Bakersfield College hosted an event consisting of African American panelists sharing their stories with the BC community on Feb. 12.
The event gave panelists the opportunity to instill knowledge that they learned to create opportunities and open minds to what others can achieve on their own paths.
Kelvin Winston was one of the panelists sharing their stories and explained how his experience joining the army changed his viewpoint of life.
“My mindset before going into the military was an identity crisis. I was battling who I should become, who I should listen to, who to take advice from and I decided I wanted to get a break from it all and that’s how I got into the military,” Winston said.
Winston explains that the most important viewpoint the military taught him was how to adapt to any environment and anybody. He adds, “I took certain things from everyone’s culture.” Stepping outside of one’s comfort zone can increase the growth of an individual in certain aspects of life.
Another panelist, Trevor Turner, touched on how negative impacts around certain environments can affect the youth. He describes that the youth can be exposed to struggles like finding who they really are because of what they are surrounded by.
“We have this mentality of victim mentality, all these things happen to us, and I am a product of my environment, I only do things because I had to… I learned the reason I was in my situation was because I put myself there and that gave me my power back to dictate how I wanted to be and where I wanted to go in my life… I figure I will talk about how to fix the identity crisis. Owning your mistakes leaves you open to whatever you want to do in the future,” Turner explains.
These panelists not only want the best for themselves, but also want to instill the confidence, knowledge, and life taught lessons, that they have learned to future scholars as well. Taking pride uplifting students to the best of their abilities so they can achieve greater things on their own path in life.