Jonny Shannon - motivational friend

Last week on Tuesday 27 June, students in Years 5–10 were treated to presentations by Jonny Shannon, a school motivational speaker who addressed students on cyberbullying, their online footprint, bullying and how to be a good friend.

Year 5-6 students thoroughly enjoyed Jonny’s sense of humour, animation and the clear message he shared on the importance of friendship.

Jonny Shannon’s presentation was informative and inspirational. Solomon Kidane, Year 6

I liked the way Jonny Shannon spoke about friendships and how to keep long-lasting mates. Elliot Skinner, Year 6

Jonny Shannon was able to engage the audience with his sense of humour; he was easy to listen to. Andrea Escobar, Year 6

Jonny began the session with an important message about how to connect with people and make friends:

• Be Friendly – be interested in others and they will be interested in you;
• Find Common Ground – find out what other people like that could spark conversation and to make connection;
• Quality vs Quantity – spend quality time (not simply online), don’t smother each other.

He spoke about bullying, the impact of social media, avoiding issues and strategies to support students in creating a positive online footprint.

He finally finished with a focus on encouraging ‘Long Term Mates.’

He encouraged students to:

• Be positive - people don’t like being around a complainer all the time;
• Be themselves - don’t make things up, people won’t know what to believe;
• Keep secrets - but only ones that aren’t about anyone getting emotionally or physically hurt;
• Know your friends - ask questions, make connections, listen to understand them;
• Time is on your side - spend quality time with friends – online does not count!

Jonny’s presentation was engaging, funny and poignant. We sincerely hope students brought home some interesting points from his presentation.
Mrs Olivia Stephen - Co cordinator of Pastoral Care K-6

In the aftwernoon Jonny gave extra sessions to older students zeroing in on some issues for them. Lukas Bird, Savio Mission Captain, was impressed:

Jonny spoke about good healthy relationships and managing these relationships well. He was hilariously funny and every time he talked he engaged us as if we were having a one to one conversation.

He told us about when he was younger and had been expelled from two schools for being disruptive. Many people would bully him for having glasses, acne and dyslexia - it wasn’t until his third school when he went to his counsellor that he found the confidence and power to get through all of his troubles.

After working in jobs including the New Zealand military and in Vodaphone tech support, Jonny and a couple of his mates created an App worth over $2 million and now visits workplaces and schools to teach people how to have good and healthy relationships.

In my opinion he was great - for every moment he was talking I was focussed his words; he knows how to connect with people!

Mr Davey said the Parent session in the evening was excellent and he spoke to around 100 parents in the Savio Centre.

Jonny spoke about the fact that this generation are actually going very well in all the key indicators of health and are well informed and reasonable decision-makers in comparison to previous generations.

Jonny spoke about meaningful relationships and that technology has made us connected to more people, but at times weakened those connections.

He spoke about significant issues like sexting, gaming addiction, mobile phones and mental health. Jonny offered ideas and strategies on how to combat some of these things and statistics/data that supported his information and research.

Thanks to the families who made the time to attend this session. I am sure they found it engaging and interesting and I am hopeful they gained some valuable ideas to help navigate their children through the teenage years.

You can see a few more photos (from the morning session) here: Jonny Shannon.

Mr Aaron Davey - Coordinator of Pastoral Care 7-10