Power Lunches (2007/2008)

An idea was born through the WHS Vision Committee to offer lunch events where students have opportunity to eat while hearing from some of the dynamic experts in our community.  The first year has brought interesting people appealing to both the WHS student body and faculty, with guests sharing personal anecdotes and experiences.  They have touched on  career, education, entertainment, motivation and encouragement.  Speakers hosted this year:

2/19/08   Marie Hejl (former WHS student, lawyer, host of an extensive cable cooking show, cookbook author)

1/24/08    August Petersen (Inspiring Success)

11/20/07  John Jones, Secret Service

10/30/07  Lisa Guerra, UT Teaching Fellow and NASA Aerospace Engineer

10/2/07    Doug English, Former NFL Player

Author: Christina Chang (12)

Doug English is a former Detroit Lions defensive tackle who lives here in Austin and whose daughter Rachel attends Westlake High School. Mr. English came to the school as our first “Power lunch” guest speaker.

“All talks involve in one way or another the desire to be successful,” he began. “This is talk is no different.” Mr. English’s deliberate manner of speaking inspired in the entire crowd awe and respect. “Success does not mean happiness. They are not the same. They have nothing to do with each other. If success does not equal happiness, then, what is happiness?”

I knew I was in for an inspirational, yet deep and philosophical lecture. Mr. English asked if any of us had heard of Viktor Frankl’s book called “Man’s Search for Meaning.” We discussed it in my psychology class last year, and so I raised my hand - but no other student did. Viktor Frankl was a psychiatrist who was made to suffer as a prisoner of the Holocaust. Of course he saw comrades dying left and right, or suffering tremendously, and in his book he writes about the search for meaning in life that he underwent daily. Mr. English quoted Frankl: “Don’t aim at success - the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue… as the unintended side-effect of one’s personal dedication to a course greater than oneself.”

Mr. English shared with us three examples of greatness: one doctor who helped found Any Baby Can in Austin (my personal favorite local philanthropy) said this to Mr. English when questioned about her motivation and energy: “I work as hard as I can. I never give up. And I know that it will work out.” Dr. Dryden, Mr. English’s second example and a mentor with whom he lived for a time, believed in healing people more than anything. He did get paid, sometimes. “He got paid in cookies. He got paid in cakes, tamales. I enjoyed all that of course. Once he got paid chickens. His clients also included pilots and policemen, not just those most unfortunate. If it weren’t for those officers, he would have had to live on the chickens.” A third example also affected me deeply. Mr. English told the story relayed to him by his friend Bob who worked at a local soup kitchen. There would arrive by mail a donation of $2.00 to the kitchen from the poorest neighborhood in Dallas. These donations were so faithful that Bob drove out to the address after some months to investigate the situation. He was curious about the odd kindness emanating from the little house. A long while after he rang the bell, a little old lady stepped out onto her porch. Bob explained that she did not have to donate - her charity was much appreciated, but Bob insinuated that perhaps she needed the money more than the poor who frequented his kitchen did. The little lady replied, “That $2.00 is 1% of my Social Security. It makes me feel good to help others worse off than I am. Please don’t take that happiness away from me.”

Mr. English’s stories left the room silent. “The road to happiness is greatness,” he intoned. No speech would be complete without a quote from Martin Luther King, Jr. He said, “Everybody can be great. Because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve…. You don’t have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”

“You go to the best high school in the country,” pointed out Mr. English. We seemed now so fortunate, so lucky. “You’re obviously happy. The question is, are you great?” Mr. English invited our questions, which ranged from my inquiry about intellectual responsibility and the ensuing philosophical discussion to “Who was the most famous person you sacked?” Of course it was necessary to talk about football, from favorite players, to worst games and injury stories. After he hurt his neck badly but still wanted to play in the game, Mr. English was a little upset at the trainer. Suddenly, a ballboy ran by and stole his helmet. He later learned that trainers had secret signals for the ballboy to run and steal obstinate players’ helmets so they could not go back into play.

After his spinal cord injury, Mr. English started a foundation. He was lucky in his medical treatment but found a great disparity in the treatments offered. After his friend Kent Waldrep was injured and paralyzed in 1974, Mr. English founded the Lone Star Paralysis Foundation (lonestarparalysis.org) that funds research for a cure to paralysis.

Mr. English provided an inspirational, amusing, and profound talk to the students and staff who were able to attend. I was moved by his words and felt that the concept of a servant-leader began to dawn on many of my peers. I was so grateful for the opportunity to listen to Mr. English, and ask him my questions. Of course, I am now friends with Rachel, and I am glad for the chance that we all had to learn from Mr. English’s experience.

10/30/07   Guest Speaker: Lisa Guerra from NASA

Article by Christina Chang (12)

Ms. Lisa Guerra captivated students with a presentation about her work for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration as a guest speaker for the “Power Lunch” lecture series sponsored by Westlake’s Vision Committee.

Ms. Guerra began her presentation by speaking of some exciting things on the horizon for aerospace engineers. Not only national agencies, but private individuals and companies as well, are in the “space industry.” Bieglow Aerospace, for example, is investigating building space hotels, so that if we are able to, in the future, provide tourists a chance to visit outer space, they’ll have a place to stay. The Google lunar exploration “X Prize” hopes to usher in lunar commercialization. Ms. Guerra gave us what she called her “inspirational plug”: “What is so great about NASA is that you’re always doing something cutting-edge, always beyond the norm.” We have learned so much about the universe and agencies like NASA continue to innovate to push our boundaries of knowledge.

Ms. Guerra said that she had been interested in science and math from a young age. The United States had put a man on the moon by the time she was in high school, and in 1978 women were let into the astronaut corps. Her high school counselor led her to applying for an engineering camp for girls at the University of Notre Dame. During her senior year, Ms. Guerra won a fellowship to build an instrument that flew to Haley’s comet. After internships during college summer breaks, she was ready to enter three degree programs.

After working at 3 NASA Centers, she works for UT doing new systems engineering programs. One aspect of Ms. Guerra’s education made me think about how and what I would like to study in the future. She said that while she loved science, she was also very interested in literature. Notre Dame allowed her to get both a liberal arts and an engineering degree in a five-year program: she was even able to study abroad in England for a year.

Ms. Guerra was broadened mentally and as an individual during college, and she did not let the intense science curriculum pre-empt her pursuing other passions. Ms. Guerra was invited to work with Buzz Aldrin on the concept of “cycling orbits” that he invented. She also worked with John Mather, the 2006 Nobel Prize laureate in Physics and a NASA scientist. She also worked with Mr. Rawlings, our principal’s husband, on a model of her design for a Mars crewed vehicle. Mr. Rawlings built the model, and it was on display in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.

Ms. Guerra’s thoughts for us as an experienced professional who hopes we can learn from her example and life: 1. Start early - it’s never too soon to investigate careers 2. Don’t cut off options - take the AP math and science in high school so more majors available in colleges 3. Find a field that you are passionate aboug 4. Get exposure - find internships (paid or unpaid) that let you see careers firsthand 5. Find a role model or mentor.

One quote on her presentation, which I know I’ve seen before but seemed oddly fitting into my life only just now, said the following: “Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.” - Carl Sagan

We can safely say that Ms. Guerra inspired each of the students to do more with our lives, talents, and interests.