‘Be Great’
Summit holds Be Future Ready Conference Event held for school’s sophomores
Summit Collegiate High School sophomores met Friday at Porterville Church of the Nazarene with one goal in mind — to be future ready.
After Principal Martin Medina welcomed students and introduced guests, Communications Director Irene Ortega introduced the keynote speaker — Nate Wobrock, a local entrepreneur who heard “you will never walk again” as a child and “you’re fired” from his boss.
“His life story will inspire and motivate you to be the best version of yourself,” Ortega said. “Hold on to your seats for this dynamic speaker will get you excited for your future.”
And just like that — the Be Future Ready Conference 2022 “It Starts with Y.O.U.” began with a bang — complete with loud music and an enthusiastic Wobrock, whose presence appeared to rock the room.
“Thirty six years ago, I was in your shoes,” said the 51 year old speaker. “And 36 years ago, no one told me I could be anything.”
Wobrock said he talked to seniors six years ago and at the time thought it would have been great to have the opportunity to talk to sophomores.
“Seriously, you think you are just starting high school,” Wobrock said. “But really, you’re almost coming to the end.”
Wearing a black shirt with two words — Be Great — the motivational Wobrock kept the room’s attention as he spoke, talking about his family, his life, offering statistics and talking of the significance of names while praising students who made eye contact, answering or shouting out their names during one of his activities.
“There’s 136 of you here,” he said. “Last year’s graduation class was 64.”
And, statistically, 24 percent of last year’s core class is calculated
as students who will drop out of college, he said as he demonstrated by having all the students stand.
“The average person has seven letters in their last name,” he said before asking anyone with five or less letters in the name to sit. He also asked any single-child student to sit. Little by little, he had different students sit until there were only 9 students left standing, symbolizing, stastitically, the number of students who will actually graduate from a four-year college.
He continued with games, and speaking, while occasionally randomly shouting out “Hubba Hubba” with the students replying with a “Hoo Ha” shout.
After asking students to write “Time, Battles and YOU” on a page, he explained.
“Time involved means everything,” he said. “What are you spending your time on? Family? Team? School? Parents?”
He went on to talk about BATTLES, saying the B was for bouncing back, A for attitude, T for taking charge, T for thinking, L for loyalty, E for ending strong and S for stretched.
He also talked about Y.O.U.
“Today, I am here for you. Why? Why not you? O for owning it – when right and when wrong. And U – for you.”
And after giving the students his personal cell number, and asking them to call him whenever they needed him, he ended with a movie clip from “Coach Carter” where a student speaks up to the coach saying: Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
“Summit Collegiate High School 136 students, I am honored to be in your presence,” Wobrock said as he closed to hearty applause, hugs and high fives from students as he walked past them.
“I think it was nice – inspiring,” said Elijah Terrel who also said Wobrock was confident and an example of battles.
“He was nice. It was not boring at all. He made it exciting,” added Kennedy Amaya.
The students then rotated through five different sessions: Entrepreneurship and Y.O.U!, A Resume for Today and Your Future, Designing your Financial Future, Building Social Emotional Competencies for Your Future, and Social Media Awareness-digital Footprint.
In Room 306, Porterville Police Department Officer Araceli Esparza talked to the students about the dangers of reckless posting on social media.
“Threats are serious. Be award of what you are saying,” she said and explained once a threat is made, it doesn’t go away if it’s immediately erased. “Behavior online matters. Be good digital citizens. Behave as you would at school.”
In a nearby classroom, Matthew Glasgow, CSET Senior Program Specialist talked about being professional, online and having a resume. He encouraged students to create a professional email address.
“Little Princess” followed by an age or year is cute, he said, but not professional.
He also advised against having cutesy or annoying messages as a voice mail greeting, and said if they’re applying for schools or jobs, they want everything to sound professional.
The session on “Building Social Emotional Competencies for your Future” had Burton School District psychologists Brenda Martinez and Tasleem Abdullah talking on the challenges of understanding emotional feelings, and while talking about building healthy habits, the class was asked to stand and join in a Conga Line, led by student Robert Alvarado, around the classroom.
Dustin Della of Mission Bank talked to the students about designing their financial future, and Wobrock offered a program on being an entrepreneur and letting them know they were the perfect age for them to find what they wanted to do in life.
“It’s been really cool. Very interesting,” said Violet Smith. “I’ve already learned a lot.”
The program continued with lunch and a community panel of youth, and closing ceremonies and prizes in the youth gymnasium.
“This is our first one at Summit High School,” Medina said about the program, which took months to plan. “Our goal was to try to change what we didn’t have when we were their age. We wanted to empower students with work skills needed after high school.”