Transcript: Coach Kennedy on Winning Mindsets, Mentorship, and Lifelong Lessons

Good morning. Welcome back to the show. We are here with senior prefect, athlete, and Sherman Prize speaking contest winner Cam Shiver. How are you, Cam?

I'm great. How are you guys? Amazing. Glad to be here.

So a lot of U.S. students have a story about finding U.S. and ultimately what drove them to make the decision to come here. So for you, how'd you find U.S. and why'd you make that decision to switch? Yeah, so in my eighth grade year, I was fully set on going to Solon. I've gone to Solon through K through 8.

Then I was going to go through high school. And then my friend Ryder, he had already gone here. And he was like, Cameron, just take a tour, take a tour. I was like, no, I'm going to Solon.

I'm going to Solon. And we played Batman Lacrosse in April and May. It was super late. And I was like, you know what?

I really like this place. Let me go take a tour. And I took a tour and I was just mind blown. I was like, this place.

Incredible. I mean, the amount of opportunities kids have here is insane. And so I knew I had to be, I knew this was the place to be. Yeah.

And coming from Twinsburg, I understand like the difference. It's just the opportunities is amazing here. Last year, you had one of the best speeches I've honestly ever heard. It was titled, Thank You, Mom.

And you spoke about the importance of expressing gratitude to your loved ones. It was an incredibly heartfelt speech. If you'd feel comfortable talking about it, could you explain to the listeners who may not have heard it last year what the speech was about and what it really meant to you? Yeah.

So when I was, eight years old, my mother was diagnosed with, I think it was type two breast cancer. I mean, as an eight-year-old, I had no clue what that meant. So I remember like the day she told me, she called me to her room and she just basically was like, I have cancer, Cam. And I was like, okay.

I went downstairs, I went downstairs and played my video games. And then as time went on, I was like, oh no, like every Friday, my mom would get chemo. She'd come home, sleep for 17 hours straight every time. I mean, I was like, I don't know.

I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

I don't know. I don't know. I don't I mean, I was like, I was so confused. I thought she had a cold.

I didn't know what cancer was. I really didn't understand what it meant. And then, but as time got on, I saw how serious it was. And so even though I didn't know what it meant, I realized that she was really, really sick.

And just the amount of my family, the amount of family that I had that came to my support during that time was incredible. Teachers, I mean, everyone. And it just really, it really goes to show you that you don't have that much time on this earth. Like you really only get, if you're lucky, 80 years on earth and you really should spend your time with the people that you care about.

Spend it doing the things you like doing because you really just don't. You just don't know how much time you have left. And I mean, there's a lot of things. You can die in a lot of ways.

So sadly, so I mean, spend time doing things you want to do. Spend time with people you want to spend it with. Is she now cancer free? She is cancer free.

I think eight years now. Yeah. It's been a while. Yeah.

Did you always value family or that experience almost wake you up? I'd say it definitely woke me up. I've been an only child. Until recently, I was an only child.

And I mean, I was a very selfish little kid. I mean, I feel like a lot of kids, a lot of little kids are, but I was a super just like, oh me, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme little kid. And as I'm getting older and like looked back on my experience and realized how many people came to my aid when I didn't even know what was going on. And I was just scared, like just scared and then had no clues going on and people were helping me.

I've just realized how important family and friends are and like how important it is to surround yourself. And that definitely comes across in your interactions with your friends and strangers alike. And you always have a smile on your face. You always genuinely seem to care about the people you interact with.

And why do you treat everyone that way? I mean, we obviously should all treat people that way, but you really seem intentional about the way you interact. So why are you that way? When I think about it, everyone has a story.

Like, you know, no one would know. You wouldn't know that just looking at me, just that my mom had cancer and that stuff like that. You just really never know. I mean, there are so many different stories in this school of how people got here.

And I feel like it's so, it's just, it's not hard to be nice. It's not hard to walk around with a smile on your face and say hi to people. I mean, cause I just feel like people are too mean nowadays sometimes. And you never know when a comment that you make could affect, you never know how that's going to affect someone.

