Motivational speaker, Shayne Smith, packed the gym bleachers at Hawthorne High School for an assembly on Friday, September 27, 2013.

Throughout the assembly, Smith’s goal was to motivate students and to show them that no matter what life throws at you, anything is possible with hard work and dedication.

Smith, now 25 years old, opened by sharing his life story. At only four months old, he was diagnosed with a rare form of meningitis, which requred the removal of both of his legs, his arm, and the tips of his fingers. Doctors gave Smith a 2 percent chance to live, but he refused to accept that and continued to fight for his life.

Smith shared some of the same motivation he used on himself with the students of HHS.  “’I want to be’ must become ‘I’m going to be,’” said Smith. Smith explained to students how he lived by this idea and fulfilled his dream of playing basketball.

Smith stated that although it took him four years to make his first basket, he was going to be a basketball player. By 25, he has trained hip-hop superstar, Drake, to play wheelchair basketball on the hit television show Degrassi and has been captain of the Canadian All Star basketball team twice.

Through his message of motivation and various exercises, Smith really got in touch with the crowd’s emotions.  At one point, audience members were chosen at random, including teachers, to admit what they enjoy doing and then to yell that they’re the best at it.  The room soon erupted with applause and laughter.

“This assembly was one of the most exciting ones we ever had,” said HHS senior Nicole Vanderwerf.

Shayne’s message left an impact on the students and faculty of HHS. Zach Henderson, a senior, said, “Shayne’s story motivated me to work even harder.”