Cory Greenwood, a guest speaker at Southern Local Jr./Sr. High School on April 7, encouraged students there to treat their peers with respect and to seek support of those close to them during difficult times. (Submitted photo)

SALINEVILLE — “Leading doesn’t require perfection. You don’t have to be someone else. You just have to wake up every day and choose to use what you have,” said Cory Greenwood, a special guest speaker at Southern Local Jr./Sr. High School on April 7.

Greenwood encouraged students there to treat each other with respect and consideration, noting that each of them has experienced difficult times, particularly when faced with the many changes they encounter during their middle school years.

“You don’t have to like everyone, but you don’t have to make a living hell for someone,” he said, alluding to a bully mentality that sometimes surfaces in the teen years.

Greenwood told the many teens gathered in the school’s gymnasium that life is like a rollercoaster.

In one moment, they may feel very confident and at ease, sure they are “living the dream,” and in another, they may face with a major blow– from the betrayal of a friend to a major health issue for a family member — that “makes you want to throw up and get off the ride.”

To make another point about life, Greenwood admitted he has an aversion to such amusement rides but one day his daughter convinced him to join her on one. As the rollercoaster’s path spiraled upside down, he experienced momentary fear as his daughter appeared to drop six inches from her seat. But his anxiety subsided as he observed the harness over her shoulders held her in place.

“That harness did what it was supposed to do. It kept her safe in that ride,” said Greenwood.

He asked the teens at Southern when they encounter an uneasy situation, “Who’s your harness? Who’s that person who will keep you in the ride?”

“There are going to be days when it doesn’t feel good, when it doesn’t make sense, when it doesn’t seem fair,” said Greenwood.

He encouraged them to draw on the strength of others, those who know them well, at a difficult time, whether it be while encountering a setback to achieving one’s dream or struggling to overcome an addiction.

“We’re all people. We’re all going to have days,” said Greenwood. “You don’t have to do it alone. The answer isn’t that you have to push everybody away to prove you’re strong or big enough.”

In closing his talk, he encouraged the students to reach out to their peers, to show they care, with a hug or other gesture of compassion.

The gym was soon filled with teens embracing, shaking hands or giving “high fives” to each other and their teachers. Greenwood’s presentation was interspersed with upbeat rock music performed by Kayko, a finalist on “American Idol,” and his own brand of humor.

“We don’t want it to be a lecture. We want to make it fun,” he explained as he prepared sound equipment beforehand.

During his talk, the Rochester, Minn., native joked that when he was a teen, his friends would have found him more likely to break into a school than be invited to speak at one.

But before the gym was filled, he said it was such a speaker who changed his own approach to life.

“I was the kid who was always goofing off and what he said really sparked me,” said Greenwood, who now visits 100 to 150 schools each year, hoping also to make an impact.

Kennadee Pipkins, a guidance counselor at the school, said Greenwood is among speakers offered by an organization called Relevant Speakers, including a few others who have visited the school in years past.