You are not a mistake.

You are not an accident.

You are here for a reason.

I know you're going through
some hard times

I know life at times might feel rough

or you might feel weird 
or things might be frustrating.

but it's not always going to be like this.

Your condition is not your conclusion.

I've got to just take me 5 minutes 
to kind of just unpack my story

So that you have an idea of who I am

and why I speak with the passion
that I speak with.

There was a time
when I was in a really dark place.

You know, my mom had me 
when she was 16 years old

I grew up 
without my biological father in my life

I struggled with years with drug 
and alcohol abuse

and I just found myself in a really,

really really weird and dark palce.

I had to repeat the seventh grade and

when eight grade came around,

I'll never forget hearing at a teacher

conference, a teacher tell my mom that

I wasn't high school material, and I came

to tell you that that words are powerful.

And when I heard that statement, I

remember feeling like, wow, you know,

like I am really, really a failure.

You know, like it's one thing to

tell a student, Hey okay, 
you're about to graduate from high school.

You're not college material.

You're not going to go to Ivy league.

Maybe you should go to tech school.

Like, I've heard that, right?

Like different people
have different paths,

but how do you tell a middle school kid

that they're not ready for high chool?

Like, it affected me.

And I'll never forget
going that next year.

And after a series of events,
a lot of fighting,a lot of struggling

that school end up kicking me out.

They got all bent out of shape

because I cut the electricity off.

The next year I went to another school,
got the

report card at the end of the year, and because

I did not do well and I did not put good in when

I got that final report card all F's one C.

And my mom is this tall, but when she gets mad,

she turns into the Hulk, you know?

And I'm think like,
this is not going to be pretty,

but I came up with a plan.

I said, you know what?

I'm gonna change my grade.

So I went to the library.

I got that white out,
I crossed out all the F's and the C.

I took a fancy pen and a ruler and I

put those small little dots and lines

and I gave myself all A's and two B's

Then I made a copy of it, 
and as soon as I got home

I gave it to my mom,

She took one glance.

She was like, boy, 
where's your real report card at?

I said mom, let me explain it.

She said no, no, no I don't want to hear it.

I know what happened.

I said, you do?

She said yes.

You probably lost it how you always lose

stuff and you went to the office and they

had to make a copy of theirs on file.

I said, yup,yup, you be knowing mama.

She like, I know

I'm like, you know everything.

She's like,
I know but at the end of that summer,

at the end of that summer, 
when my real report card came in.

It was really rough.

I've never forget, like when 
I first trick my mom and she saw it.

She was like, i'm so pround of you.

She started crying.

I even got emotional.

I was like, I told your momma
I'm going to make you proud.

She hugging me. I'm hugging her.

We got like a brekthrough.

And you're probably wondering like,
Jeremy, why were you crying?

Like you know, you didn't really 
earn all A's and two B's

Well, for the first time in a long time,
I didn't feel like a failure

Like I actually felt successful, 
like worthy.

Like

I felt like I was good enough for, so that was

a bit of emotional moment, but it wasn't real

because I didn't really earn those grades.

Now, when my school 
sent my real report card home

and my mom saw it, she was in denial.

My baby made A's and B's.

so she called the school.

I was like Ooh, hang up the phone,
mama, hang up the phone.

And again,she's in tears,

But now what was once tears of joy.

Now it was tears of sorrow, 
tears of pain.

She has the frustration
and she's trying to

figure out like, I wish my baby would just get

it together and I was so hurt, 
but I felt stuck.

I was depressed, I was tired,
I was struggling.

I felt like I was an accident.

Like what is the purpose of life?

Like why am I here?

You know, I felt
like I wasn't. I couldn't fit in

when it was time to read, 
I didn't want to read

because somebody was
gonna teach me cause

I wasn't a good reader.

We was always getting into fights,

people's bullying me.

Then there was a time 
when I was the bully,

like I just struggle and I was like, 
what the point of it all?

And my mom's great mom, so

she moved me to another school.

