Reggie Dabbs: 'Don't you give up' [VIDEO]

Motivational speaker visits schools throughout Klamath County this week

His message couldn’t have been clearer: “Don’t. You. Give. Up.”

Motivational speaker Reggie Dabbs talks to Lost River Junior-Senior High School students Wednesday.

Motivational speaker Reggie Dabbs shared his thoughts and inspiration with Klamath County students this week, ending his tour Wednesday afternoon at Lost River Junior-Senior High School. On Tuesday, he visited Henley Middle, Henley High, Brixner Junior High and Mazama High Schools. Wednesday, he was in Chiloquin, Bonanza and Lost River.

Through personal stories, song and music – he plays a mean soprano saxophone – he challenged students to believe in themselves and each other.

Dabbs grew up in south Florida and discovered as a young child that his foster parents were just that – foster parents. His biological teenage mother had asked them to raise him. He was adopted by the Dabbs when he was in fourth grade.

“Repeat after me,” Dabbs told Lost River students. “Life is a rollercoaster.”

Students follow directions as Reggie Dabbs asks them to interact with their classmates.

He talked about secrets, fears and the mask young people wear to hide those fears themselves from the world.

Jamie Ongman, principal at Lost River Junior-Senior High School, said Dabbs’ message dovetails with the messages of perseverance and grit that the school is working to convey. “Students have to deal with situations in and out of the building,” Ongman said, “and this is a message that they can persevere, they can be successful, they can achieve.”

Press release provided from the Klamath County School District.