Five student-athletes suddenly appeared through a set of double doors with their eyes and torsos heavily wrapped in colorful party streamers.
On the other side of the cafeteria inside the Franklin & Emily Pratt Learning and Leadership Center stood the blindfolded students’ most trusted classmates, there to guide them by voice toward the finish line –– their biggest dream.
However, in the way of achieving that goal were obstacles –– difficult family life, self-doubt, poor decisions –– in the form of paper plates, and a lot of outside noise, represented by other student-athletes, who formed a rectangle and tried to send those aiming to stay on course in the wrong direction.
For every obstacle touched, the blindfolded participants took two steps back. It wasn’t easy, it didn’t happen right away and it took some work, but each one eventually made it to their dream.
A portion of the message Josh Perez of 360 Athletics shared after the task: push –– persevere until success happens.
Representing D.R.E.A.M Leadership Academy, Perez and his colleague Karla Rendon, also known as DJ Kick it, were invited by the KISD athletics department to speak Thursday to a select group of athletes from a variety of sports from Chaparral, Ellison, Harker Heights, Killeen and Shoemaker.
More photos can be viewed here.
D.R.E.A.M stands for “Decisions, Responsibility, Education, Achievement, Motivation.” There were 10 female and 10 male athletes from each school. KISD executive director for boys athletics Matt Carroll said he hopes the first installment of the leadership academy sets the tone for similar opportunities in the future.
“All of these athletes have roles to be able to impact the younger eyes that are watching them. Hopefully, they can go back to their campus and instill some of what they’ve learned,” Carroll said. “In this setting there are five different schools but we are all KISD, and that is always important to remember.
The students heard Perez’s story of resilience, growing up with parents who spent most of his childhood in prison and how he navigated out of negative circumstances to become a college football player, coach and now a motivational speaker.
They also had the chance to share about their dreams and goals, what hardships they are coping with, and partnered together during team-building exercises that included the blindfolded experiment and Perez doing a push-up with Ellison football head coach Danny Servance standing on his back.
“I think this is really going to leave an impact. They are actually giving us examples of leadership, and how they’ve overcome. It’s really important for a young person to hear,” Killeen High sophomore offensive lineman Avery Timms said.
Before Perez began his presentation, KISD Superintendent Jo Ann Fey took a few moments to encourage the attendees to embrace their leadership role as athletes and not take for granted the impact athletics has on so many.
“We are on a mission here at Killeen ISD. Sport is so much bigger than us sitting in this room. It will be the thing that brings our community together. Sport brings people to the schools because of the great things that you do,” Fey said.
“It is so important for you as leaders, as we begin this track toward excellence, that you understand that you are the pioneers of the future of athletics in KISD. You can become the torch-bearers. You can become the role models. You will look back and remember that you helped build something great at KISD.”
Perez often had the athletes repeat phrases such as “No little dreams,” “Push,” “Earn it” and “Compete,” in an effort to emphasize that settling for average isn’t the way to reach a desired outcome.
“You can’t accomplish great feats by doing average things. So, if you want to accomplish great things, you’re going to have to be extraordinary,” he said.
He, too, wanted to implore his attentive audience to be the beacon of positive influence for show empathy for others and go above and beyond as pillars both on campus and in their neighborhoods.
“These are great kids, fantastic kids that believe athletics are important,” KISD executive director for girls athletics Tish Williams said. “They are leaders in their schools already and they can provide a really, really positive influence for their teammates, their classmates and really get the positivity message, the goal-setting message, the working-together message out to more students.”
