Some of you as you read this have an idea of what you want to do with your life. You know exactly where you want to go, what you want to do, and eventually, what you want to be. At the Honors Breakfast on Saturday, March 17, Arrowhead alumni Steve Snyder came here with a clear message—plans change.

Snyder was present to give a speech to motivate students at the breakfast. He graduated Arrowhead in 1998 and chose to attend the University of Minnesota—Twin Cities for three reasons: it was easy to apply, his girlfriend was going there, and he obtained a music scholarship. At the end of freshman year, he realized that he didn’t want to pursue a music career, and at the end of his sophomore year, his relationship with his girlfriend was over. Finally, Snyder graduated with a business degree and attained a job at Target Corporation.

Snyder had made connections at Twin Cities and had begun writing free movie reviews for the ‘Waukesha Freeman.’ A track coach at Twin Cities informed him that his brother worked for ‘USA Today,’ and through that, Snyder obtained an unpaid internship in Washington, D.C. His passion was journalism. And he reached an all-time high when he noticed a review on Roger Ebert’s website… HIS review! A big time movie reviewer’s website had linked to his small town review. At that moment, Snyder realized he was miserable at his job. He quit and moved onto bigger, better things that led him to where he is today—living in New York City, running a website, and writing.

“Success,” Snyder stated, “is an ambigious term. Most judge by money, but [success] is really pursuing some sense of enlightenment, a job you want.” He informed the attendees he had, “failed repeatedly” in many people’s eyes. At the age of 26, he was single, had tons of graduate debt, and had an unpaid internship. “[But] failure is a relative thing, I [felt] like I [was] just beginning to understand the universe.”

His speech motivated most students—and parents—to not be afraid of change but rather, to let it come. “There’s nothing disastrous about going off the path you’re supposed to take,” he told students. “Every step is random, you never know where it’s gonna go. The race isn’t over, it’s just beginning.”

To emphasize his point, Snyder gave students a brief glimpse of his bedroom… not literally, of course. To this day, Snyder has four framed documents that helped change his life. A picture of his good friends, one of his first articles—a review on ‘Gigli,’ his resignation letter from Target Corporation on December 26, 2003, and a framed copy of a newspaper’s front page that featured his story. Each of these symbolize to Snyder, and he encourages others to do the same—frame their failures because failures link to change. Above all, he told students to find their passions, because passions link to success.

And that, ladies and gents, was all “[he] got.”

Editor’s Note: For a full transcript of Steve Snyder’s speech go to: www.arrowheadschools.org and click on “Speakers.” To view Steve Snyder’s site of movie reviews, visit www.zertinet.com.