The Surprise Assembly that was Dearly Needed
Monday, January 27, students entered the school and started off their day as usual. Except word had been spreading around that we were going to have an assembly, no one knew why or what it was about. Not until the classes were called down to the BPAC to start this surprise assembly.
It began with an introduction from two students, they gave Kate Fitzsimmons, the speaker, a warm welcome along with the students of BHS.
Kate caught the attention of many students in several ways: telling us she came all the way from Sydney, Australia, teaching us cool Aussie slang, and finally getting serious and telling us the tragedy that made a difference in her life. Her sister, Nicole, sadly passed away in a tragic motorcycle accident in 2012. During the time of her passing Kate had the mindset of, “How can I go on?” and “Why did this have to happen?” Most of her time was spent pitying herself, until she finally decided to make a difference for everyone.
She began by starting The Nicole Fitzsimmons Foundation, which is in honor of Nicole’s legacy of fulfilling life’s desires. Kate also talked about emotions and how our thoughts can be the cause of these emotions. Many times we think that when certain things happen to us, it affects the way we feel. In reality we have control over our emotions, which brings us back to how thoughts can also affect emotions.
After Nicole’s death, Kate wanted to do something about having negative thoughts, or what she liked to call them A.N.T, automatic negative thoughts. After a situation happens our brains tend to focus on these A.N.T’s. To prevent these, she came up with the three R’s, recognize, reflect, and redirect. With these three R’s you can easily turn those A.N.T’s to positive thoughts, leading to positive emotions. So, remember what Kate says, “Your response is your choice.”
Angela Trejo is a senior this year at Blackfoot High School. The reason Angela joined the Newspaper club/class is because she has always had an interest...
Devan • Feb 4, 2021 at 11:30 am
I really liked this assembly, but I wish more kids would go to the assembly’s and pay attention to them. I liked how she talked about what we should do when we have a bad experience or how to become better. This was really important now that we need to get through this hard time.
Cassandra Nelson • Feb 2, 2021 at 12:37 pm
I thought this was a very cool assembly. It was very inspirational because it showed that even if something bad happens then keep going and find that positive that is in your life. It helped show me that there is something positive in your life you just have to know how to find it stay positive and not giving up.
Kassy Crapo • Mar 1, 2020 at 8:50 pm
I loved this assembly. I feel like we need a reminder to always stay positive in our chaotic high school lives, and it served as a good one. I loved how Kate said that our response is our choice. We may be thrown into an unanticipated situation, but we can choose our outlook on that situation, and on our life. I think we should definitely have more assemblies like this. It served as a very impacting call to action. A call to action that urges optimism-something that highschoolers need to have always.
Hadley Humpherys • Feb 28, 2020 at 3:14 pm
I loved this assembly and hope there will be more like this. Not only did it have a good message it also got the students involved. Her message is something simple that we all can apply to our daily lives.
Lanie Williams • Feb 28, 2020 at 11:16 am
Personally, I wish students paid more attention to assemblies such as this one. It was so helpful! I fell as though teenagers have more control over their emotions that they think. Our mood swings tend to be simply defined as hormones of our adolescence and we leave it at that. However, Kate explained how our thoughts and decisions really can help us change our mindsets. We may not be able to change our circumstances, but we get to choose how we react. Bravo, Kate!
Elliott Wehrle • Feb 28, 2020 at 11:00 am
I really enjoyed this assembly and hope there will be more. I bet the assembly helped many kids that go to are school. I agree with her when she says that we choose how we respond. No one else. I think this is important for many people to learn at a young age.