I'm empowered to help students overcome adversity, avoid devastation, and achieve academic success.

Okay, well, first of all, thank you for your time and for your attention. As Coach Dale said, my name is Rico Sharp. I am a motivational speaker. It's an honor for me to be able to come here and have a few moments of your time. I'm here for one purpose, and that is to help steer you in the right direction that you're going in with your life. There are some things that I have learned along the way that I feel like can give you the advantage for the next couple of steps in your life. First question, how many of you are getting ready to graduate either this year or next year? Great, great, great, great. Absolutely. That's awesome. And, and I want to just, first of all, just give you a clap. And actually, join in and clap to salute everybody. That's making that initiative. Because it's hard, right? It's difficult. It's not a cakewalk. It takes, it takes a lot of mental toughness. It takes some discipline. It takes focus. It takes determination. It takes willpower. It takes clarity, right? The ability to be able to see what you really want to do in life and to look past the distractions and the roadblocks and the setbacks and the disappointments and everything that can get in the way. Because when you're 16, you're 17, you're 18, and you're trying to move on with your life, that's— you're at what I call the breaking point. Either, either at this age and stage in your life, you're either going to make the right decision about life, or life is going to break you down. Especially those of you who are graduating in a couple of weeks. Like, you, you've already had that period of transition. You've already had that time of trying to get your mind wrapped around what you want to do with your life, what you want to be in life. And you don't have a lot of time on the clock. You don't have a lot of time left before you have to step out there into the big world and then take on responsibilities that you never had to deal with before. When you're at home living with your parents, They're your shield. They're your provider. They're your GPS system, your navigational system. They make a lot of decisions for you, and they point you in the right direction. But when you step out of high school and you go off to college, or you go out and you take on an employment, your parents are not there step by step, hand by hand, day after day, leading you, instructing you. That's right. and all of that. They have to have the comfort— your parents have to have the comfort and the confidence of knowing that what they put in you over the years, that it is finally now resonated in your heart and established in your mind, and you learned enough about what they taught you and what you learned in school from others to be able to make the right decisions and the right choices in life. And that's what is important at this, at this stage, in this juncture. You making the right decisions with your life. And for those of you that are not graduating this year or next year, you are still at that point where you have to really take your life serious, because any small mistake that you make, it will have a greater outcome, because the closer you get to going out in the world on your own, And the older you get, the more responsibilities you'll have, the more choices and decisions you'll need to make, and the more there will be consequences and repercussions to your choices and your decisions. So you have to stop for a moment and digress, take a deep breath, clear your focus and your vision, and make sure you got your head screwed on right. And that you know what you're about to do with the next stage of your life. You see, anybody can rise up in the morning and come to school, jump on the bus or get dropped off or walk or however you get here, and then hang out at school and just make it about hanging out and recreation time and just kicking it with the boys and kicking it with the girls, and you just kind of socializing. Anybody can do that. But it takes more than just going through motions and going through weeks in school and going to the end of the school year to be able to be successful in life. It takes more than that. There are some things that you have to do. There's some ingredients that you're going to have to have. There are some decisions that you're going to have to make. There's some steps you're going to have to take once you leave school to build a life of success for yourself. One of the things that is going to have to happen is that you got to have mental toughness. What is mental toughness? It means to have a strong mind. It means to have a strong willpower. It means to have your mind set, your mind made up. It means to know what you want and have the determination to go after what you want. It means to be relentless. It means to be tenacious. It means to have the characteristics of a bulldog, that once a bulldog locks its jaws on a piece of steak, there's nothing that the opposite force can do to take that steak away because that bulldog has locked down on that piece of steak. You have to be that bulldog, and that piece of steak for you is graduating. That piece of steak for you is being able to get into