Something you say, whether it's good or bad could change their life. You know, I've had a lot of moments in my life where people have said things to me and it's really just made me feel amazing. And they had, it was like a real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real, but I was having a bad day. That being like, how are you?

And me getting just talk to them and say, I'm okay. Thank you. Like just really brain my day. So you just never know.

I know there's never like one solution to a problem this big, but what do you kind of think is the way that we can lead to a future where everybody smiles and talks like nicely to each other? Like you're talking to us. You got to put yourself in other people's shoes, really. I mean, you got to take, take some time to really, cause you all, I mean, all those days where you're just like, I am not happy today.

Like, you know, you wake up, you're on the wrong side of the bed, got a bad grade on the test. You know, your girlfriend dumped you and whatever, you know, things happen. And you sometimes have those days where you're not at your best and you just got to take a second and really think about, you know, my life's pretty good. You really think about it.

I don't go into school. I'm healthy. There's so many, there's just so many good things that are going on in life. You need to take your time, take some time, be grateful for what you have.

And then realize that I may be having a bad day. Someone else might be having a worse day. So I go around and I'm just all over the place. I'm upset and I'm, you know, yelling at people and getting angry.

I can ruin someone else's day or week when you can just put a smile on his face and be happy. It's never as bad as it seems. There's always something to be grateful for. Yeah, for sure.

And Cam, you're a part of the first Byrne Scholar Program class and are also a member of the LaPresti Board. And those are both organizations focused on giving back and social entrepreneurship. So what does giving back to the community mean to you? And what has the Byrne Scholar experience been like?

Yeah, so I mean, I would say Byrne Scholar's has definitely been an amazing, it's been an amazing experience. It is definitely a time, it is big time. It takes a lot of time, especially with all the things that I'm doing this year. But I mean, it's really just about like helping the community realize that you can make a difference.

And that's, that's a big thing for me. So we were able, like this summer, I was able to work with the, I think it is Mary Duggan Center. And we helped pack food and it was really nice to see. I was able to work with the REACH program and me, Mikey and Ryder were able to do a class on mental health, mental health and well-being and physical health and well-being and just teach kids who are going into eighth or going into ninth grade who may not have known about things.

Just teach them about life, teach them how things get, things are going to get hard and teach them about mental health and stuff like that. It was really cool. It's, it's just, it's such a nice feeling to know that you can help someone else. It was like, you know, you never realize how much of an impact you can make on people's lives with simple things.

You know, going to the idea of like activities, what other activities you're in? Because I know we're going to later talk about all your sports and I, how you're really, really big into sports with all these other activities include, but have there been a couple of activities or a couple of clubs maybe that you've done during your years here that you really believe like molded you into who you are today? I would definitely have to start with Pembroke Society. I mean, the amount of, it's just so nice to have a community of people that look like you and are having the same experience as you.

It's really nice. Like it really is. It's helpful. Um, I would say definitely the Presti board has actually shaped me a lot more of it, but I like to put on, we do so little, I feel like, like we meet maybe twice, maybe two weeks out of the year at the end of the year.

And we just do a bunch of stuff then, but the, from the difference between how I treated that freshman year and how I choose that now is incredible. Like, so we basically needed the end of the year and we discuss how, like what the money's where the money's going to go and you make a presentation and then you submit it and freshman year. My presentation was horrible. I think I did it two minutes before I walked.

I had no clue what I was going to talk about. Cause I was like, I don't care. This doesn't matter. And you just kind of, as you go through like how your high school year, you're like, it's really cool that I'm able to do this.

I'm able to, I think I was, I was fighting for a club that was going to give books to children, like children who didn't have them. And I spent no time on it and they didn't end up getting anything because I spent, and I felt, I was like, that's a whole. I was like, that's terrible. I was like, that's terrible.

Like I felt so bad. I was like, this, this isn't how I should have treated this. And so as I've gotten older, I'm like, I'm going to put, I'm going to spend time working on this. Like, let me actually put some effort into this and help these cause these, they just need money and they're trying to help other people.

