Speaker gives Lyndonville students message of triumph

Provided photos/Lyndonville Central School – Victor Woods, an author and speaker, addresses Lyndonville students.

Press Release
Lyndonville Central School

LYNDONVILLE – The Lyndonville community, students and teachers were able to feel the energy from a motivational speech from Victor Woods to kick off the school year.

Woods is a convicted felon who turned his life around to become an author and a speaker. He gave multiple presentations in the school district revolving around the themes of triumphing over adversity and having the ambition to achieve.

Woods touched on the fact that no one’s path in life is perfect or without problems.

“Something we all have in common is that each and every one of us will encounter a hardship,” said Woods. “It’s a matter of taking those challenges head on and becoming a better person.”

Woods shared principles from his book with the student body.

“I’m not standing here because I’m perfect, or because I have all the answers,” said Woods. “If I had all the answers, I wouldn’t have gone to jail twice.”

Woods told a story of him having conjunctivitis, or pink eye, while in prison and having to pry his eyes open to be able to see. The experience was both physically and metaphorically eye opening.

“People asked me when I began to change,” said Woods. “When you get sick and tired of being sick and tired, that’s when you change the condition of your life.”

“I was in prison and decided not to just have eyesight, but to have vision,” added Woods. “Eyesight is what you see in front of you. Vision is what you see down the road. I knew where I wanted to go.”

The vision to achieve your goals is important, said Woods. Harnessing your talents and strengths is part of that vision.

“Find out what you’re good at and don’t walk towards it, run towards it,” said Woods. “You have to see it in your mind, believe it in your heart and then have the guts to go out there and do it.”

Woods used examples of people who went from small towns to successful careers, such as Bill Clinton and Morgan Freeman, to motivate the students to achieve anything they set their sights on.

“People say ‘I’m from a small town, I can’t do it’,” said Woods. “We’re all the same. If you have an attitude of being a winner and say I’m going to make it any way, then you can. It doesn’t matter where you’re from, what color you are, how much money you make, where your parents came from.”

Woods finished by saying, “Never give up on your children, never give up on your family, never give up on your friends and never ever, ever, ever give up on yourselves.”