OP Welcomes Guest Speaker Kyle Scheele

On Tuesday, OP was fortunate to have Kyle Scheele come in and speak to the student body. He brought a message that told how one person can make the difference in so many different occurrences. Through personal anecdotes and an elusive sense of humor, he described the validity of his message.

He began with a lighthearted story about when he executed a coffin prank before transitioning to his personal life and struggles. As a notoriously reckless child, seldom was he invited to a friend’s house. He continued to talk about his struggle of not fitting in with seemingly anyone. Luckily, his whole completion changed when he met Zach. Not only did they have identical sarcastic and humorous personalities, but he truly felt at home when at his Zach’s house. Zach’s mother treated Kyle with incredible hospitality and introduced him to the legendary peanut butter and honey sandwich. Zach was able to demonstrate that only one person is needed in your life to make you feel like you matter.

When Kyle and Zach separated for their high school lives, Kyle was once against lost. This was compounded by Sean, a classmate, constantly bullying him for no specific reason. Sean would tell stories about Kyle to embarrass him in front of the student body. Sean proved that only one person is needed in your life to make you feel like you do not matter.

Sean’s brother, Travis would be the one to get Sean to stop his bullying. Sean actually looked up to Travis, his teammate on the football team. However, one day, Travis heard Sean insulting his brother in the locker room and had a word with him. Travis (and his large frame) told Sean of his feelings towards those who insulted his brother, and Sean never bullied Kyle again. Travis proved that only one person is needed in your life to change anything.

Through his stories, Kyle demonstrated how one person could make or break someone’s day. While he does not hold anything against Sean, he calls for us to be leaders and act in a way to promote another’s well being. Telling stories of a principal picking up trash in a parking lot and a 14-year-old Patterson being the one to take action when a snake crossed the camper’s path, Kyle explicated how actions have such an impact, no matter how minuscule they may seem. We shouldn’t have an attitude that since we cannot fix everything means we cannot fix anything. It only takes one person to brighten someone’s day; it only takes one to make another no longer feel alone; it only takes one to let another know they are not invisible.