It looks so bad on me to spend two minutes of my time when it, it only takes 10 minutes to make a presentation and help submit it. Yeah. And I think, you know, you working through your burns project with all the, with all those organizations, I know Charlie and I have worked with various organizations. Yeah.

Like when you first start, it's just funds. It doesn't really seem real. You're just giving out money. But once you start to work with those organizations, you see how much it means to them.

You know, one of the things that Jack and I constantly talk about is what drives and motivates us. I think maybe you might've even heard this question, but I love asking it to everybody I come across. What is your why? What does that motivation look like for you?

And what keeps you keep on waking up and keep on keeping on? Yeah, I definitely have to say my grandpa. So my grandpa grew up in not a great area. And he wasn't, he really wasn't like he had not, not much.

I think he had seven siblings. They lived in a tiny little house, I think somewhere in Cleveland. And I mean, that man has just become like, he's become one of the most successful people I've ever met in my entire life. And he just didn't let anyone tell him, no, like he would go from, I remember he was telling me at one job he worked where he would literally just print papers all day.

Like he just, he just constantly sit there and print papers. And he was like, it was the most demeaning job. Like I did nothing, but he's like, but that helped me. It helped me get to where I was.

And so he's like, I wouldn't trade it for the world. And I'm just, it's the amount though, where I've been in life, like where I was able to start off where I'm going to be able to go to college. I'm going to go do all this stuff. I owe it like all to him.

He is just, I mean, he has pushed my family through so much and it's just no one telling him no. So I've tried to live my life. Like I'm not going to let anyone tell me, no, I can accomplish whatever I want every day. I wake up, try to do something better, better myself, better the world.

You know, that's just, that's just what life is. You know, we've talked about second episode with Coach Alvarez and I know we kind of share this bond, uh, football, but Coach Alvarez makes us do pushups whenever we are. Oh yeah. Right.

And you, you kind of go through an experience like that and you think, Jesus, what am I doing? Yes. Like you're like, Oh my God, I yawned again. Right.

And after a while you start to get better pushups and you start to feel like, okay, well, I'm not going to yawn. And now, I mean, I don't yawn. So have you found those experiences in your life where you're like, during the prog, like during the time you're thinking to yourself, why am I doing this? But afterwards you thought to yourself, this was a lot of experience that this really pushed me forward.

Oh, I'm going to go right back to football too. Those 6am workouts in the summer, the entire time I am like, why am I doing, why do I put myself through this? Why do I do this? You know, like, I mean, I'm waking my, I used to have to wake my mom up to take me to the club.

Now I can drive, but I'm waking up at five in the morning. Everyone else is sleeping until 10 in the summer. I'm just like, what am I doing? And freshman year, it was so hard.

Freshman sophomore year was so hard every morning to wake up and go to those bowl workouts. But I mean, senior year, I kind of realized this is a really good start to my day. Like, I mean, it really, it really just is. Waking up at six in the morning and just going straight to lifts, getting your lift in, you're done at eight 30.

I felt great every morning. And I, I've never realized that until I was just like, you know what? Maybe this isn't so bad. Maybe it's not that bad.

I mean, and it just helps you get ready for the year. So, I mean, there's just so many days that waking up that early and doing that, but in the moment, it's not fun. Um, I know one of the things that we've also, uh, talked a lot about is the fact that, um, you committed to DePauw. Congratulations.

Um, for lacrosse, what is lacrosse meant to you and going a little deeper? I know you, I know you played a couple of other sports during your time at us. So what have you seen just sports mean to you as a whole? Yeah.

So, uh, for starters, lacrosse, I mean, it's been like a breath of fresh air. I remember when I started in fifth grade, um, I think I saw, I'm pretty sure this dad was watching you play soccer and he was like, that kid looks like he'd be good at lacrosse. No clue what the sport, he told my mom that she was like, what is lacrosse? And like a week later, I got a flyer for lacrosse.

