Ceres High School student-athletes gathered inside Phil de la Porte Gymnasium on Aug. 6 to listen to USA gold medal winner Eddie Slowikowski speak.
The special assembly lasted 90 minutes.
“Our biggest goal for the school is to work on school spirit and culture,” Ceres High Athletic Director John Bussard said. “We watched some of his stuff and he was a perfect fit. He’s definitely high energy and very engaging. The kids that were there were really into it.”
“Everybody was participating and paying attention,” Bulldogs’ senior football player Fernando Sosa said. “He motivated a lot of the student-athletes by talking about his personal experience of accomplishing goals. One of the things he said was, ‘If you can imagine it, you can do it.’ Anything is possible. You just got to keep working hard.”
A three-time NCAA All-American in track and cross country at Loyola University Chicago, Slowikowski ran the fastest college indoor mile (3:58) in 1990.
He claimed a gold medal in London, England as a member of the U.S. Track & Field team that same year.
He represented USA at the 1992 Olympic Trials and 1987 Pan Am Games.
Slowikowski’s 4-Minute Formula for success includes discovering your purpose, igniting your passion, doing the work and becoming the best version of you.
He intertwined music into his speech while talking about his life experiences in Ceres last week.
“He talked a lot about what is leadership and what it takes to be a winner in life,” Ceres High football head coach Matt Chachere said. “It didn’t feel like it lasted an hour and a half. He played music. It was almost like a production.”
“Basically, what I took out of it is to make your school environment a better place,” Ceres High senior football player Elias Saldana said. “Not only push yourself but be there for other people. He did a great job. It was funny and emotional at times. You could really feel what he was saying. You don’t expect that when you go to hear somebody speak. Everybody was pretty engaged.”
“I’ve listened to motivational speakers at Ceres High in the past,” Sosa stated. “This one was more energetic. He made me feel like I can do much more than I’m capable of.”
“We’re looking at bringing him back to talk to the entire study body,” Bussard added.