THOMASVILLE- Students at Harper Elementary had a special guest visitor last week when Heisman Award winner Charlie Ward Jr. visited third, fourth and fifth-grade classes to teach them about the importance of the “three Ps,” perspective, perseverance and people.

Principal Pamela Cloud explained that as a principal, she is always looking for a way to “up the ante.”

“I’m calling this my reboot year,” she said. “Part of my reboot year is seeing how we can motivate these children. We are competing against social media, television, iPads and a lot of things that are not positive. When the kids see these people on social media, they become like their heroes.”

However, when Cloud thinks of a hero, she doesn’t think of a social media celebrity. She instead envisioned a Thomasville native, who had walked the halls of Harper Elementary before going on to do great things.

Cloud knew Ward Jr. when she was working as a paraprofessional at Harper. She would often see Ward Jr. alongside his mother and heard of the hard work he was putting in both inside and outside the classroom.

“We are fighting against a generation that wants everything instantaneously right now,” Cloud said. “But, he talked about the hard work he put in and how you can’t lay around and sleep all day and still think that you’re going to star on the basketball team. For them to hear that coming from him, they were able to hear about opportunities that are not that far off if they do the right thing.”

Several fifth-grade students spoke on how Ward Jr.’s speech changed their outlook on their current friendships and work ethic.

Jordyn Yates said Ward Jr. focused on always striving for the best while trying to maintain a positive mindset.

“My favorite thing he talked about was perseverance,” Yates said. “He told us to always be on our game and to always think about our game plan.”

Yates said she learned that despite having a great game plan, sometimes things will still go wrong, and it’s okay to have to use a backup plan.

Some of the game plans Ward Jr. shared is to always strive for good grades and when students have questions, to ask teachers or other community members for help.

When discussing teachers and community members, Ward Jr. reminded the students that not everyone is there to help them, though. There are people who pray for the downfall of others.

“When he talked about people, he told us to get with the right people, so we could have a good mindset and always give a helping hand,” Yates said.

Yates learned through Ward Jr.’s speech that he was once surrounded by friends who were leading him down the wrong path. Fortunately, he was able to walk away from that group before it landed him in trouble.

The idea that not everyone is a friend stuck with many of the students, especially Kingston Ross.

Ross said he had already heard to be careful of who he is surrounding himself with, but Ward Jr. put a different perspective on things.

“I learned what I had already heard, but in a deeper meaning,” Ross said. “I already knew that you have to trust the people who you are being friends with and know what they are going to do when you get older, but he (Ward Jr.) said the people who you stick with might bring you down.”

Ross went on to say that Ward Jr.’s words did not fall on deaf ears, as he wants to learn more about his friends and it might be something he considers in the future when choosing who he spends his time with.

Jakeyon Williams agreed, saying Ward Jr. explained to them that when they get in trouble, friends will often leave, even if they were there causing the problems.

“It’s definitely something I have to think about when I’m around my friends,” Williams said.

Cloud was thrilled to see so many of the kids take away such valuable lessons from Ward Jr.’s speech and hopes to continue to invite Thomasville legacies in on a 9-week basis.