Did you graduate high school knowing how to balance a check book or change a car tire? Students at Fulton High School learned all that and more Wednesday, during a student personal development day.
"Back in October, we sent out surveys to the students," said Josh Howard, technology instructional coach for the Fulton school district. "We wanted to learn what they wanted to learn."
Based on the feedback, 45 presenters conducted sessions to teach students topics they were interested in. Sessions ranged from learning technical skills like changing a tire to doing taxes, all the way to a basic women's self-defense course.
"Today is all about the kids," Howard said. "Their voice, their choice."
During Rob Warner's session, young women were taught some basics of the martial art jiu-jitsu to be used in self defense. They learned about the guard position and how to defeat potential attackers from it.
Another session called "Food Science - Why soda is bad for your body" was taught by Kara Jaegers, a registered and licensed dietitian. During the class, students learned all about the effects soda can have on your body, and how some soda is worse than others.
"I learned that Mountain Dew is really bad for you," student Emily Granich said. "A Kickstart, which is a Mountain Dew energy drink, is worse than a Monster energy drink."
One popular session called "How to make a Fat Beat 101" was about music production. Producer and songwriter Wes White introduced students to the basics of song composition using his laptop.
"Maybe this will sound tight," White said as he added different instruments to the song.
Aimee Bristow's session was about college scholarship and financial aid. The senior director of enrollment management and student financial planning at Westminster College, Bristow shared important information with students about to apply to schools around the country.
Students Joseph Garner and Sabin Cassidy both liked the session, saying they learned a lot about how to pay for college.
After all the sessions were over, the student body was treated to a special guest speaker. Mike Alden, former athletic director at the University of Missouri, shared his advice on what it takes to be successful.
"We are going to talk about the keys to being successful in opportunities," Alden said. "Not only in sports, but in life."
Alden said his father was his biggest influence growing up. He said that, yes, his father had problems, but he learned important life lessons from him nonetheless.
"Here are five points for people who are successful," Alden said. "Not just people who are successful in money, but all walks of life."
People who are successful have great anticipatory skills. They have to be able to anticipate what is going to happen.
They have great initiative. They don't just sit on the couch, watching things go by.
Successful people are great team players. They have to be able to work with everyone, even if they don't like them.
They have to always be willing to learn. To be successful, you have to be a life long learner.
You have to hustle. You have to be able to move, get things done, and operate with a sense of urgency.
"Whatever it is you want to do, if you use those five thingsyou are going to be tremendously successful," Alden said. "Because, it gives you something money can't buy: confidence."
During a question and answer session, student Taeon Logan asked Alden for Kansas City Chiefs player Jeremy Maclin's phone number. As a compromise, Alden took a picture of himself and Logan, promising to send it to the player.
The final question of the day was about Alden's father and how proud he was when Alden graduated from high school.
"My father had to drop out of high school, because he got my mother pregnant," Alden said. "I very rarely saw him cry. But when I graduated, he came up and hugged me. He told me how proud he was of me. It was very emotional."