D1 college basketball player, Kevin Atlas, gives an inspirational speech on “the blueprints of life.” Giving The freshmen wise information about how he overcame his trials with one arm.

Right from the start, Kevin Atlas’s life was a turn of events. “Having my arm taken away at birth actually saved my life”  Kevin stated. His missing arm was one of the many struggles he had to overcome, including ADHD, dyslexia, and a speech deficiency; Which lead him to being in special needs and counselling classes. Kevin Atlas said “I tried hard to fit in with the other kids, but that never seemed to be the case.” Kevin also stated, “As soon as I thought that my life couldn’t get any worse, my dad sat all of us kids down to tell us that he had cancer and he didn’t know how much longer he had to live”. Once Kevin’s dad died, he started to look for good ways to keep his mind off everything, which soon lead him in the direction of playing basketball.

The crowd gave Kevin a warm welcome and they were intrigued to hear this star’s input on life. To get the audience of teenagers involved he would include jokes. Very few kids would be on their phones or talking to their neighbors. He gave the crowd an emotional roller coaster of information. From the high’s of making the high school basketball team to the low’s of breaking his leg and losing all of his scholarships. 

“I thought he knew what he was talking about. He has been through stuff and everyone could relate to him” said Saydria Ostler, a freshman. Kevin’s life story gave the audience a great amount to talk about, he showed the freshman how to live to their full potential. Principal Serrano stated “Freshman seemed to need this speech more than anyone.” Freshman all across campus have been inspired to be nice and strive to be more of a sincere person. Kevin gave the audience of freshman a challenge, to give at least three complements to anyone each day. “I think it is a great challenge and everyone should do it everyday because it’s an easy way to spread kindness and make more people happy!” said Sydney Park a freshman. 

Freshmen were gathered to hear something amazing and that is exactly what they got. Kevin gave an interesting talk on the “blueprints of life”. He would include guidance on how to make it through life successfully. This one-of-a-kind man explained how he pushed through his trials with one arm. “I learned to accept my missing arm and try to look at it as a blessing.” Clearly that was the solution to his stress. After figuring out this trick to success, he started making basketball teams and getting scholarships. He encouraged the crowd of freshman to do the same, to look at their downfalls as something amazing.