So, now I'm at the school now 
called Huntsville high,

This is my third school 
for the ninth grade.

Now I'm at this new school, and

I don't know how to explain it to you,
but I got a group of teacher,

I felt like they were weird.

They were saying stuff like,
Jeremy, we believe in you.

ME?

One teacher's like, 
Oh yeah, Jeremy Anderson up top my man

Ah, this is going to be 
the best year ever.

I'm like, ok

One teacher, I had to ask him, I was like

wait a second, y'all are way too enthusiastic.

Did y'all get my transcripts?

Like, y'all got the right Jeremy.

They was like, yup we got the right

Jeremy, but you're in a new season now.

So you don't have to worry about the past.

I was like, yeah, but you do know about last year

I said, you know this is my third school.

They were like, we not worried about that again, Jeremy, you're in a new season

so, let's not bring old things into a new season.

And they began to speak life to me.

They began to encourage me.

They begin to affirm me, and
because I was young and I was immature.

I'm kind of felt like, well, 
you don't really understand my story.

You don't come from where I come from and I'll try to build a wall up

But you know what knocked that wall down?

It's love.

You know what, knock that wall down.

It was perseverance.

You know what knocked that wall down?

I was like unwavering commitment and

support and I realized you could be black, white, purple, blue, green.

We need each other.

And if you're showing up, cause you believe in me

and you see great things inside me, like maybe, just maybe I could do great things.

Your mindset, 
your belief system is everything.

It is so beautiful, and so I came 
all the way from Atlanta Georgia

to tell you, you are not a mistake.

You're not an accident.

You were here for a reason.

I know you're going
through some hard times.

I know life at times might feel rough or you might feel weird

or things might be frustrating.

but it's not going to ways be like this.

Your condition is not your conclusion.

There was so much more that's going to take place.

There are so much more power that's inside you.

If you make up in your mind.

I choose to believe that
I could do great things

and I promise you my young friends, 
I got to a point in life

when I was like, man, I got these teachers.

They must really care.

Like when you start having teachers

that get dignosed with cancer.

but they still show up to school.

One of my teachers had arthritis so bad

she couldn't even write on the chalkboard.

Other teacher was going through a divorce.

another one that just buried her child.

I'm looking for at all these teachers
that going through life just like

you just like me,
but they kept showing up,

so something inside my brain said

Maybe I'm worth it.

Something inside me said 
maybe can do great things.

For them to jump through all these hoops

and go out of their way to kind of connect

with me for them to make these sacrifices.

Maybe it is possible for me.

It's the same way with you.

Sometimes, I'll go back to like being that little boy

in the hallway that overhead that teacher

told my mom cause I wasn't high school material.

Then I have to remind myself like, no,

no, no, no, that, no that's not true.

I am that. I can do that.
I can achieve that.

Sometimes I have to remind
myself, what am I telling you.

Like life can be hard, life can be rough.

but there's something special 
and there's something powerful

about the human mind and

about the human spirit
and about the human will.

When you tell yourself, I won't give up, I won't surrender.

I won't quit.I'm going to show up every single day

and do the best that I can.

And here's the beautiful thing about you

is while you're going through your process

and why you're trying to navigate these waters

and while you're still, you know, trying to tweak some stuff within yourself.

You still got the power to save somebody else's life.

You got the power to speak up for others.

You got the power to be the voice of

reason for someone who might be on the

the verge of doing something they shouldn't do.

They have the power to brighten somebody's day.

Your words are powerful.

Your energy is powerful, 
and so I don't want you

all to think that you have to have it all together

and everything for you has to be perfect 
in order for you to be a leader.

No, no, no,no,no,no.

You can make an impact.

You can make a difference.

You can save somebody's life right now by

you just being unapologetically you

and you walking in that
calling and you speak life

and you were affirmed and you the others know.

I see you and I'm with you and I got your back

and you're not by yourself and I will

hold your hand as you go throughout this

journey and even through I'm struggling,

I don't mind fighting on behalf of you and

we're going to figure thing out together.

