By Ellen Kibbe
Contributing Writer
The St. Bonaventure community gave a warm welcome to the ninth annual All Bonaventure Reads (ABR) author, Adam Braun, Monday in the Reilly Center Arena. Braun gave his speech to the whole freshmen class and many others.
Braun’s book, “The Promise of a Pencil: How an Ordinary Person Can Create Extraordinary Change” was this year’s choice as the book all freshmen were required to read over the summer. Students were also asked to write a reflective essay on the story to be judged by the ABR committee. A group of winners were then selected by the judges.
Braun said he was honored to have the chance to speak to young college students.
“It’s a real honor,” Braun said. “When I wrote the book, the ideal audience was college students…it’s a perfect audience.”
Braun’s autobiography details his small leaps of faith that eventually led him to found his organization Pencils of Promise. The aim of this program is to build schools in third-world countries.
Braun enriched students at St. Bonaventure during various lecture sessions throughout the course of the day. Students could attend sessions about Writing and Publishing, Global Education and Profit, Purpose and Passion. The ten freshmen students who wrote winning essays, as well as one select freshman from every University 101 class, attended a formal dinner with Braun.
This was the first talk that Braun had ever given where a majority of the listeners already knew his story. Braun began by summarizing his story, and he also talked about his nonprofit organization which he fondly renamed the “for-purpose organization.”
Braun took a positive attitude when addressing the students.
“People are motivated by having a purpose,” Braun said in his speech.
Throughout the speech, Braun told many personal stories. His idea for his organization began when he was in India during a Semester at Sea.
“I traveled different places asking children one simple question: What do you want most in the world?” Braun explained.
A young street beggar answered his question with a surprisingly simple request.
“If he could have anything in the world, he would want a pencil,” Braun told the crowd.
This answer motivated Braun to give children in third-world countries a pencil, an education and thus the promise of a more opportune future. Braun closed his address to the students with a thought-provoking mantra.
“If your dreams don’t scare you, then they aren’t big enough,” he said.
Braun added that he hopes his presentation sparks a flame in students to make a change in the world.
“I hope that students leave this presentation feeling confident that as long as they make the little decisions with their head and the big ones with their heart, they can create an extraordinary life,” Braun said in an interview.
Braun ended his day at St. Bonaventure with a book signing session in the campus bookstore.
