Stevensville

On Wednesday, I was at Stevensville School where I encountered my most challenging situation on my travels so far…and it was not the students.
I had never addressed my platform presentation to more than just one set of bleachers in a gym. I have spoken in auditoriums and from stages at conventions, but not in a gymnasium full of students on both sides, and then some! I knew if I let the amount of students intimidate me, I would not deliver my message as effectively and they would not realize the magnitude of the problem I was addressing. Instead I became more confident and commanding in my demeanor.
With a crowd of that number (and in the high school age range), the trick to maintaining control is to never let them mentally break you. I felt very good about this presentation at Stevensville.
The elementary students were less in number and they were very attentive. For the first time in my presentation, I had to deny a request to sing another song because my voice was not holding up due to my recovering illness. For me this is heartbreaking because sharing music is the best way to advocate music.