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Pam Wray: We've used Fran Kick for the last eleven years with Choices and Challenges because he brings an excitement
to the kids that they carry with them for the rest of the day.
Ann Jordan: For at least fifteen years I've been fortunate enough to have Fran Kick work with
at-risk students of eighth to tenth grade level and of the hundreds of students that
he talks to every year
they come away with a wonderful message, they learn to network, they learn to
think about themselves, the self-esteem issues seem to go away more than that day it carries through.
Chuck Hatcher: They bring Fran back because he's probably the best engager out there
especially of high school kids I've ever seen.
Kim Homer: So every year I ask the kids is it worth my time and money to bring a group of kids down for this
experience and always tell me yes.
The year they tell me no, is the year I don't come. And so every year that I have brought them they've said
it's worthwhile and it's worth their time and energy so they come and it's really been good for them.
Student Participant: It was very proactive.
Thing is that Fran engages a group, he gets them involved, and they don't even know it.
The messages were about having me be in control
by my own actions
and not let other people make decisions for me.
He gets them up and moving. It's not just sitting and listening to somebody yabber.
He gets them moving, he gets them excited about being here.
Good motivator. Good.
Not really just a motivator, but a
person who gets them moving, gets them involved. He's an involver.
You're engaged in it
like they're not just sitting there and telling you
and you're not like fading off, you know. I mean they're really trying to get you active and think.
It allows them to see what's out there, gives them a chance to look at some other things, maybe even
think outside the box, actually maybe even think.
Really to look at the whole idea that
there are some things out there, if they're willing to put the time and effort into it.
It was funny [Laughter] which got like
everyone laughing and they're not just like falling asleep.
He talks in their terms so it's not an adult talking down to them, he's right with them.
No one could fall asleep it they tried.
The evaluations are always spectacular
and as long as the funding is there
and as long as we can find the funding
Fran's going to be in my court.
I've never heard anything bad
about Fran Kick in our surveys.
When we get our surveys back from our kids in the past years,
What was the best thing about the whole day? Fran Kick or the main speaker and that was
over the lunches, over going to the Culinary Institute, over all of them. It's just the speaker. He made
me laugh, he made me feel good about myself,
Fran seems to always get to the hearts of the kids. I see kids in the audience shaking their heads.
You know listening to him and saying "Yeah, I think I could do that, or I can be that."
Especially one time when we said you know when you go to college and you
have a niece or nephew or a younger brother or sister saying I'm going to be like them.
I saw kids looking and sitting up in their seats leaning forward.
In times of low funding,
when we thought we could save money
we had other people. We even had Cincinnati Bengals
and
we came back to Fran. We always had Fran.
Motivators are a dime-a-dozen. He's an involver.
You can tell students are taking that message and bringing it home.
So that's why we use Fran Kick.
And as long as we do this, we'll continue to use him.