David Edward Garcia, a motivational speaker who grew up in Texas, failed most of high school. Living in a community where a lot of his neighbors did not go to college, Garcia went to his grandpa’s house in Mexico where his grandfather tried to make him tough.

Garcia went on a school trip to Paris and it was there when he decided to turn his life around. He didn’t want to be just another ordinary high school drop out. He fell in love with the french language and wanted to learn to speak it. Garcia went to college and studied hard to get his masters degree and he also speaks five languages, including french.

This Red Ribbon Week, David came to TOHS to give his motivational speech to our students. Garcia focused on the three main principles that he used to achieve his dreams; Find your story, find your genius, and find your team.

The first thing Garcia focused on was finding your story. Garcia explained that in order to achieve your goal, you need to have one to begin with. As a child, Garcia had two choices; follow in the footsteps of a lot of people in his community, or to go to college. By choosing to go to college, Garcia found his story and was going to make it different than many other people he grew up with.

Everyone has something they are good at, even if they might not know it yet. Finding your genius is Garcia’s second main point, emphasizing on finding something that you are good at and that separates you from everyone else.

Finding your team is the last of the three main points of Garcia’s speech. He said that it is vital to surround yourself with the right people. Mentors and peers will help you to do good on work and also help you enjoy it.

We have very busy minds and are always thinking about different things. As students, it is important for us to have the right mindset. If we go into a test or project thinking we will do bad on it, we most likely will. The same goes with people. If we think we deserve good friends, our brains will find a way to eliminate the bad people.

Garcia shared some great tips with us today about how to achieve any goal! Lancers, be sure to find your story, find your genius, and find your team. Remember, it’s possible to achieve any goal if you stay on the right track. Follow your dreams Lancers, and have a great rest of Red Ribbon Week!