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.