I'm like, mom, can I try this? And she's like, you know what? Sure. And I started it.

And I mean, I've just fell in love with the sport ever since. Like, it's really just, it is just amazing. It's a bunch of different sports mixed into one. It's so nice.

I mean, I also love that. Like I'm able to be like a black lacrosse player. There's not that many, like there's really like, you'll maybe find two or three on teams. And it is so cool that I feel like I'm able to like grow the sport.

And I feel like every time that I put more work into doing that, and maybe I'll get somewhere with this, that another like young black kid or a young kid who maybe thought they couldn't do this is going to be able to do it one day. And that's, that's a big part of it. And then sports as a whole, I mean, it's just been a brotherhood. Like, I mean, I don't think you can get a bigger, a better brotherhood than just being a part of a sport.

Like you're, you're going through really hard stuff with a lot of people, like, you know, football, baseball, you go through a lot of really, really, really tough stuff. With like your brothers. I mean, it's just, it's a bond that you can't, like, you literally can't break. Like, I mean, I, you know, I mean, I love everyone on the team.

You know, you always have people that maybe you're not super, super close with, but I mean, I would do anything for the guys next to me. And that's just something you can't get anywhere else. You know, going from those sports, have you had those coaches or maybe even going back to U.S., have you had those mentors that you really can push you along and are the reason like you're here today? 100%. Coach Kennedy is the first person that will come to my team.

Every single time. I mean, the amount of times that I've just, after practice, just sat there, just talk to him, listen, just listen to him talk about like the most random things. Yeah, exactly. He'll just talk, he'll just rant, he'll just rant on and on and on.

But I mean, he just loves it. Like he just really loves everything that he does. And it inspires me every single day. Cause I'm like, this man could come here and spend 24 hours talking about football.

I'm like, that is incredible. I want to find something in life that I can sit and just talk for 24 hours about all day. Like he pushes me every single day. I mean, Coach Malbasa too, like the amount of time that he spends on us is insane.

The amount of time he spends on us is incredible. And I mean, I owe a lot to them. And I mean, Mr., there's so many, you can go through the list. Mr.

Perry, like there are just so many people who have really, really pushed me to be a better athlete and a better person. And what's the biggest lesson? If you could just pick one, I know there's a lot, but if you could just pick one, what's the biggest lesson that any of those people have taught you? That's a good one.

Okay. Um, I'm going to say, I'm going to go with Mr. Perry. So this is actually, this doesn't have as much to do with sports, but Mr.

Perry is my law teacher and he always teaches us like, no matter what, like you got to help people. So like there's a lot of situations in life, not going to get into all of them where, you know, people might need your help. And he's as a law professor, you kind of have to think about the legal side, but he kind of goes further into it. You're like, just be a good person.

Just help people. At the end of the day, you know, and you can be a better person than what you were when you woke up. You did something right that day. So I'd say just being a better person.

You know, I also know that you're a prefect of Crookshanks. What does that house system mean to you? And when do you know that you want to lead and become a prefect? I mean, the house system I think is incredible.

Like it really allows you to be friends with freshmen, sophomore, juniors, and seniors. It allows you to meet so many people at Solon. I wouldn't have any clue who any kid in the other grades were. Like, I think I, I think I'm a good person.

I'm a good person. I'm a good person. I'm a good person. I'm a good person.

I think in eighth grade at Solon, I talked to like four seventh graders in the whole year. Like genuinely, like you, it just allows you to be friends with everyone. You get to meet so many people. I mean, you get to do volunteer opportunities.

I wish we almost did more with it. I think it's, I think it's awesome. And then I just, I realized I wanted to be a prefect. I'd say freshman year.

I mean, I just say all the prefects throughout my time, especially Alex Vincenzi. I mean, that man, he's helped me so much. He's the nicest guy. And I mean, prefect's hard, but it's awesome.

Like, it's just such a cool experience to be able to help freshmen. Like, that's a, that's a big part of it is that you have to help integrate freshmen into the community. I mean, I remember how hard it was for me coming in freshman year. And I think you guys would agree, coming in freshman year is a very difficult thing to do.

