Alex Boyé's public speaking style is something like a windy hail storm. It's high-impact, bursting with energy, an oratory force of nature.
It is all these things with the end goal of waking people up to the reality that mental fortitude and well-being comes from within.
Boyé, an internationally renowned artist, performer and mental health advocate, was the keynote speaker at an Okanagan College event that brought more than 800 local Grade 9 students to the Vernon campus for an exploration of health care careers Thursday, June 12.
The event, called Championing Health Careers, aimed to inspire the much-needed next generation of health care professionals with an introductory to health care studies and careers. Courtesy of Boyé, the event also took on a mental health focus at a time when mental health among youth is a point of concern.
With great animation, Boyé Ï㽶ÊÓƵֱ²¥” who has performed with the likes of Justin Timberlake and Jay-Z Ï㽶ÊÓƵֱ²¥” launched into his presentation with an original song about celebrating life, dancing enthusiastically before the crowd of students gathered outside at the Greater Vernon Athletics Park.
Boyé posed the question: how often do the students receive compliments in a day? He asked the students to raise their hands if they'd received 200 compliments that day before whittling the number down to two.
"I asked if you received two compliments and literally no one put their hand up," Boyé said.
He then said he himself received 200 compliments in the day. A perceptive student correctly guessed where those compliments had come from: himself.
Asked why they came up with that answer, the student said they believe Boyé has a lot of confidence.
"You're going to make me cry now, because I didn't always have that confidence," Boyé confided.
"When I was 16, I got kicked out of my house and I lived on the streets, and I was starving. I remember there was one time I was so hungry and nobody looked at me, nobody paid attention. People would see how I smelled really bad because I hadn't had a shower or a bath, and I was starving, so hungry," Boyé said.
He added he used to eat out of trash bins, and the story quickly became metaphorical.
"You guys do it every single day...I'm talking about mental trash. You guys feed from mental trash every day."
Mental trash, he said, can come from social media, and also from oneself.
External forces and circumstances can take up our energy needlessly, Boyé counselled.
"We spend so much of our life focusing on other people. We spend so much of our life focusing on what they did to us and how we're never going to talk to them again. How they hurt us. How someone posted this embarrassing thing about us. And that's why I'm mad, that's why I'm frustrated, that's why I have so much anxiety," he said.
"But here's what I'm learning: you have no control over it," he exclaimed at the top of his lungs, before getting a student to finish his sentence: "The only control you have is on yourself."
Throughout his speech, Boyé moved through the crowd encouraging participation. At one point he pulled out a $10 bill and had a student crumple it up and stomp on it, only to ask Ï㽶ÊÓƵֱ²¥” in another metaphorical lesson Ï㽶ÊÓƵֱ²¥” whether it still had value.
The students increasingly matched Boyé's energy as the speech went on. Some even asked him to sign their arm or forehead with a marker.
