By: Tom Markland
BUNKER HILL – When Jason Lewis asked an auditorium full of seventh- and eighth-grade students at Musselman Middle School if they planned on going to college, nearly every hand in the room shot up.
Lewis, a nationally touring motivational speaker better known as Humble Tip, performed for students at MMS on Wednesday, promoting positive language and encouraging them to look forward to a better tomorrow. He also performed at Eagle School Intermediate the day before as part of the county’s Bullying Prevention Week.
The program, called “The Beautiful Tomorrow Assembly,” encourages students to pursue their dreams and goals, fusing motivational speaking with hip hop, while getting students into the performance through repeat-after-me exercises. He aims to boost students’ confidence and positive thinking when it comes to thinking about their future.
“Everything you set your mind to, you can accomplish,” Lewis told students.
His program didn’t just work to build up students, but it also encouraged them to build up their peers by being good friends and pushing each other to do good things.
“We don’t bully each other. We build each other up,” Lewis said.
Ashley Sura, principal at MMS, said that the opportunity to have Lewis perform at the school came courtesy of the county’s Department of Equity and Inclusion, which set up the performances at both MMS and Eagle School.
“Our teachers actually got to have a session during our professional development days at the beginning of the year, kind of centered around this kind of stuff and the positive language,” Sura said. “Tomorrow, we'll actually follow up with some small groups with the same group of people. They'll come in and talk about respectful language and building those relationships and those connections.”
Sura said she hopes students walk away from the performance with a more positive outlook, knowing that their teachers and peers care about them.
“I hope that they see their potential and that we believe in them,” Sura said. “We do have students who don't have families who are necessarily encouraging them or talking about the future with them, so we want to make sure that all students are hearing that they’re loved, that they’re cared about and that we want them to succeed.”