On February 29 and March 1, our school was visited by Rohan Murphy. He is a motivational speaker who inspires kids to push themselves to achieve their goals without regard to their limitations. Mr. Murphy was born with deformed legs that had to be amputated as a small child. Even though he did have legs, it did not stop him from becoming a wrestler. He visited every school in our district, with the high school being his last stop.
He spoke about attending the J Robinson 28 Day Wrestling Camp. The camp was founded in 1978 and trained over 60,000 wrestlers. According to the USA Wrestling website, the camp focused on “physical preparation, mental toughness, and life skills development.” This training obviously had a huge impact on Mr. Murphy and while the camp closed in 2021, he is continuing to share their philosophy with young people. His message is simply, “Want something? Go get it.”
Mr. Murphy shared a story about being in high school and telling his guidance counselor that he wanted to go to Penn State for college. His guidance counselor did not think that was a good fit for him because it would snow a lot and he has challenges with mobility since he needs a wheelchair. He went to Penn State. When it snowed, he called campus safely to drive him to class. This story demonstrated his attitude towards all challenges: They can be overcome.
While most students in the audience could not identify with Mr. Murphy’s exact challenge, most could identify at least one aspect of their life that they consider a disadvantage. This presentation made it seem a little bit easier to put aside the excuses and commit to goals.
