Identity, a person’s unique sense of self and physical characteristics, personality, beliefs, values, social roles and relationships. Learning who you are provides self-awareness, purpose, confidence and good mental health Professional Football Hall of Famer Alan Fecena stressed to the freshmen class during an assembly.
Fecena is a retired NFL (National Football League) player who played for the Steelers for 13 years. He retired in 2013, and in 2021, he was inducted into the Professional Football Hall of Fame. Feneca was able to come in and talk with the class of 2029 through the Hall of Fame and its “Kempthorn Values” program.
Fecena came in talking about some challenges he had in life and how he overcame them. He talked about the importance of learning self-identity and how he realized what kind of person he is.
At the age of 15, Fecena had his first seizure. He was diagnosed with epilepsy, a neurological condition characterized by recurrent seizures. Sharing this story with the students, showing them that one major or minor thing in life doesn’t just define them. It is just life throwing them a challenge.
Throughout high school, Fecena shared how he managed to achieve not only football but also academic goals. What Fecena found worked out for him is, he would set a big goal, then set little personal goals around that big one that would help him achieve it.
His big goal was football and doing good out on the field. To do well on the field, he had to maintain good grades. He had a little goal of taking time out of his day to sit down and focus on his classwork.
Fecena shared how being part of a team is the same as group work in the classroom. Your peers are there to help challenge you, make you frustrated and teach you lessons. Fecena mentioned that as long as you talk the situation through, you can learn from the other person and come up with a conclusion.
When playing in a football game, Fecena admitted to the group that he makes mistakes just as much as his other teammates. Humans will make mistakes; owning up to the mistake and working to make it better is just like making a mistake in the classroom. Not taking ownership of that mistake can push you down and prevent you from trying as hard.
Problem-solving, when making mistakes on the field, you have to think quickly. Learning to think quickly on your feet and out of the box is what helped him with problem-solving outside of the field.
All of these things Alan brought up are great examples of how you can be a better person or student. Learning who you are is important. You can really learn to achieve more in life than what you already are.