You know, you have to make new friends. You have to join a community that you don't know that much about and just be able to help integrate them. And you know, when, when I hope when they're seniors, they look back and say like, oh yeah, Cameron was, he was awesome. He helped, he helped me meet so many people.

You talked about you want, you would wish, you would see a little bit more in the house system. What would that be? Like really, what do you think if you had a little bit of power at US, right? And you were able to change something, especially in the house system or just in US in general, what would you change?

I would 100% do more with the lower school. I think like, so the seniors, we go back to lower school a little bit, like maybe like once every few months. It is so awesome to get to talk with my little pre-K buddies. I mean, like, it is so fun and you just, they just get to give them, get to be a mentor for them, which is just awesome.

Like, I think that's the coolest thing ever to be able to like, maybe in 10 years and they're like, oh yeah, I remember that guy. Like, he was awesome. Like, I want to be like him. Like, I think that is the coolest thing ever.

And so I would say if I could change one thing, it would be at the upper school, we go to the lower school way more and help them do a lot more things. And I think one of the things that's unique about US is the different types of people that are here. It's such a wide spectrum. How do you feel like you can lead all those different groups?

It's definitely hard because everyone has a different opinion. Like when you, I mean, when you think about the, there are kids here who come from 45, 50 minutes away and there are kids who live right next to the school. There are kids who, I mean, like have a ton of money and there are kids who maybe don't have as much. And I mean, it's just, it is so, it is, it's difficult to be, because there's so many different opinions, so many different ways that people are coming from.

You kind of just have to, I mean, it's hard to compromise, but you have to kind of, just make compromises for everyone. Everyone's not always going to be right all the time and, or not even right. I wouldn't even say correct and incorrect is the way to go. I just say like, not every, every opinion can't get used at the same time.

It's not possible. So you kind of just have to, you have to realize when it's time to take charge and just be the leader. But then you also have to realize they may not, everyone's not going to be happy with this. It just kind of is what it is.

Like you, you have to, I mean, you've got to, you've got to put your foot down at some point and just, but you want to compromise. I love making compromises. You want to make everyone happy, but it's just, it's very hard to make everyone happy. So I know people don't like to pick favorites and stuff, but if you could have a favorite class or a favorite teacher of your time, what would it be?

Definitely Mr. Perry's Calc and Stats class in my junior year. So that's usually a senior class, but my entire US experience up until junior year, math was not my subject. I was not good at math.

I got put into AM3 freshman year, probably too high for me, like way too high. I was struggling that year. Junior year, I went to college, I went to college, I went to college, I went to college, I went to college, I went to college, I went to college, I went to college, I went to college, I went to college, I went to college, I went to college, I went to college, I went to college, pre-calc. That was not it.

I did not do good in that. And I just, my love for math just completely like, I was gone. I did not want to do math. I didn't want to go into anything for math.

I was done with it. And so I got put into Mr. Perry's Calc and Stats class. And I mean, he just like, my love for math just completely came back.

Like he really helped like explain everything to my level and he never made fun of me when I didn't understand things. And I ended up doing really good in the class. And it's, I mean, it's incredible. He is that man.

That's one of the best. You get him as your math teacher or your law teacher or anything. Take in all the things he says. He gives you life lessons.

He gives you math lessons. Awesome guy. I love him. Well, this has been amazing.

And to wrap it up, one of the things that we think is interesting is growth throughout life and, you know, all of our journeys, especially yours to this moment. If you could look your younger self in the mirror and tell him some important and valuable words, what would you say? I would say, be confident, persevere, you know, treat others the way you want to be treated, you know, some basic, just basic things, but stuff you really should live your life by. If you do all those things, you're going to be successful.

Wow. Thank you so much, Cam, for those inspirational words and just taking the time to talk with us. Yeah, no problem. To our listeners, thank you so much for tuning in and we hope you join us next Wednesday for another episode of A Late Start Show.

Thank you, Cam. Thank you.