DERBY – If the moves and grooves of the keynote speaker they were mimicking didn’t provide enough of a clue, A’ric Jackson quickly let an auditorium full of Kansas high school and middle school students and their sponsors know what was up.
 
“This is not your typical-type speech,” Jackson said.
 
Jackson, a Chicago native who now lives in Los Angeles, established that with his high-energy entrance. And for the following hour, the leadership trainer and personal coach took more than 500 students from the Wichita area and beyond on a self-awareness journey with his humor and thought-provoking seriousness.
 
Jackson’s visit to Derby High School on Oct. 3 was part of a two-week statewide tour of eight KSHSAA Regional Student Council Conferences that stretched from Colby and Garden City in the west to Pittsburg and Shawnee Mission South in the east. The half-day regional conferences concluded Oct. 4 at Mill Valley High School.
 
When all was said and done, the charismatic Jackson shared a heartfelt message of personal pain and triumph with nearly 4,000 students across the Sunflower State. His objective was to connect the student council representatives with ways to recognize and work through barriers that maximize their leadership potential.
 

Jackson believes the message resonates well with teenagers.
 
“I am super real and transparent,” said Jackson, who for two decades has traveled the country speaking at schools and to youth and adult leadership organizations. “I’m not trying to put up a front of, ‘Hey, look at me. Be better.’ I’m not perfect and I don’t try to be.
 
“It also breaks the ice a little bit when you try to dance in front of a whole bunch of kids, too.”
 
Conference attendees were already engaged after participating in a creative roll call of schools that encouraged students to come up with unique responses when it was their turn. Two Derby student council members served as judges, rating the responses from a table on the auditorium stage.
 
The schools also competed in a 10-question, multiple-choice trivia contest, selecting a representative to go on stage and submit answers, which they could solicit by turning to their fellow student council members for help. South Haven won the Derby STUCO trivia, with Wichita Independent taking second and Maize Middle School finishing third.
 
Then it was time for Jackson, a former theater directing major at Columbia College in Chicago who stepped onto the stage with flare. After showing off a few moves and getting the students to join in, Jackson transitioned to his message.
 
“I didn’t come here from Los Angeles to play pat a cake with you so you can go home and be the same person,” he said.
 
Jackson encouraged students to “destroy your box” – a reference not about getting out a comfort zone, but leaving behind something that is holding you back. He shared a story from his youth about the sadness he experienced from his absent father and the ensuing anger Jackson built toward him into adulthood.
 
While growing up, Jackson walled off attempts by his dad to be a part of his life. The resentment reached a tipping point when, as a college student, Jackson decided to audition for a part in the former comedy television series “In Living Color”.
 
Jackson’s father reached out to him on the day of the audition to offer encouragement. But Jackson wasn’t receptive.
 
“And I took that energy with me into the audition,” Jackson told the students. “I had the worst audition of my life. I told them, ‘I apologize for wasting your time.’”
 
Father and son eventually made amends, a process that Jackson said involved three key elements. First is acknowledging there is a box. “If you’re not aware, it will hurt people close to you,” he said.
 
Second is forgiving the person that caused you to create the box. “Forgiveness is about you,” Jackson said. “I was holding a grudge against my dad for 13 years. If you’re holding on to a grudge for longer than five minutes, you’ve held on too long.”
 
The final step, Jackson said, is forgiving yourself. “No one is perfect. Go ask for forgiveness. … I was a jerk to (my dad). Today, we have the most amazing relationship.”
 
Jackson said destroying boxes can create a path to personal freedom. For organizational leaders like those in a school student council, it can open the door to take chances and redefine conventional thinking.
 
“Do you, unapolgetically,” Jackson said in his address. “It is not their job to get you. It is your job to get you.
 
“Stop dumbing down yourself to make other people comfortable. You’ve been through too much to dim your light.”