By Steve Powell

spowell@marysvilleglobe.com

MARYSVILLE – High school students should quit working so hard to fit in and instead work to stand out.

“You’re a carbon copy of the people you follow on Instagram,” he said. “Never in your life will you spend more time pretending you’re somebody you are not than in high school.”

That was one of many messages inspirational speaker Mike Smith gave as the Josten’s Renaissance “Find Your Grind Tour” came to Marysville-Pilchuck High School Tuesday. About 3,000 students in leadership classes all over the state attended.

Right off the bat he questioned if they are really leaders. He explained there are followers, influencers and leaders.

He said influencers only care about the power. “Too much time focusing on self,” he said. “Leaders make others better.”

Smith told the story of when he was in high school he helped save a kid from drowning. Prideful, all he could think of was, “I saved his life.” His football coach called him out on it.

“You don’t care about that kid,” he said his coach told him. “Helping people happens when no one else is looking.”

Smith shared that he feels students today are being lied to, just like when he was in school. He said you don’t have to be perfect and get great grades to be successful.

Smith said the chronology of picking a job, going to college and then enjoying life is messed up. He said nowadays that people switch careers five times. He said of college graduates that 50 percent end up back home with their parents, 25 percent get jobs but not in their field, and 25 percent actually get jobs in the field in which they received their degrees.

“If you do what you love you’ll be successful,” he said.

Smith said there are three types of people: Those who wish, talk and do. People who wish waste so much time. If you’re a talker, your friends know you aren’t going to do anything.

But if you’re a doer, “You care about things bigger than us. Leaders celebrate others.”

Smith talked about how students tell him they don’t have any time. “Let me show you how busy you’re not,” he said.

He had them take out their cell phones and see how much time they spend on them each day. He said an average is five hours. “If you could get that time back, what would you do differently?” he asked.

When he was in high school and said he wanted to help people his coach took him to a bridge and told him to start with them. There were 40 homeless living under the bridge. Smith went down and talked to a few of them. He found out how important socks are to the homeless. He ended up bringing back a box full of socks. “I made it rain tube socks at the bridge,” he said to laughter.

Smith advised the students to be careful about who they have around them. Are they adding, subtracting, multiplying or dividing your life? And also, “Which of the four are you?” To conclude, Smith said, “If you want to change the world – fight for not you.”

Spotlight on others

Phil Campbell, another inspirational speaker, also spoke. He shared a story about being told that he couldn’t play baseball at the college level. At a critical point in a critical game he came up to bat, thinking for sure he would get the bunt sign. But he didn’t.

He shared it’s great to believe in yourself, but it’s even better when others believe in you. He didn’t share what happened next until the end of his talk.

The former principal shared some advice for educators. He said test scores do not define students. “If you teach to the heart the test scores will take care of themselves,” he said. “Go by the book or go by the heart?” He also advised teachers to teach to the large majority of kids who are engaged, rather than the small number who aren’t. Campbell said when the kids go back to their schools they need to follow through if they want to have a student voice.

“How bad do you want it?” he asked, adding they might have to make some sacrifices.

Campbell said everyone has the same basic needs of wanting to be seen, heard and loved. To be a leader you have to “put the spotlight on other people.” “Inspire the hopeless, empower the dreamers – that’s what leadership is all about,” he said. As to the critical at-bat mentioned earlier, Campbell said he “tattooed the ball.”

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Josten’s Conference

M-P has been involved in the Josten’s Interhigh Leadership Conference for 25 years and has hosted it for 15.

Topics included: how to build a positive school culture, how to be a better leader/what our leading style is, how to connect better with the student body, and how to run events and manage committees. They also got ideas for activities and lessons to take back to their schools, said Josh Roehl, M-P leadership class adviser.

Additionally, the leadership class did a sock drive.

“We decided to do a sock drive to benefit local homeless shelters and organizations,” Roehl said. “This way we can get kids into the mindset of giving, serving and doing good…”