Written by A.J. Rai and Riley Cronan
Pictures by Kevin Moran

A’ric Jackson, a speaker,  teacher, a motivator and an entrepreneur, spoke to students on May 6th at an all school advisory assembly. He is a speaker who gets his message across while being entertaining and funny!   Clinton’s Partners in Community  funded A’ric’ Jackson’s visit to The Morgan School.  Not only did he perform at the assembly, but he also met with smaller groups of students throughout the afternoon.

A’ric dicussed topics about decision making and drug abuse.  According to Ar’ic’s website Aricspeaks, A’ric grew up in a small town outside of Chicago. He saw how gang violence and drugs impacted the kids he grew up with. ” Despite this, he was known as a “Dr. Phil” at his high school, but it wasn’t until he witnessed a life changing event of his sister’s, that he realized the void. He found his calling” (source: Aricspeaks).  A’ric was named Best New Speaker in 2000 by The Chicago Chapter of the International Speech Organization Toastmasters!

Students found A’ric’s presentation entertaining. However, some student felt that A’ric’s message was honest and a good attempt, but they had difficulty relating to the material in the actual presentation. Others such as Senior Sean Davidson found A’ric’s presentation enlightening.   Davidson was inspired by A’ric to write a poem for Creative Writing.  He explained, “I was just writing a poem to thank our guest speaker for coming to our school and inspiring so many people. I thought it was really awesome, and he even shared that he got started speaking through a poetry slam so I thought it would be appropriate to write a poem to thank him for coming out to Morgan to talk to the 500 or so kids.”  His poem entitled “Dear Aric” is below.

Dear Aric

I would like to tell you

that I think your stories helped me more than anything

You tell me

Don’t be scurred

You tell me

You’re not alone

You tell me

to break my box

I would like to tell you

that I am more than grateful for you coming into my life and changing my outlook on life

So during our next encounter

I would like to be with you on a deeper level

talking about things I might not be comfortable telling multiple people 

and having a drink and some laughs

maybe even a tear or two

and we could watch a game to bond like brothers do.

Sean thought A’ric was “awesome in the way he presented himself and told his story.”

Students interested in learning more from A’ric may wish to read one of his books: 5 Things Your Guidance Counselor Didn’t Tell You, 51 Secrets to Being An Extraordinary High School Leader, Dont Be Scurred, and Fearless: The 7 Steps To Becoming Extraordinary Leader in The World!

You can follow Aric Jackson in twitter: @iamaricjackson