Last week, Algonquin’s school paper covered a recent assembly for underclassmen. Guidance brought in a motivational speaker to talk to students about getting out of dangerous situations.
One of the situations she spoke about was a common one – being a passenger in the car with a speeding driver. That danger is one with personal relevance to the speaker whose sister was killed in a car accident caused by her boyfriend’s wreckless driving.
The Harbinger reports:
“Close your eyes, and, for a moment, imagine the most important person in your life and all the things they do for you. Now imagine, if one day, that person was gone forever.”
This is how youth motivational speaker Cara Filler starts out all of her speeches on making positive choices, and how she began the assembly attended by freshmen and juniors on March 22 during periods 6 and 7.
Filler, who has now spoken at Algonquin for three years, says on her website that her mission is to not only convey her story of how she lost her sister, but to help others learn from their own stories and make smarter choices to ensure their own safety. She intends to help others understand that every choice people make each day, no matter how small, has an impact. Her presentation was centered around the dangers of speeding, but she also addressed general ways to get out of any dangerous situation.
The event was set up by guidance counselors Rebecca Haberman and Andrea Hotchkin who are the advisers of Take Action, See Change (TASC), a student run organization, which focuses on helping teenagers make safer choices when put in tough situations.
“We have continued to bring her back because she is memorable,” Hotchkin said. “I have always found her to be genuine, funny and very relatable to our student population. Rather than lecturing or telling students to ‘just say no,’ she engages with her audience while offering practical strategies to navigate some difficult situations.”
Filler offered strategies for students to get out of unsafe situations including making up simple excuses that would ultimately stop anything from going wrong, such as telling the driver of a speeding vehicle that you don’t feel well and you need to be let out right away.
“Cara’s presentation had a positive impact on many of our students by empowering them to make choices that matter,” Hotchkin said.
You can read the full story here.