Key word together.

We're going to 
figure this thing out together.

There's something beautiful about us

having that mindset of us being together.

You know what I'm saying?

Not black, white, Asian, 
Hispanic, not Republican.

Independent, not gay or straight, 
not like male or female,

like us coming together saying, man, we are huamn.

We are here and I believe that
there is more that makes us together.

There was more than 
we have in common than we have.

That's not in common.

And I believe there are differences in what's

make us don't dog on amazing our differences.

I think about that, right?

Like there was so many amazing things

and there were so many different
amazing personalities

and there was nobody else this planet
exactly like you.

So I believe

that we make a decision to say, 
you know what?

We will come together as a people.

We will come together as a nation.

We will come together as a state.

We will come together as a city.

We will come together as a district.

We will come together as a school.

We will come together as a grade.

We will come together as a class

and we will value each other.

We will speak life to one another

and we will help each other go to that next level.

You know what?

I'm not just a student.

You know what I'm saying? That just happening to me this grade.

I'm not just here at the school.

I'm here for a reason.

You know what I'm saying, you got to tell yourself, man, I feel like

I've been pushed down in the dirt.

I feel like people have been stomping on me.

I feel like stuff has been raining on me.

But you didn't realize as my 
young friends, you were just a seed,

so you got to tell yourself. no, no,no

I haven't been pushed down on the dirt and I haven't been stomped on.

I've been planted and not been placed 
in this pot for a reason.

And we're at this arena, here to be 
able to have a conversation to say,

what does it look like to go to that next level?

And so I need you all to do the same thing

When you leave here, if you feel like

you're in a weird place if you feel stuck, if you feel like, you know what,

I just feel like I need some help.

You get the help you need.

That's how you show how strong and

how bold and how powerful you are.

What's the next app 
that you're going to create?

You don't say sometimes I wonder like,

you know, say, are you going to come up with a cure

for alzheimers, domentia?

Are you going to come up, you know what

I'm saying, with something that can purify water for people across the globe?

Are you going to create
the next app con connect us?

Are you going to be the next teacher or superintendent?

Are you going to be the next leader in our community like,

like, I'd be wondering sometimes like what are the great things

that you're to accomplish?

And there are times when I look at what's happening in the world

and I'm a bit discouraged.

I've got a seven-year-old daughter

and a one-year-old baby boy.

Sometimes I look at the crazy stuff that's

happening in this worls and I'm like, man,

what kind of world am I rasing my kids in?

But then I'm encouraged because I

get to come to events like this.

And I'll get to look in your faces and connect

with you and I have no doubt that there's great things

inside you and that you're going to experience

some amazing things inside your life

If you make a decision to say, I'm going to speak up,

I'm going to stand up.I'm going to save a life.

If you tell yourself I will be a leader.

If you tell yourself, I am going to show up

every single day of my school and I'm going to go above and

beyond because there are some kids in some different countries

and some different places that wish they had

the opportunity to be at my school, to have floors and lights

You know I'm saying

and screen and technology.

I've been some places my young friends while

I walked us through schools and some different countries

doing some volunteer work,

and I'm seeing the facilities they're in.

I know I've met some kids that would love

to come here and able to go to school

that has a gym or be able 
to go to school that has AC

or to be able to go to school that they has desk,

or to be able to go to school where they get their own books and then some

of y'all tablets and all these extra things.

We are so privileged.

What do we do with this opportunity that we have?

I want to challenge you to make the most of it,

to speak life, to love, to encourage.

To wrap your arms around those who are

struggling and you let them know,

you know where you're not in this by yourself

What we're not going to do is we're not going to quit.

What we're not gonna do is we're not going o surrender.

What we're not going to do is we're going to just

you know what I'm saying, just stay in this place.

We knew that eventually things would change.

Like eventually it's going to turn around

for my good and we'll be stronger from it and we'll be better equipped

and this will make us better people.

Now you can't always control what happens to you.

My friends. But you can
control how you respond to it.