On Tuesday, January 5 2016 Mr. Chris Williams spoke to the underclassmen on his keys to success.

Motivational speaker Chris Williams gave a presentation at Malvern this week. The purpose was to follow up on the questions asked during the talk given by Chris Herren in November according to Algeo.

Williams played Division I basketball at Manhattan University under Social Studies Teacher Mrs. Harriet Lappas’s husband, head coach Steve Lappas.

When Williams and Coach Lappas arrived, Manhattan was one of the worst teams in Division I, however by the time of Williams’ graduation, the Jaspers would reach the NCAA tournament.

Another feat of Williams’s life would be seizing the opportunity of handing out the championship rings to the Miami Heat after their NBA Finals victory in 2013.

Though he may be about two decades out of college, Williams made sure we knew his jumpshot was still “wet.”

Today, Williams is a motivational speaker who tours around the country and presents on positive energy and keys to success.

His style was very fluent and effective. He began things with some call and response questions that pulled in the listener and forced them to pay attention. The rest of the presentation was a slideshow with the “keys to success” which he broke down and explained slide by slide.

Nearly every slide had some wacky photo that was sure to have a story behind it and he certainly had a lot of stories to tell. All of them had a message that was clear by the ending, whether it be “always expect the best” or something simple like “be grateful.”

He stressed the importance of keeping a positive attitude. He used the analogy about when you think a day is going to be good, it will be and when you think a day will be bad, it will be.

As to why Williams came, Lappas explained how a speaker was needed to talk to the underclassmen while the seniors had their assembly. She thought he was perfect.

His speech felt tailored to Malvern as a school and as a student body. He knew the audience very well and was able to incorporate aspects of school from being all male to the sense of brotherhood.

Williams had lunch with the Diversity Awareness Club before his presentation. There, it seemed as if he really got a feel for the school, asking questions ranging from “Where are the students from?” to “Does this feel like a real world environment?”

Two of the major concepts Williams touched upon were servitude and gratitude. He thought our Christian Service program was wonderful and a very good thing for high school boys to be doing. In his presentation, he explained how he did service every Sunday with an elderly friend of his.

“When you have the opportunity to do the right thing,” Williams said, “do it,”

Chris came off as gracious for being where he is and was very gracious for the opportunity to come to Malvern.

As he said at the end of lunch with the Diversity Club: “Being here is a tremendous service to me.”