Here Say is a project in community storytelling. We travel to a new place each week and ask people to share true stories about things we all experience: love, family, learning and more. To see where we've been, check out our interactive map. And to hear your favorite stories from last season, you can find our free podcast on iTunes.
We spoke with Anna James, a senior middle school education major. She shared what motivates her to wake up each morning.
“The kids, they will push your buttons anyway they can and so that time when you finally talk to a kid and they finally respect you enough, will kind of open up a little bit. And having those hard conversations sometimes, I think that is kind of, kind of why I go and stay in the profession and even keep going each day, just being able to impact other people’s live is really nice.”
For Summer Allen, determination seems to be a way of life. She told us about how she overcame a challenge from her past.
“When I turned 50 I remembered I had tried to do a half marathon in 1978 and when I was in my, I guess, early 30’s and I didn’t finish. And so I thought, I should do something to commemorate 50 and I finished a marathon.”
Now Allen has run 20 marathons and shared her secret to staying dedicated.
“You have to love it first of all, if you don’t enjoy coming out, which I do, then you’re probably not going to stick with it. So you have to somehow convince yourself that you love it and then you have to have perseverance and then you have to develop strength.”
We met Dain Jacob who shared the time he overcame one of his fears and how it paid off.
“Well, recently I ran for a position on the Dean’s Advisory Board for the College of HES. And just like getting up there and speaking, it was like a group of 10 people, but I just had to get up and speak and front of them. And that was just like really nerve racking, I don’t like public speaking, and I just got up there and I was sweating bullets and I did it and I got the position so that was pretty awesome and I’m pretty proud of that.”
John Glascock told us about a new obstacle he’s been facing now that he is getting older.
“Getting older, is you know, something. You have to take care of your body. You know, learn when you are young to do that and something I didn’t learn. You know, you start getting blood pressure medicine and other things. That’s why I’m out here walking today, running today to try and keep my health.”
Along with exercise, Glascock had to make changes to his diet.
“I used to love country fried steak, you know, and gravy and things of that nature. You know, those are bad for you. They clog up your arteries. I’ve to cut back on things, on eggs and things like that.” “My wife, you know, I wasn’t a big salad eater. I was raised on a farm, we ate meat and potatoes, you know, those things. She’s got me on salads and spinach and vegetables and things that are actually good for you!”
We spoke with Elizabeth Dodson. She’s a business student with a 4.0 GPA. She told us how she learned dedication by watching her mom.
“She works all the time and she is an amazing doctor. She takes such good care of her patients and I just remember all throughout my childhood she’d take calls at anytime and she just worked so hard to make sure everybody got what they needed.”