Ed Gerety, who is a motivational speaker, came to Harwood to talk at an assembly on Thursday, May 2nd. The YEWs (Youth Enriching Wellness Club) had Ed come to talk at this assembly because May is Mental Health Awareness Month. At a leadership meeting last fall, Harwood junior Teighen Fils-Aime saw Ed speak and said it was the best speech he’s ever heard and had to bring the idea to the school. Ed made everyone in the auditorium engaged throughout the entire time. He was telling jokes that would make everyone laugh and then would tell a very eye opening story. He was incredibly engaged with the crowd, in fact for more than half of it he was off the stage right in front of the students.
At one point, Ed asked students in the audience, “if you could call anyone right now and tell that person you appreciated them, who would it be?” He called on about four people to answer on the microphone, the last person being Harwood senior Emmett Lisai. After Emmett answered, Ed asked for him to come on stage and told him to call his mom to tell her that he appreciates and loves her.
Other highlights from the presentation included a story about how he met Walter Payton, his favorite football player. He met him in a hotel during a football camp and Walter let Ed into his hotel room and had a full conversation with him and at the end Walter gave him a business card with all his personal numbers and told Ed if he ever needed anything to call him. Ed explained that the fact that Walter gave him the time of day to talk to him and then eventually gave him his phone number made him feel so appreciated and seen.
Since he was so engaged in the crowd it made everyone engaged with him, which is very rare for Harwood assemblies. At the end of the assembly, most people left and went to class but many students, including me, stayed to meet him, where he talked to each of us individually and signed a book for us. The way he ran this assembly was the best way he possibly could because it kept everyone engaged the entire time and he took the time after to talk to students.
Students appreciated what he had to say and he moved a lot of people with the stories he told. Overall, I think it was one of the best assemblies we’ve had at Harwood. One of his main messages was that showing gratitude is incredibly important, especially by giving people that you care about the time of day to tell them that you appreciate and love them. After the assembly, so many students were still talking about how good it was which I believe is exactly what Ed wanted to happen.
