Parents Invited to Join Students for Inspirational Speaker (March 4, 10:30 A.M.)

Parents are invited to join MCSM students for a special guest speaker presentation by Erik Weihenmayer on Tuesday, March 4 at 10:30 a.m. in the school auditorium. Mr. Weihenmayer is known around the world as the first blind person to climb Mt. Everest, the world’s highest mountain. He is also the only blind person ever to have climbed the highest mountain on each of the seven continents.

Health Corps’ Samata (Sammie) Kamireddy has been instrumental in bringing Erik Weihenmayer to MCSM to speak to the students. She has also secured several hundred copies of Mr. Weihenmayer’s memoir, “Touch the Top of the World: A Blind Man’s Journey to Climb Farther than the Eye Can See.” Many MCSM students have been reading the book in class in advance of our guest speaker’s arrival.

By all accounts, Erik Weihenmayer is an extraordinary inspirational speaker with an important message for our kids about persevering and achieving great things even against seemingly impossible odds. The back cover of his book tells part of his story:

“Mr. Weihenmayer was born with retinoscheses, a degenerative eye disorder that would leave him blind by the age of fifteen. But Erik was determined to rise above this disability and lead a fulfilling and exciting life. [In his book,] he shares the struggle to push past the limits imposed on him by his visual impairment – and by a seeing world….[H]e tells the story of his dream to climb the world’s highest peaks and how he is turning that dream into an astonishing reality – something fewer than a hundred mountaineers have done!…this is a story about daring to dream in the face of impossible odds. It is about finding courage to reach for that ultimate summit and transforming your life into something truly miraculous.”

Many thanks to Ms. Kamireddy and Health Corps for their diligent efforts in making this inspirational presentation possible. Parents who would like to read Mr. Weihenmayer’s book in advance of his talk can obtain a free copy by contacting Steve Koss at mathman180@aol.com.