The Eagle/Angel Carpenter A million extra dollars sounds good to students at Blue Mountain Education Center in John Day. Their response was positive as they listened to motivational speaker and magician Brad Barton (performing a flying card trick at right).
Posted: Wednesday, April 6, 2011 11:43 am
JOHN DAY – How would you like to make an extra million dollars in your lifetime?All the students at Blue Mountain Education Center (formerly Alternative School) raised their hands in response to that question, posed by magician and motivational speaker Brad Barton of Ogden, Utah.
Barton spoke to kindergarten through senior students in school visits across Grant County March 21 and 22. Each presentation was tailored to the students at the assemblies, with chats about character building, what to do about bullies and the dangers of texting while driving.
“He did a super job of relating to our kids, right where they’re at,” said Ken Purnell, a part-time teacher at Blue Mountain.
When Barton asked the students there what they would think of some rubber-band tricks, the enthusiasm was tepid.
However, after amazing them with some deft moves with what appeared to be regular rubber bands, the level of excitement went up several notches.
Barton pointed out the students’ change in perception, calling it a “rubber-band experience.”
He recalled his own rubber-band experience.
“Some think they are losers from the very beginning,” he said, adding that his perception of himself changed when a friend told him as they were running one day, “Brad, if you were stock, I’d invest in you.”
He noted that when the students first came to Blue Mountain, they may have had low expectations of the school, then after seeing what it was like – caring teachers, etc. – their perception changed and they discovered that the school was magical.
“Real magic is freedom,” Barton said.
“What are you doing here?” he asked. “Why do you keep coming back?”
He answered, it’s because you want more freedom.
“Be open to the possibilities,” he said.
While showing tricks such as making a wand shoot sparks and a card spin in midair, Barton shared more of his perspective on life.
“You don’t go to a hardware store to buy a drill,” he said. “You go to the hardware store to get holes.”
Statistics show that youth who drop out of school overwhelmingly earn less money, he noted, adding that those who stay in school and finish college on average make “a million extra dollars in their lifetime.”
He encouraged the students to go home and tell their parents, “I learned how to make a million extra dollars!”
He spoke of the trade-offs one can make in life, about illusion and reality, and how alcohol and drugs are only illusions of happiness, and that with education they will have more choices and more freedom.
Debi Hueckman, Grant County Safe Communities program coordinator, helped bring Barton to the area with a grant from the Oregon Department of Transportation.
“I’m happy that we could bring that to the students in Grant County,” she said. “He was well received and had a great message about making good choices, whether it be for yourself, or your friends, for your own safety or others’ safety.”
To learn more about Barton and see a demonstration of his magic tricks, visit www.MyEagleNews.com.