college. That piece of steak for you is having a job, for those of you that may already be working, and then turning that job into a career, and turning that career into a retirement, and turning that retirement into a successful life. That piece of steak for you has to be making sure that the remainder of your life matters, and that it evolves and becomes something that you could be proud of, that your parents can be proud of. You see, everybody gets a chance at life, but not everybody is going to do the right thing with that chance that they get. Not everybody is going to understand that when you step out of school, you are on your own in terms of you having to make your own decisions. Nobody is going to walk behind you picking up behind you. You're not going to have mom and dad there with you every step of the way telling you, John, that's wrong. Shanice, that's wrong. Denise, you know better. Richard, why are you doing that? You're not going to have a babysitter. Life only gives you babysitters for a certain period of time, but then there's a period of time where life says you don't need a babysitter. That's right. It's time to grow up. It's time to do the right thing. It's time to be the best you can be. It's time to want something. It's time to become somebody. It's time to go somewhere. It's time to do something. It's time to show your father that you can be somebody. It's time to show your mother and your grandparents that you can be somebody. It's time to change things for your family tradition, your family circle. It's time to make your family blessed and proud and successful and happy. Many of you, you've been raised in environments where some of you don't have a father in the home. I know what that's like, to be raised without a father in the home that is there as a role model. Maybe your father, you don't know. Maybe your father left and started a family somewhere else. Maybe your father is in jail or in prison. Maybe your father is on the street. Maybe your father is deceased. Whatever the case is, you have to now take on the weight and the responsibility of being the woman and the man that your parents and your loved ones always believe that you can be. You see, when I was a little boy, my father left home and started a family somewhere else, and I needed a father figure in my life, but I didn't have him there. And so my role model became people who were doing things that I should have never saw as a role model. My role model became drug dealers, gangbangers, rappers, and thugs. And I chose to follow that influence. I chose to follow that, that pattern. I chose to give in to that, and it led me down a dark path of being homeless, being on drugs, being in the streets, and eventually being in prison. And almost on multiple occasions, I almost lost my life. I survived. I survived that life. And my, my survival means to me that I owe you, I owe the school, I owe society, I owe people in the work industry, I owe athletes, I owe the world a testimony or a speech about what happened to me when I made the wrong decision. Rico, You see, the truth is a lot of people would give anything they can in this world to be where you are right now in life. A lot of people would give money to be where you are right now in life. A lot of people would give up their house and their car to be where you are right now in life. Because a lot of people that are beyond your age wish they can go back to your age and push the reset button and start all over again. Because you have right now the grand opportunity that life has to offer, and that is your youth. That means that you're at the point now where you get to make the decision about what you want to do with your life and how you're going to spend the rest of your life. And youth is on your side. Age is on your side. The future is on your side. Tomorrow is on your side. But the question is Are you on your side? Are you on your team? Are you ready to be somebody better than what statistics said that you can be? Are you ready to do something greater with your life than what statistics said that you can do? You see, I'm gonna just break it down and be a little more real with you today. A lot of us come from out of the inner city. That means a lot of us, we're raised— we're born and raised in the hood, in the ghetto. And in the hood and in the ghetto, there are certain debts that are already stacked against you. There are certain things that you have to deal with, certain negativity that you have to deal with, certain environments and surroundings that you have to contend against. And because you're raised in a certain environment, society and statistics says That 7 out of 10 are going to fail in life. Statistics says that 7 out of 10 young black men are going to be arrested and end up in jail or prison. Statistics says that 7 out of 10 young ladies are going to get pregnant before completing college and getting a degree. Statistics says that 7 out of 10 young black men and women are going to end up homeless or on welfare. And see, you cannot allow for what statistics say about you to become your truth and your reality. You have to prove statistics— you don't know me like you think you know me. Just because somebody else did it doesn't