Joe Martin is a nationally known speaker, professor at a university in Florida and an author who spoke at Bakersfield College on March 19. He has spoken in front of more than 450 organizations, business colleges and universities.

During his visit to BC, he held two seminars, which were sponsored by Project Voyager. The first seminar “Get a pulse: Finding, Accepting and Living your purpose,” which took place in the Forum West building at 11 a.m., was directed toward students who may have debated dropping out of college.

The second seminar “Good to be Ugly: Success Strategies of the motivationally Supercharged” was directed toward students who weren’t putting their best foot forward.

In both seminars, Martin began his speech with a poem titled “Chico’s Story,” which had bits and pieces of his childhood in it. As he went on throughout his introduction the audience learned that he grew up in poverty, and he also encountered many hardships on his journey to success.

His hilarious style of speaking created a comfortable atmosphere that many of the students enjoyed.

In the first seminar, Martin encouraged students to dig deeper within and understand that they have a greater purpose and that getting education can help them tap into that.

In the second seminar, he explained the difference between an ugly and cute student.

U.G.L.Y. stood for understanding God loves you. Being an ugly student involved hard work and commitment. C.U.T.E. stood for catering unconsciously to everyone. Being a cute student involved laziness.

Also during his seminars, he revealed to the audience the secret was that every student should have a strong reason why he or she is in college. Heather Daniels, a communication major, said, “My strong reason for being in college is that I want to create a better life for my children.”

Tyler Matthews, a child development major, explained, “My strong reason why is that I can one day be able to take care of my parents like they took care of me.”

As Martin closed his second seminar, he encouraged every student to be as ugly as they could be.