“Brian has been working with our students for the past few years. He has developed and conducted workshops for both our junior high and high school students. His ability to immediately establish a connection and relationship with every student allows his message to be that much more powerful. Brian’s personality, knowledge and experience in working with young adults provide him with the tools to tackle a variety of topics that allow our students to mature socially. From the start of every program, Brian creates a comfortable environment where students break down barriers and develop better interpersonal, communication and coping skills. He truly cares about the students in our community and his programs address the core of social and emotional learning.”
“We were looking for a dynamic and engaging speaker to have discussions with our 9th and 10th graders around respect, character, empathy, social awareness, and communication skills. Brian was the perfect fit for us and spoke from life experience with our students, not to our students. We had workshops for several days and our students left the workshop with a positive perspective and a positive thought process.”
Having spent almost 40 years involved in public education, I wish I had access to Brian Thomas’ Social and Emotional Learning program earlier and often. Brian is a gifted presenter in the sense that he challenges his students to reflect on their values and goals with the understanding of who they are and what is necessary to develop the skills and purpose to be successful.
I have known Brian since his high school days at Sparta High School and I was a teacher and coach at Wallkill Valley Regional. He exhibited a winning mindset, strong work ethic and skill set which led to many championships and a college career at the University of Rochester. However, and I think Brian would agree with me on this, he is more proud of how he has impacted Sussex County in many ways ie. developing a character educational approach to his school based Social and Emotional Learning workshops and his successful BT Basketball basketball program.
Whether it be when my son, Adam, played in his BT Basketball program or when he was delivering his “Who Am I”, 3 day program to my school, Brian knew everyone’s name and made them feel belonged and recognized. Our students, as well as my son, just loved being around him because they felt his energy and welcoming nature. Furthermore, his program is not a one hour and leave program. Rather, he spends three days as well as a couple of assemblies in order to develop a relationship with your staff, school and community. Brian does an amazing job in assisting the students in such areas as: self-awareness, gratitude, empathy, kindness and communication. Through these discussions each student begins to develop their passion and purpose. Once they have identified and begin to understand their passion and purpose, then belief and hope follow. He does this better than anyone because, again, his program is a relational, not just in and out.
Simply put, Brian Thomas makes you a better player and/or person in life. He is one of the best.
“Our students at Stillwater Township School were highly engaged with Brian during his workshops on topics such as self-awareness and respect. Throughout his 3-day workshop with students, he made personal connections which in turn led to thoughtful discussions and activities. These activities and discussions were also well-tailored to each grade level and relevant to their lives, in and out of school. It was a pleasure to work with Brian to bring this program into our school and we look forward to welcoming him back again next year!”
Brian joined my 8th-grade classes for three days during a time my students desperately needed to hear his messages. As most teachers can understand, these last two years have taken a social and emotional toll on most of our students. Brian’s program allowed students a chance to reflect considerably on the type of person they are and who they want to be: focusing on themes regarding communication and how they make others feel in conversations, phone addiction, and how much time is sacrificed with loved ones for screens, gratitude and expressing it to the most important people in students’ lives, empathy and understanding the struggles and hardships of others, amongst countless others. Students opened up in front of their peers in a way I had never seen before and remained engaged and participated in the numerous activities Brian planned for them through videos, hands-on lessons, game-based challenges, and thought-provoking, honest conversation. Brian is encouraging, approachable, down-to-earth, motivating, and reflective. He gets to know each student by name, relates to them, and keeps them engaged and on task from beginning to end. As a teacher and a witness to these three days, I can say the impact will be long-lasting. I have already seen a positive change for most of my students- interpersonally and intrapersonally. My classes support one another in ways I hadn’t seen previously and engage in conversations with peers they once ignored. More than anything, Brian encouraged students to think about our perceptions- how others view us, how we view ourselves, and how our actions can alter these perceptions. This was an outstanding experience, and I am certain the most important benefits are yet to occur, and these steadfast lessons will be applied in years to come!
Thanks, Brian!
Jayme Wolff
8th grade teacher
“Frankford Middle School was lucky enough to have Brian Thomas visit us early this spring. His seminar could not come at a better time, as many students in this climate are experiencing greater levels of anxiety and affected interpersonal relationships/skills, such as self-awareness and personal responsibility.
