Motivational speaker inspires leadership in minority program

Associate professor Gary Sailes leapt to his feet last Tuesday to motivate 54 students who had every reason to succeed but might have needed a little push.\n"You guys represent a very elite group of individuals here in America," Sailes told the group of freshmen in the room. All were members of IU's Minority Achievers Program. To apply for the program, students are expected to have above a 3.0 GPA and an SAT score of at least 1000.\nThe objective of MAP is to assist academically successful undergraduate minority students. \nSome seemed hesitant to attend at first, facing deadlines for papers and other classes. But Sailes didn't fail to inspire.\n"We're going to have some fun tonight," he said, kicking off the 2001 LEAD Speaker Series. He told the audience to stand, and the students rose.\n"We're going to play a little game," said Sailes, peak performance specialist, motivational speaker, associate professor of kinesiology and corporate trainer.\nThere was an ice-breaker game, and the winners of the activity got a free lunch and a four-year friendship: Sailes promised he would mentor the individual until graduation. Two were left standing. They will both join him for lunch. \nStudents were required to go to a leadership seminar to meet the requirements for a X155, an introductory course designed to prepare students for the academic challenge of college and careers. Sailes' talk met a requirement but was more than that for many of the students there.\n"It's a better way to get information to further your college experience," freshman Kara Palmer said. \nSailes spoke to the students about the opportunities they'll encounter in their lifetime.\nSailes threw in an athletic connection to his message of success, mentioning Shaquille O'Neal, Kirby Puckett and John Stockton in his presentation. He also told of a woman who single-handedly lost her currency trade company $14 million in one day to magnify the importance of taking risks even though failure may be the result. \nSailes concluded by saying, "If you are a leader, stand up and give yourself an applause." \nOnce again, the students rose to their feet. The audience applauded for Sailes and for themselves.\nSix faculty members also attended. \n"I'm really curious to see how the discussion goes tomorrow," said Paul Tamburro, a doctoral student, referring to the X155 class he teaches.\nDebra Unger, coordinator of counseling and academic services for MAP, said she hopes the sessions will easily mesh with her X155 class.\n"The way I would weave this into my class is by helping my students continue to explore how they are going to pursue leadership in their careers," Unger said.\n"They help us decide what we want to do and make sure we're heading in the right direction," freshman Crystal Brown said.\nMAP will hold seven other LEAD Speaker events through the semester.