Principal Jesse McMillan said during a visit last week to Westfield Middle School, motivational speaker Terrence Lee Talley’s message of hope and resilience was well received.
Talley, who is from Minnesota, spent the day in Westfield on Jan. 22 giving four presentations, one to seventh-grade students in the auditorium and one to eighth-grade students, leading a staff meeting at the end of the day and an evening event for families at 6 p.m.
One of the topics Talley touched upon was mental health concerns in middle school and navigating teasing and bullying. McMillan said the school has a social-emotional curriculum that Talley’s message reinforced. “We needed to provide a unified message of hope, resiliency, and supporting one another — even people you don’t know.”
The overall theme of the assembly was don’t give up reaching out to others, no matter what life situations they’re going through, and encourage people to keep going, not only the people you know, but the ones you don’t know, he said. “Sitting in an auditorium with 350 kids — 700 in the school — can guarantee you that someone is weathering a storm. Be mindful of that in daily interactions. You don’t know what people are going through inside and outside of school.”