By Barry H. Hendrix
“My dream has always been to go out an acquire as much knowledge as I can in this world, bring it back…and give it all away to my community,” said B.J. Stabler, director of the A-Club Alumni Association at the University of Alabama.
He spoke Aug. 2 at the Thomasville City Schools Employee Institute in the Thomasville Civic Center.
Stabler is a former member of the University of Alabama Crimson Tide football team (lettered in 2005-2007) and is a graduate of Clarke County High School in Grove Hill. (He is also a former third grade student of Thomasville City School Superintendent Vickie Morris, when she taught at Grove Hill Elementary School.)
Using the image of “a turtle on a fence post,” you often wonder how the turtle got there. Stabler looked back on the how he got to where he is today.
“I view myself as a champion,” he said. However, Stabler had the simple beginnings from the nearby Dickinson community. “So many of us grew up in a small town. …You’ve got to make do with what you’ve got – make the best of every opportunity you have.”
Stabler has had the opportunity to know a champion, such as Nick Saban, the former head coach of the Crimson Tide. He played for Saban in Stabler’s final year at Alabama. The many trophies that Saban’s teams won did not make the UA coach a champion. “I had the ability to truly see what makes him a champion,” he said. “I have seen him never ever be late for a 7 a.m. meeting. …I see him always the last one to leave the building. …That’s 17 years I saw that. …That is something he put on himself. That’s a champion.”
Stabler said his mother always inspired him to present himself as “a businessman. …I need to come across as a champion. …She set the vision and the goal for me.
“Form follows function,” he said. “…We were created and molded for some particular purpose. …Your job as teachers is to create a vision for these kids so their mind isn’t so short sighted. …Their vision can be as big as it can be…that they can become anything that they have ever dreamed of or wanted. But, also your job is to hold them accountable.”
Stabler stressed it was important for students to have a mentor. He used the anacronym “S-H-A-P-E.” S is “Special Gift.” In helping students, every person has a special gift they can offer with the knowledge they can give.
H is for Heart. “The thing that breaks my heart is people not fulfilling their potential,” he said.
A is for Abilities, realizing the abilities that you possess.
P stands for Personality. Stabler said he is an introvert. “I get most of my energy from intimate conversations, one-on-one connections.”
E stands for Experiences. “Those are the good and bad,” he said. “…It is crazy how volatile our experiences become, and how the good and the bad experiences shape us. …We draw more of a connection with our struggles…than ultimately talking about the successes we have had.”
Stabler said he enjoys opening up to people one-on-one. “I want them to understand that they are not alone with what they have gone through.”
The late civil rights leader, Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “what is the purpose behind education? It is to teach kids how to think.”
However, the new generation of students “have more of a voice – as much as we fight it – as much as we go against it,” he said. “They have a voice.”
TV shows like “Big Brother” or “Survivor,” where television audiences could vote cast members off the show, “that gave us a voice. …Now we’ve got to understand how to operate with it.” Despite concerns about social media, it “has removed the veil from all of our lives – that allows us to see complete transparency and honesty to a certain extent. Or we are going to show the best version of ourselves. It removes a barrier that was once there in society.
“…The kids that you are dealing with know the truth,” Stabler said. “If you are not living by what you’re preaching…it doesn’t matter to them anymore. …You are going to affect them with your truth and honesty. And love – most importantly.” It is imperative that let students know they are being heard and seen, he said.