mean I have to do it. That's right. Just because my dad left home doesn't mean I have to run off and not be responsible and accountable for my actions. Do not allow for statistics to be true about you. Do not allow for statistics to write the story of your life. Do not allow for statistics to be proven again to be correct and accurate about you just because of your color of skin. Show the world who you are. Show the world that you matter. Show the world that you exist. Show the world that you live today. Show the world that you are somebody. Don't do it to try to prove a point and make everybody wrong. Do it because you owe that to you. You owe that to you. You owe yourself a good life. You owe yourself an education. You owe yourself a graduation. You owe yourself a future. You owe yourself success. You owe yourself a fighting chance at life. You owe yourself something positive in this world. You owe yourself a house or two. You owe yourself nice automobiles. You owe yourself to be able to travel the world. You owe yourself to be able to start your own business. If you want to be a doctor, you owe that to yourself. If you want to be a lawyer, you owe that to yourself. If you want to be an entrepreneur, you owe that to yourself. You owe yourself happiness. Can I tell you that no one's going to give it to you? Can I tell you that folk are not going to believe in you? Folk are not going to believe in your dream. They're not going to believe in you when you say, I'm going to the NFL. They're not going to believe in you when you say, I'm going to go to the NBA. They're not going to believe in you when you say, I want to be a brain surgeon. That's right. They're not going to believe in you when you say, I'm going to be a journalist. They're not going to believe in you. And the question is, why should they? Why should anyone believe in you? They don't know you. So do not allow for other people's disbelief or lack of confidence and faith in you to stop you from doing what you want to do in life. Here's the most important thing. Believe in yourself. Believe in yourself. Believe in you. Believe in the person you see when you look in the mirror. Believe in the person you are when you wake up in the morning. Believe in the person you are when you walk down on top of that stage with your cap and gown on. to receive your diploma. Believe in that person that said when they were 6 years old and 7 years old that I want to grow up and be a police officer or a fireman or an RN. Believe in that person that have a dream. Believe in that person that believes they can do all things. Because nobody else is going to give you the chance in life that you can give to yourself. Rico Sharp. In fact, when people don't believe in me and don't believe in my dream and do not believe in my visions and my goals, I've learned how to channel that into positive energy. I've learned how to use that as a motivation to get to where I want to be, not to prove anybody wrong. But because I owe it to myself. See, life is short, right? You've heard that before. Life is going to be over at some point, and you got to ask yourself, how much time do I even have in this world? How much time have my Creator, have God even given me to live here? How much time? Because I don't know, right? I don't know. I don't know if I have 5 years, 10 years, 20 years, 30 years. 50 years, 70 years, I don't know. It's like running a blind race, a race with blinders on. You don't know. But what you do know is that you have today. Say this with me, I have today. I have today. You do have today. And not only do you have today, but you have you. You have you. You have this moment, and you're living in this moment. And even though I don't know how much time I have left, I'm going to do all that I can do with every day that I have, because I not only have this day, I have me, and I'm in charge of me. I believe in me, and I'm going to do whatever I have to do to make sure that I get a good life in this world. How can I guarantee myself that I'm going to be successful? How can I guarantee myself that I'm going to have a good life? How can I guarantee myself that I'm going to do some big things in this world? Well, number one, not only do I believe in me, but number two, I am going to defend me. I'm going to protect me. What does it mean to defend you and protect you? It means to make sure that anytime somebody approaches you with something negative, something criminal, something disrespectful, something dishonorable, That you at that moment stand up for yourself. Don't be a follower, be a leader. Don't follow people to the club. Don't follow people to a fight. Don't follow people to the streets. Don't follow people to jail. Don't get in that car with those fogged up windows when you know they got drugs that they're using inside of that car. Defend you, stand up for you. Tell people who approach you with something negative, tell them no, no, I'm not about that. You want some other stuff. I'm trying to get somewhere. I want to be somebody. I got goals, I got ambition, I got aspiration. I have a dream, I have a goal, I have visions. I want to make something out of myself. My brother is in prison. I don't want to be in prison. My dad is in prison. I don't