The school year started with a pep rally for Gahanna Middle School West students on Aug. 22.
Joel Penton, a national motivational speaker and former Ohio State football player, talked with students about the importance of setting goals and sticking with them.
"In school -- elementary school, middle school, high school and college -- one thing I loved was getting out of class," Penton said. He knew from a young age, he said, that he wanted a career where he could get students out of class.
Penton started his presentation by asking students to agree on everything from whether OSU is the best football team or if they would leave a party where drinking occurred.
"I love that experiment," he said. "I love watching. It's a lot of fun."
Penton said it's great to play football in front of 100,000 people on national television. What people don't think about are the 6 a.m. practices, running laps until you feel like you might throw up and going to school year-round.
"Playing football at OSU is a lot of work," he said.
Commitment is critical. Accomplishing anything significant takes a lot of work, Penton said. He said many football players at Ohio State break their commitments to earn a four-year degree, stay on the team, go to practice and take tough classes.
He said making a commitment, standing your ground and keeping your goals, can set you apart.
Penton said when he was 9 years old he was introduced to football and immediately fell in love. When he was in junior high school he committed to being the best football player possible. He did as many push-ups and sit-ups as he could stand before bed every night and surrounded himself with a group of friends equally committed to sports.
"They became my very good friends ... my best friends," he said.
Penton said the group of friends noticed how older students who were gifted athletically or academically often wasted their talents by getting involved with alcohol and drugs. The guys in his group made the decision not to get involved with drugs and alcohol. But eventually, everyone in the group began drinking.
He said hanging out with his friends while they drank was too difficult because of the temptation. All they wanted to do was drink and they resented him because he didn't drink, he said.
"I felt so alone like I didn't have any friends," he said. It got worse. His drinking friends were the "cool" guys in school, and they set the tone, leaving him feeling isolated.
Eventually Penton was recruited to play football at Ohio State and received a scholarship. At OSU he won a national championship. His hard work paid off.
It's difficult to stand your ground, Penton said, but if students can stick with their commitments, they can achieve things beyond their wildest dreams.
"You can do something special, significant, if you learn to stand your ground," he said.
Principal John Rathburn encouraged students to write down two messages they learned during the pep rally in the back of a notebook to reflect on throughout the year.
He said students were excited to leave at the end of the school year and he wanted them to be equally excited to start school this year.
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