How my experience at a military camp changed me.

[Applause]

what do you want to be

in the future what problems in the world

where you try to solve

is it to be successful to be famous

or just to be happy

everyone wants something different from

themselves

but how how do we make whatever it is we

want

in the future actually happen

being successful in the future mislaying

the foundations

for that success right now in the

present

and to do that we need to have some kind

of strategy

we need to develop the right knowledge

skills and experience

to make our future a reality

we need to be able to think long term

and understand how and why

making the right investment in that

knowledge

no skills experience right now

will yield tremendous positive returns

in the future

and we need to understand that to learn

something of real value

we often need to work real hard for it

and that’s what i want to talk to you

about today

how i make sacrifices

push myself way out of my comfort zone

i learned three important life lessons

lessons that have helped me to become a

better person

i set myself up for a bright and

brilliant future

so what was the investment i made

attending military camp

it’s one of the best and smartest things

i’ve ever done

so what do i want to be in the future

well i want to be an engineer

but becoming a top engineer

one would develop technological advances

that could someday save the world isn’t

going to be easy

the thousands of people across the world

all wanting to do the same

i knew i need something now give me the

edge

something that will ensure that i have

what it takes

to get to the top in the future

the only problem was i didn’t know

what that something was until

i enrolled in military camp

and that’s where i learned three golden

lessons

that i will share with you today

this was actually my third time at

matrix camp

the time when i had chosen to go

the first two times were mandatory and

arranged our school

but i learned so much that i want to

know

what else i could gain from a third time

one which was optional one full of

motivated young people

who really did want to learn and i

was learning every minute of every day

but if i had to extract three golden

lessons

i’d have to say their resilience

responsibility and leadership

let’s start with the first when you are

in military camp

the first thing you learn is resilience

trust me

when you first first learn how to stand

in a perfectly straight line

and then walk in unison

you practice for the whole day and i

do mean the whole day at the end of it

you feel like marching right out of the

cap and going straight home

but your legs already feel like they’re

falling off

but you have no choice to stay

but joking i say if you stick with it

and push yourself as hard as you can

day in day out it does become easier

and it gives you a great sense of

accomplishment

knowing that you dug deep

and were resilient enough to conquer the

stress

and pain when others couldn’t manage it

the second golden lesson was

responsibility

for yourself and others as well

i remember one of the best instructors

taught us

that whenever we do something you do it

quickly

do it without hesitation and you should

never procrastinate

and that’s what we had to do

whatever we were told to do we had to do

it

right away no question asked no

complaining

and definitely no whining

for example we had to wake up at 6 30

a.m

every day and then to wash our faces

a brush of teeth in only 15 minutes

and got only 5 minutes to put on our

clothes and make our bets

if you were the one who’s late you’ll be

punished by having clean your bathroom

or wipe the floor

there were no excuses no get off jail

free cards

no emotions no preferences

it would just cause an effect

so the lesson learned was whenever you

do something

just do it don’t get distracted

don’t be negative you do it properly

the first time i

had to be responsible for my own actions

all the time it will avoid

a lot of heartache later

the second lesson on responsibility

what’s to do with teamwork

being responsible for a team an outcome

he created

i remember we had to pass messages

between us

often in stressful conditions

and we had to make sure that we transfer

exactly the right information

and to the right person at the right

time

otherwise the mission will fail

in a real-world scenario could mean life

or death

given the fact that young people like me

the leaders of tomorrow

are growing up in the 21st century

where teamwork a rapid face-to-face

communication

is more crucial than ever

this was great practice and a really

really valuable lesson

in the real world whether in war or

business

miscommunication indecision

or lack of clarity can obviously

be disastrous and finally

golden lesson number three leadership

responsibility and leadership go hand in

hand

but in addition to responsibility

leadership demands vision and

perspective

and there’s no better place to learn

leadership

than a military camp because that

is what is testing and developing all

the time

you’re often asked to lead groups

through a variety of grueling

assignments

and then reflect on what went well and

what

could be improved next time

and you were also made aware of that

good leadership doesn’t mean complete

dictatorship

sometimes it actually means allowing

yourself

to bled by others in order to achieve

a common goal

it is impossible to commit yourself

fully to something like military camp

and not come out the other side a

changed person

it’s also impossible not to have learned

some incredibly valuable life skills

and understand implementing them in your

daily life

as much as you can

i became a better person

after attending military camp

it made me more resilient

it made me more responsible and it made

me

a better leader and team player

i understand the life is hard

and it gets harder as you grow older

i am 14. in a few years

i’ll be in doubt and i have to be

prepared

to take whatever life throws at me

i am confident that i now

have the courage the knowledge

skills and experience to say no to

negativity and doubt

to embrace and overcome adversity

and lead myself wisely along a positive

path a path to a seemingly uncertain

future

but a future in which i will be not only

survive

but thrive

i would definitely go back to military

camp this year

would i recommend military camp to you

yes sir

you