want to be in prison. I don't want to be on the street. Maybe you got an auntie that was on crack. You don't want to be on the street on crack. We live in a real world, and when you live in a real world, you got to have real solutions for your life. You got to have real strength. You got to have real ambition. You got to have a real focus. You gotta know that I only got one chance at this. Can I tell you that there are coffins for your age group? There are holes in the ground that we call burial grounds and burial spots for people in your age group. You're not too young to fail in life. You're not too young to commit suicide. You're not too young to get behind the wheel of a car texting and, and end up having a terrible, tragic car accident. You're not too young to be a victim of gun violence and street violence. You're not too young to have a drug overdose. So if you're not too young for all of those negative things, guess what? Then you're not too young to be successful. You're not too young to make up in your mind, I'm not going to put drugs and alcohol in my body. You're not too young to determine that I'm going to graduate from school, go to college, get a degree, pursue my field, and grow in that field and become the best that I can be in my field. You're not too young to take life serious. You're not too young to start a career of success. In fact, I know people, 16, 17, and 18-year-olds, that already own their own businesses. that are already millionaires, that are already building homes from the ground at your age. At your age. And I'm not talking about social media influencers, people who could not survive on their own if it wasn't from social media. I'm not talking about that because that's not where you're going in your life, because you got more in you than being a social media influencer. You don't live for TikTok. You don't live for Instagram. Your life is more valuable than Facebook. Social media friends are not real friends. You, you do know that, right? You do know that, right? They're not real friends. There's a movie coming out in the theater for kids called IF, which stands for Imaginary Friends. It's a cartoon. It's an animated film. For little kids. That's all social media is. It's just filled with imaginary friends. They're not real friends. Why is that important to know? Because you got something in life that social media cannot contribute to and should not take from. You got a real chance at life. This school is a blessing in your life. The staff at this school, they are a blessing in your life. They've been put here to help guide you down the right path. 5 years from now, you're gonna thank them. 10 years from now, you will thank them. 30 years from now, you will thank them if you continue to follow the right path and take heed to what you've been taught. You know, I've made a lot of bad mistakes in my life as a young teenager. I can't go back and change the dumb things I did when I was in school, but what I can do is to guarantee that every day I'll wake up It's going to be a day that overcomes the negative days I had in my past. It's going to be a day that I celebrate life. It's going to be a day that I believe in me. It's going to be a day that I rise up to make a difference. At this point of your life, not only do you have to believe in you and defend you, but at this point in your life, You got to be your closest friend. You got to be your closest friend. I believe in friends. I got some good friends in my life, and they are there with me through thick and thin. But I would never allow for somebody to be more of a friend to me than I am to myself. I am my best friend. I am, I am my best friend. I am my best friend. Why am I my best friend? Because nobody is supposed to love me the way I'm supposed to love me. No one has been given the assignment to believe in me the way I'm supposed to believe in me. No one has been given the assignment to support me the way I'm supposed to support me. No one has been given the assignment to like me the way I'm supposed to like me. No one has been given the assignment to stand by me the way I'm supposed to stand by me. That assignment has been given to me. That responsibility has been given to me. And because it's been given to me, I have to now embrace that responsibility and tell myself, I got me. Say this with me, I got me. I got me. Say it louder, I got me. I got me. What does that mean? That means I'm going to always do what's best for me, right? At your age and at this stage, you have to put you first, not second, not third, not fourth, not fifth. At this, at this point of your life, you got to know what's good and bad, what's right and wrong for you. You, you can't have a, like Walmart, an open-door policy where anybody can just walk into your life at any given time and drop off what they want to drop off and take what they want to take. You, you got to have Closed door policies. If you're not about what I'm about, the door's closed. If you're not going where I'm going, the door is closed, ma'am. If you're trying to do something that is illegal, the door is closed to my life. You can't have access to me. If you want to take me down, you can't have access to me. If you want to go get high, you can't have