Current NFL football players DeSean Jackson, right, and Donovan Warren, left, share a laugh as they ask Paly sophomore Alan Lamarque what Jackson’s five “rocks” for success are. Lamarque, with the slight help of the audience, answered correctly: belief, desire, vision, power and a dream.
– Lucas Chan
Belief, desire, vision, power and a dream.
According to National Football League Pro Bowl wide receiver DeSean Jackson, those are the five necessary elements to making any life goal successful.
Palo Alto High School students learned that on Friday afternoon from Jackson, who visited Paly along with a host of other speakers to talk to students in the student center.
Jackson, along with his older brother Byron, fellow NFL player Donovan Warren, Bay Area rapper Ray Luv, and community activist and educator Leila Steinberg, talked to students about the importance of having a goal and working hard toward the fulfillment of that goal while avoiding the easy-to-fall-for-but-dangerous distractions that come with growing up.
Jackson decided to visit Paly after hearing a speech given by Paly journalism and English teacher Esther Wojcicki earlier in the year, according to Wojcicki.
With a musical opening by Luv rapping about the importance of staying in school, the theme of the event, as communicated by each speaker through music, film or personal narrative, dealt with staying around positive and supportive friends and family while having the responsibility and drive to make a difference in the world. Paly’s INfocus television network filmed the entire event, which is accessible here.
Steinberg, who famously worked together with legendary rapper Tupac Shakur and helped him achieve his full potential, highlighted that point when she asked the Paly students in attendance to raise their hands if they had a family that supported them.
As numerous hands shot up throughout the standing-room auditorium, she contrasted the students’ responses to that of McClymonds High School in Oakland, where the speakers had just visited early during the day. When she asked the same question there, there were drastically less hands raised, Steinberg said.
Steinberg talked about how Paly students have the fortune of a network of support among friends, teachers and family. An experienced speaker, she encouraged all the students to use their various gifts and skills to take advantage of the community’s support and make a positive difference in the world.
She also brought in an anecdote about Shakur’s life to explain that, “between the ages of 14 and 17, we make a decision about where we will be.”
“It is at this age that you make the decision and then you live exactly what you expected for yourself,” Steinberg said.
Seizing the moment and the students’ rapture — not everyday does one get to hear a story that humanizes the person behind a celebrity of Shakur’s stature — Steinberg continued. “It is at this age that you make the decision, and then you live exactly what you expected for yourself. But it only takes one second to change your thinking.”
Building on her previous points about making a strong and positive impact on the world, Steinberg then directly connected with the audience.
“Everyone of you in this room right now has a vision for your life and your future, and I want to encourage you if it’s not a good vision, or a powerful or a successful — change it right now,” Steinberg said.
Jackson and Bryon both frequently alluded to their own childhoods in conveying the same message about hard work and making smart decisions. The audience was also treated to a preview of Byron’s upcoming documentary on Jackson’s life as a way to visualize the message.
Steinberg ended with a plea for support from the Palo Alto student community towards fundraising for two hundred East Palo Alto students to attend a Jackson-hosted football camp held in Vacaville over the summer. Steinberg said she would match any money raised for that purpose.
When the speakers finished, Jackson held a twenty-minute question and answer session where questions ranged from serious to playful, with one intrepid student asking the star football player, “Why are you so raw?”
After the question and answer session, Jackson, Warren and the other speakers signed autographs outside of the student center after school ended. They opened up just in time for students who were still in class and absent from the event, as many students patiently lined up for their chance with the speakers.