(Special thanks
to the Inside Motlow team for
contributing to this article.)
SMYRNA -- Motivational speaker Tawan Perry brought a series of
high-energy information sessions to Motlow State Community College students on
all four campuses recently to put an exclamation point on the “Weeks of
Welcome” that opened the 2018-19 academic year.
Perry, an
internationally sought-out speaker and award-winning author, shared three
distinct but related messages to Motlow students on the Smyrna, Fayetteville,
McMinnville and Moore County campuses: “Community College: A Game-changer,”
“Academic, Social and Emotional Wellness,” and “Success Starts with You.”
“How do you eat an
elephant?” he teased the crowd of students during his talk in the lobby of Motlow’s
Mary Lou Apple Building in Smyrna. “One bite at a time.”
Perry speaks from his
own experience as a student who enrolled in a local community college and
struggled academically. With hard work and persistence, he eventually graduated
and was awarded a full academic scholarship. From that point forward, he has
never looked back and has dedicated his life’s work to help students
successfully navigate the rigors of college.
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| Tawan Perry (right) uses "The Three Little Pigs" exercise to
point out the need for a strong foundation in life. (Photo by Charles
Whiting) |
"High schools pass
out diplomas to graduates, but no one passes out a standard blueprint that
details a direct path leading to successful college graduation," said
Perry. “I try to tell students the stuff that you won’t find in admission
brochures, before they need to know it.”
On the Smyrna campus,
Perry opened his first session by asking members of the audience to hug each
other, explaining that a study showed people need five hugs a day to succeed.
He used a variety of
creative activities during his several hours on campus to help bring his life
and career-changing message to life.
Perry invited volunteers
up for a brief reading of “The Three Little Pigs” tale. He used the exercise to
point out the need for a strong foundation in life.
“Everybody has big bad
wolves in their life,” Perry said. “Maybe it’s a job that they are unhappy in,
maybe it’s a bad boss or a bad family situation. I know a lot of people who are
unhappy in their jobs because they didn’t follow their heart and their passion
when they were your age. You are young, so choose a career that will make you
happy.”
He also had his audience
make a list of five categories: what you are grateful for, what you want to
achieve, the completion date for your goals, why those goals are important to
you, and what your action steps are to achieve your goals.
“Someday is not a day of
the week,” Perry told the attentive crowd. “I’ve checked the calendar, and
there are only seven days in a week, and someday is not one of them. Turn to
the person beside you and tell them someday is not a day of the week. It is
critical to have a time frame for your goals.”
A group of students also
was invited up to play a game of musical chairs. He used the game to emphasize
his point that life is all about competition, and those that prepare for what
is coming their way and know what they want are usually successful.
Perry cautioned his
audience that what happens at school is not usually what derails someone’s
academic career, but rather it is what happens at night or on the weekend that
creates issues with academics. He encouraged students to take care of
themselves and look out for themselves.
One of the sessions
focused on general wellness, with attendees taking a short stress assessment
test. Perry used a handout featuring boxes for each hour of a 24-hour day,
asking students to fill in what they are doing each hour on their busiest day,
to demonstrate how time management is critical to success.
“We make time for the
things that we value in life,” Perry stressed. “Look at your 24-hour sheet and
see what you are spending your time on. Those are the things you value.”
Perry encouraged students
to be prepared for obstacles in life because everybody has them.
“Finish what you start,
and right now that means finish at Motlow State,” he added. “Break life’s big
goals into little pieces and finish them one piece at a time. Before you know
it, you look up and the big goal is complete. Then you move on to the next
one.”
He pointed out that
people who write up a weekly to-do list have a much greater opportunity to get
things done. Discouragement, being lazy, and a lack of knowledge can eventually
lead to someone giving up.
“Listen to things that
are positive,” he noted. “Take control of your own thoughts. Surround yourself
with positive people. This is a new beginning. You get to choose what your next
chapter is going to be.”
Perry’s appearance was
sponsored by Motlow’s Access & Diversity committee, chaired by Dean of
Students Kirsten Moss. Motlow annually awards Access & Diversity
scholarships to selected students who are members of underrepresented
populations, economically disadvantaged, and first-generation college students.
For additional information about Access & Diversity, contact Moss at (931) 383-1691
or kmoss@mscc.edu.