access to me. If you want to fight and bully other kids at school, you can't have access to me. That's right. If you're about that negative stuff, you can't have access to me. It's not that I think I'm better than anybody, it's just that I gotta make sure that I'm doing me the way I know to do me, and that I'm living my life the way I know to live my life. But if you're about that positive stuff, okay, we can connect. If you're trying to go somewhere in life, we can connect. If you want to be somebody in life, we can connect. If you want to start your own business, we can connect. If you want to make your family proud, we can connect. If you want to graduate, we can connect. If you want to build a successful future, we can connect, because that's what I'm about. The clock is ticking. The clock is ticking. Question is, what's going to be your next move? Where do you go from here? Where do you go with your life from here? For those of you that are going to be graduating, have you thought about that? With 2 weeks or so left before you graduate, have you thought about the pressure you're going to have to address and deal with the moment you walk out of This school as a graduated student? Have you thought about the decisions that's going to be put on you, the responsibility that's going to be put on you? See, even though you've not physically graduated yet, in your mind you need to already be there. In your mind, you need to already have some plans. In your mind, you need to already have your mind made up that this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to be a doctor. This is how I'm going to do it. In your mind, you need to already see yourself doing something positive and moving on with the next step of your life. If you can't see yourself doing something positive just a couple of weeks later, then how are you going to have the mental toughness and the fortitude to get back up after you fall down in the, in the event of trying to pursue something that would take 2 and 3 years to get? Can I tell you something? You gotta love you. You gotta defend you. You gotta be your best friend. And then what do you have to do? You gotta make sure that you give it all you got. You got one chance to live. It's time that you give life all you have to give. That's right. I'm not focused on what somebody else is doing. It's their job to focus on them. It's my job to focus on me. I'm not trying to be like someone else. I'm not trying to have someone else's job. I'm not trying to be like Jay-Z and Beyoncé. I'm not trying to be like Young Thug. I'm not trying to be like somebody on social media. I'm trying to be the best version of myself. And in order for me to do that, I have to give life all I got to give. See, when you're young and you're at your age, you got a lot of people out there that catches your attention. You got a lot of people out there that you're looking at them and you're like, man, I want that. I want to be like that. I want to have what they have. And, and what that is really doing is changing your identity for a stereotype. That's what happened to me. I wanted to be like Too Short and Snoop Dogg and Eazy-E and all those rappers, but I was wrong for wanting to live like that. Now I want to be like me, and I made a decision that with every breath I have, with every strength that I have, with every day that I have, I'm going to give life all I got to give. I'm going to give my family all I got. I'm going to give my future I got. I'm gonna give my career all I got. I'm gonna give my friends all I got, those who are positive in my life. I'm gonna give everything that I can to being the best that I can be. And that's what I wish for you. I hope you got something out of what I shared with you today. Thank you so much for your time. My name is Rico Sharp. You can always go on to my website, Which is ricosharp.org and learn a lot more about my life and my work. But everything that I do is to inspire you to be great. Anybody got any quick questions or quick comments before we— the bell rings? Any questions or comments? Cool. 3 people real quickly tell me, what did you get out of what I shared today? 3 people. I need 3 people. I got a lot of motivation. What what'd you say? Right here. What'd you get out of what I shared today? You got to be quick because I only got a few minutes. Did you have your hands up? Oh, I guess not. All right. Anybody get anything out of what I said? Be you. That's right. Be you. Do you. Love you. What did you say? Love yourself. Love yourself more than anybody else. And in terms of making sure you give you the best chance. Yes, sir. Be a leader, not a follower. Don't follow people to a fight after school. Be a leader. Yes, sir. Say that again. Know who you're surrounding yourself around. Know who you're surrounding yourself around. Absolutely. Can I keep it 100 with you? Yes, sir. I don't care if we grew up together. If you're about some other stuff, I'm cutting you off. I'll see you down the road. I need to go on to college to graduate, because if you're about smarter stuff, I might be the one that have to bail you out of jail. Thank you so much. Anybody else? Thank you so much for your time. God bless you. Make your life great. All right, so, uh,