Last night, Bill and I headed down to Hoke County High School, where we presented LEARN’s online courses to students and parents at their GEAR UP event. There was a lot of enthusiasm in the school for sending students to college, and I think they did a great job of getting students out to the event, which was held at night and wouldn’t have been as well-attended in many other areas.

The keynote speaker spoke in the school gym. Click on the picture to see my favorite part of the school gym:

Our speaker was a graduate of Hoke County High, and he’s now in Charlotte, where he operates his own company and is a pastor. His speech centered on providing vision for young people, and was very well-received, but I couldn’t help giggling at one point in his speech, when he stressed that young people who surround themselves with negativity and negative influences will often end up negative. He was addressing the parents, telling them about how good books could be a salve for the negative influences, and said, “When negativity goes in, what comes out? Negativity. When you make sure to surround your children with books, when positive reading material goes in… what comes out? Positive reading material.”