Students were advised to follow their dreams last week during a middle schools conference designed to make children focus on their futures.

One of the aims of the conference was to introduce children from the different middle schools to each other and to what senior school would be like.

Chief education officer, Dr. Joseph Christopher said: “The dream that I have for you is that you will follow your dream. It may not be easy to do, but if you make up your mind that you will overcome any difficulty, you will be successful.”

Minister of Community Affairs and Sport Randolph Horton told the youngsters that when he was a boy, he had decided that one day he would sit in the House of Assembly.

“If I didn't have that dream, I would not be standing in front of you today,” he said.

Author and inspirational speaker Michael Wyn had the students inspired with thought filled-laughter as he fired out his insightful speech during the one-day seminar at the Fairmont Southampton Hotel.

He told the students that as they entered senior school, they should be thinking of exactly what they wanted to do for a living.

“You want a job that you enjoy; you don't want to go to university and then come out with a job you hate,” said keynote speaker Mr. Wyn.

“I was a bad student when I went to school, so bad that my teachers didn't think that I would graduate from elementary school, until I had a teacher named Mr. Roberts in the forth and fifth grade.

“Mr. Roberts gave us a spelling test and for each student with a misspelled word they received a smack. “The girls got smacks on the hands for all that they had wrong.

“However, the boys had to bend over and touch their toes to receive theirs.

“That day I had 19 words misspelled and I received 19 blows on the bottom for it. Then I went home and told my mother who gave me something else to think about.

“On the next spelling test, I had nineteen right and received only one smack.”

Mr. Roberts encouraged all students to work with an “A” attitude. He said when they entered the senior school, they would know who was going somewhere in life simply by the way they walked.

“People who have a plan will walk quick, and those who don't will walk along slowly,” said Mr. Wyn.

“And everyone who goes to college does not graduate, you have to decide what you want, you still need a plan.”

The students enjoyed the humour in Mr. Wyn's speech, and it left many thinking about what they wanted to achieve in their lives.

Christina Belboda, 14, who is a student at Spice Valley Middle School, said: “I quite liked the phrase he used ‘As you learn more, you will want to learn more'. I also enjoyed reading his poems in his book.

“Hopefully this will make young people think about what they really need to be doing.”

Clearwater Middle School student, Rogernae Lightbourne was really happy that she had met some of the students who would either be attending Berkeley Institute or CedarBridge Academy in September.

Clearwater acting principal Derek Tully encouraged the youngsters to follow their dreams whatever they were.