Brian had the unique ability to connect with our middle schoolers in a relatable way using interactive activities, humor, life experiences, and knowledge of his topics. The skills and values that Brian has carefully chosen are essential in character development and need constant reinforcement.
We highly recommend Brian’s program and hope to bring him back to our school community in the near future!”
Brian Thomas is a fantastic motivational speaker and leader for today’s youth. He recently came to speak with my middle school students and had an immediate impact on everyone (including myself). Brian has a special way to engage an audience, making everyone involved feel comfortable and willing to be open. He spoke WITH the students not AT them, allowing a healthy atmosphere.
Like any good leader, Brian knows what it takes to be successful and he conveyed that to the students through an engaging presentation, with each conversation leading to the highly important theme of “Being the Best Version of You”. The students were constantly involved with different activities, large groups all the way down to moving around the room.Brian’s enthusiasm and desire to be the best version of himself definitely rubbed off on the students as well. They genuinely looked forward to seeing him, speaking with him, and hearing what he had to say.Greg Symons7th grade teacher
Thank you for taking the time to talk to our school. The presentation was wonderful. I really needed because I was really sad and stressed with everything. You helped us all. I really liked the different activities, like the activity where we stood in the different corners and they corresponded with something we struggled with. It helps me see that I’m not alone. I will be myself and have more empathy for people. I will also not care what others think and spend more time with my family instead of being on my phone. This helped me so much!
When the teacher first told me a motivational speaker was coming to talk to us for 3 days I thought Oh this is going to be terrible! I’ve never been a big fan of people telling me what to do. I really did enjoy seeing you everyday. You taught me a lot without telling me to do anything. So thank you, I learned about different perspectives and how there are different types. It really made me wonder how people see me. Learning about it was really cool. Another important lesson I took away from this is that no one is mean for no reason. I think it will help me not get upset when someone is rude. The activities we did really made me think and I was surprised with the answer. I’m gong to be honest, I didn’t introduce myself to anyone. I wanted to but I was too nervous. Maybe next time I will. Thank you so much for teaching me about so much!
I appreciate you coming to FTS and teaching us lessons. Something I learned from you is to not care what strangers think of me. When you told me the story about the wedding, I realized how many situations I have felt this way. Next time I feel this way I will remember your lesson. An important lesson I took away from your presentation is that acts of kindness are contagious. Next time I do a small act of kindness, I will realize what I just did can make someone’s day. The line activity make me think about how much I don’t know about my classmates. It surprised me how certain people stepped up for certain questions. Thank you for coming, all the best!
I love how positive you are and how hard you push us to be our best. I respect you a lot as a coach, adult and positive influence. Thank you!
Thank you for coming to our school! From you and your presentation I learned that I should step out of my comfort zone ore often. I typically like to stick to what I’m used to, but you showed me that leaving my comfort zone can lead to good things. An important lesson I took away from your presentation was being empathetic towards others. I’m the type of person to try and sweep things under the rug, and set everything back to normal. I learned how important it is to sit with others and listen to them. To tell them I understand instead of moving on. The many interactive activities you did surprised me. I enjoyed being able to get up and talk to other people. Thank you!
Thank you for coming and speaking to us! I especially liked how all the lessons tied together somehow, because it was easier to take away all the lessons from all. Additionally, all the activities gave even more lesson. From Wednesday, it was impressive how you remembered all of our names, and made it seem like you were there for us and to know us, and not just be there to teach. From being able to learn how someone sees me in ways I did not know through the tapping section, and your ability to make us feel comfortable when “crossing the line”, I enjoyed your program a lot. Three days sounded like a lot at first, but the days went by so quick and the material learned made me feel something. Other than that, I hope that you continue to inspire others and make the world a better place!
Thank you for taking the time to come to our school! Something I learned from you would be to talk to more people. I also learned to make eye contact and have good body language when people talk to me. One important thing I took away was to only care what the people I’m close to think of me. You can’t be perfect for everyone. Something that surprised me would be how everyone crossed the line when you said something. People were honest and brave. This presentation inspired Frankford to be more kind, open and honest.