Over 500 people attended Eric Chester’s speech, “The Power of Young Leaders,” in the Alumni Gym on Sept. 21.

Chester is a nationally recognized expert and motivational speaker on “Generation Why”. Chester lives in Colorado and has a Master of Arts degree from Northern Arizona University.

Chester began by explaining to the students that they average life expectancy of people their generation is 80 years, compared to baby boomers, who have only 75 years. To show how short a student’s time in college is, he showed the expected life on an 80 foot tape measure.

“The college experience is only 7.9 inches. The rest of your life is decided on how serious you take these 7.9 inches,” said Chester.

The three main points of his speech surrounded the concept of “Visions, Decisions, and Collisions.” Visions talked about how students should dream big and achieve all their goals. He also told students that it wasn’t enough for students to have little dreams.

Chester also said that no matter what happens, students should never give up on their dreams, and if they fail, they should keep attempting to reach for their dreams.

“There is nothing more dangerous than a kid who gives up on his dreams,” said Chester.

Decisions, the next point, talked about the choices students make and the experiences they have during their college career. He used an example of a man walking into a bear cave while camping and not coming out alive to explain that students should learn from other people’s mistakes too.

“Experience isn’t the best teacher. Other people’s experience is the best teacher,” said Chester.

Chester then explained that the choices students make in college affect the rest of their lives and that it’s not always easy to make the best decision.

“The choices you make, make the person you are. Sometimes it’s better to take the hard right than the easy wrong,” said Chester.

Collisions focused around the friends a student makes during their time at college. Chester said that the friends made in college last a lifetime and will be there at every stage of your life. He also went on to say that your life and memories at college will depend on the type of friends you have.

“The connections you make decide your experience,” said Chester.

Throughout the speech, Chester told about experiences that students could relate to and remember doing the same thing, such as passing love notes to a crush in middle school and how scared everyone felt on their first day of high school.

He ended his speech with a short poem about how students should make the best of college and how we act now will affect the rest of our lives. He also said that students should try to be accepting of everyone and have a close student body.

“The difference between a good campus and a great campus is that people accept each other and there’s a sense of fellowship,” said Chester.

Eric Chester was the first speaker in the Academic Speaker Series. His speech was sponsored by the Honors Program, Student Success Center, Office of Student Life, LEAD Academy, SAC and Title III. The next speaker will be Nadine Stossen the president of American Civil Liberties Union. Strossen’s speech will be at 7:30pm on Tuesday, Sept. 27, at the Elam Center.