belief
in jumbo
I’d like to leave you all with a quote
and ask one small favor of you Erin
Hanson once said there is freedom waving
for you on the breezes of the sky and
you ask what if I fall oh but my darling
what if you fly lastly I would like to
ask you to repeat these words after me
one by one I can yes you can
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