It was a quiet room until motivational speaker, Blake Fly came on stage and got the crowd to clap with him. Fly shared his thoughts on how to handle stress in our lives through the power of friendship and our surroundings in the community. Fly also travels around to different colleges across North America to motivate students with their daily lives.
“I’ve been traveling around the US and Canada for 9 years now and it’s almost a decade and I still enjoy what I do,” said Fly, who’s from Canada.
Fly improves campus culture by helping people realize they matter. He instills acts of appreciation, recognition, and thoughtfulness into the international daily routines of both students and staff.
“The main thing is the idea that the number one idea that people leave their relationships is that they feel underappreciated,” Fly said. “The message is to appreciate the people in their lives and where you’re at today.”
Fly has been featured on TedTalk and got involves with going around colleges by engaging in activities at his college.
“I got involved when I was at my university and I went to events such as today and I enjoyed watching them speak and spread positivity, so I eventually started giving speeches on my college as a student and I’ve enjoyed it ever since,” Fly said.
During one part of his speech, Fly encouraged everyone in the audience to take out their cellphones and text someone in their lives “thank you.” He explained that the biggest thing that everyone has a hard time with is saying thank you. Yet by doing this simple activity with the audience, he enjoys that the most.
“I enjoy hearing that they sent a message during the presentation and thanking someone and then hearing their stories,” Fly said.
The students drew a positive conclusion from the event and have learned the importance of being in healthy relationships.
“I liked how he was able to engage with the audience and got us to send a text message to those who are special in our lives, it really made me feel good,” said Noah Hart, a freshman at CF.
Fly’s event was sponsored by the Campus Suicide Prevention Project and their director is Tom Walsh, who also teaches psychology.
“One of the biggest aspects of this event today was the attendance, we got students to come out and hear Blakes message on positivity and relationships,” Walsh said.
Walsh went on talking about how relationships are key to living in our day to day lives.
“If we can encourage students to have positive relationships, then we can help prevent suicides and continue to spread positivity in everyone’s life,” Walsh said.
Tom Walsh wants to continue having more events on campus and encourage students to form healthy relationships with one another and to also remember to say “thank you.”
Story & photos by: Reagan Knight
