Aaron Thomas relays own personal experience into message of choices and attitude during March 13 presentation to students and community members

The Tuesday, March 13 presentations made by Aaron Thomas to students and community members of the Allamakee Community School District may have lasted only an hour, but his message is intended to last a lifetime.

The son of slain legendary Iowa high school football coach Ed Thomas of Aplington-Parkersburg High School, Thomas made a Tuesday afternoon presentation to Waukon Middle School and Waukon High School students. He then addressed area community members later that same evening, both presentations taking place at the Waukon High School gymnasium.

Opening and closing his presentation with short video features that laid the foundation for his father's legacy and ultimately provided his incentive to share that legacy with others, Thomas shared throughout his presentation what he had learned from his father growing up and how he learned even more from his father's leadership following the 2008 EF5 tornado that ripped through his hometown of Parkersburg and ultimately learned to put all those lessons to use following his father's murder in 2009. His ultimate message was that everyone in life will have a platform or opportunity to make a difference, but it is up to each individual what type of difference they want to make.

"I felt the presentation from Aaron Thomas was exceptional, his message to the students and community hit home with many," shared Allamakee Community School District Superintendent Dave Herold, who was instrumental in bringing Thomas to Waukon for the speaking engagement. "Everyone that listened to Aaron Thomas could take something from his message that afternoon or evening and make it a part of their life moving forward.  His message was truly inspirational, compassionate and genuine. His message made you think about your own life, look at the lives of those around you, and gave you actual steps you could take to make yourself a better student, family member or friend. His message was actually very simple: Your legacy will be determined by the way you act under adversity and hardship. I think that message hit home with many in the area because of the hardships they have faced in the past year. If Aaron Thomas can become a better person because of the way he reacted to the adversity and hardships he dealt with, so can I."

Thomas noted early on in his evening presentation to the general public that this was probably the largest crowd of community members he had spoken to in his tenure as a featured speaker. He also noted that the students he had spoken to earlier in the day were respectful and good listeners, pointing out that he could tell there seemed to be a lot of pride within the school district.

In addressing both generations of his audiences Tuesday, Thomas said the pride of a community relies on and is reflected in both its adults and its children. In speaking to the adults in attendance, he said, "Create a culture for your young people, a place they want to come back to if they leave, because of the experiences they had here in their youth." He furthered that message to the younger generations, saying, "Never forget where you came from and the people who helped you get to where you are at."

Further laying the groundwork for his overall message, Thomas relayed his own experiences of the day he learned the most about his father, when the tornado tragedy struck Parkersburg and he saw his father being interviewed multiple times as he spearheaded the ensuing clean-up and recovery effort. When asked by the many media outlets what was next for the community of Parkersburg, Ed Thomas replied in very similar fashion each time with, "We're going to dust ourselves off, pick ourselves up and move forward."

Aaron Thomas said he asked his father afterward why he was taking on all of those interviews, and his father's reply was indicative of his leadership legacy. The younger Thomas said his father told him, "It's easy to lead when things are going well. True leadership gets revealed in the face of adversity."

Aaron Thomas said that message has stuck with him and was put to the ultimate test just over a year later when his father was murdered by one of his own former football players, Mark Becker. "I had a choice to make," the younger Thomas said. "I had the choice to either live in that day - June 24, 2009 - for the rest of my life, or carry on my father's legacy. If we chose to suffer and cast blame, we believed everything my dad stood for would go right out the window. We chose, instead, to live how my father would have lived; we reached out with forgiveness and compassion, and in trying to help others cope we also helped ourselves."

Relaying his own experiences to those in attendance from a community that has recently suffered a number of individual tragedies and untimely losses, Thomas emphasized two things he knows to be true. "We will all lose a loved one at some point in our life; we will all experience some type of hardship," he shared. "But we also get to choose how that person we lost impacts us, and we get to choose how we respond to those hardships. It is up to each and every one of us."

"I thought the Aaron Thomas presentation was amazing and very appropriate for our school and community following some tough circumstances this year, specifically," commented Waukon High School Assistant Principal and Activities Director Brian Hilsabeck, who introduced Thomas to those in attendance during his presentation. "I have heard nothing but great things from both the students and the community.  Many students and community members talked about how it was a great reminder that we do have a choice when we get up in the morning on what our attitude is going to be. Community members from many different towns also were very encouraged by his lesson

in determination and mission to always help others while holding true to your words. Attitude, Dedication, Commitment, Faith and Family come to mind when I reflect on his messages. We hope this has a lasting effect on students and hope to help shift the mindset of those in a 'rut' coming off a long winter season in a forward thinking direction. Our minds are the most powerful things that we are armed with and hearing a positive powerful message can help us refocus and shift our mindset back to where we need to be focusing."

In further emphasizing everyone's ability to choose their response to hardship and tragedy, Thomas reiterated an often-quoted phrase that he heard his father use on many occasions: "Life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we react to it." He further urged those in attendance to "take a step back on those 'poor me' days" and think about others and their situations, hopefully coming to a realization of "how truly blessed you are." He followed that urging with the emphasis of "the greatest gift that God gives us is the power to choose."

Explaining that choices made are often a result of attitude, Thomas presented a challenge to those in attendance in regard to their attitude toward others and our relationships, emphasizing four main points:

• "Do you impact them in a positive way, or do you slow them down?"
• "Have you invested your time and resources in this person?"
• "Time is our most valuable commodity: where have you spent your time?"
• "Do we care about others, or just ourselves? Are we willing to help people who will never help us back?"

Thomas culminated his presentation with four final points he wanted those in attendance to leave with and carry with them:

• "We all will have a platform or opportunity at some point in our life, will we be ready to make the most of it?"
• "Are we people of passion, can we find something we are passionate about?"
• "Never forget where you came from. Help to make it somewhere special for others."
• "Are we willing to invest in others with our attitude, our time and our resources?"

In addition to his speaking engagements, Thomas also serves as the principal and head basketball coach at Aplington-Parkersburg High School, where he graduated from and where his father built his greatest legacy. He and his wife, Ellie, and their three boys are also active members in the Congregational Church in Parkersburg.

By sheer coincidence, another speaker relating to the Ed Thomas tragedy will be featured Friday, April 6 at the Waukon High School Auditorium. Joan Becker, the mother of the former Aplington-Parkersburg football player who fatally shot Ed Thomas, will present a free program that Friday at 7:30 p.m. (see more information on Page 3B of this week's issue of The Standard). Her presentation, entitled "Sentenced to Life: The Mark Becker Story-Mental Illness, Tragedy and Transformation," is being sponsored by the Veterans Memorial Hospital Nursing Council.