National motivational speakers share ideas with Meridian Public School teachers.

Donna Porter impacted the life of one of her students and today, that relationship still stands. Porter and DJ Batiste speak nationally to other teachers about not giving up on students and how to develop a stronger bond in the classroom.

“It’s been over 10 years that we’ve been together, our first moment together was approximately 90 seconds, 90 seconds of conflict that changed his entire life. And after that one day of giving him the skills he needed, he’s never been disrespectful to me one more moment in 10 years.”

Today, both motivational speakers reached the entire Meridian Public-School District by sharing their message.

“A lot of times school is the only place that can save a student’s life, and their future, and it is our passion, our desire, and we believe it’s our responsibility to help give teachers the skills that they need to help save the students who are future.”

DJ Batiste is one student that can attest to Porter believing in him and giving him a chance that he deserved after acting out once in the classroom.

“My behavior problem was behind attention. I realized that negative attention gets looked at more than positive attention, for some reason; we never worry about the child who always is good; because now we’re expecting them to be good.”

Aisha Key learned something new that she will now take to her classroom moving forward.

“ It’s ok to kind of open up and really show students that you are a person, and that you love them, and that you really want to see them succeed;because so many times they don’t really get a chance to see that. Today was very inspirational for me, and I’m so glad that I was able to be a part of this workshop.”