Falcon Forum, held annually, is a week-long series of speaker presentations that allows members of the community, faculty, and staff to share insights into their journeys as they relate to the specific overarching theme.

This year’s theme, “Climb with Intention, Grow with Purpose,” featured many speakers, but a few who stood out more than others. Two Falcon alumni, Morgan Sharpe and Skylar Maihles, as well as Earth Science teacher Santo Ripa and the 2027 Teacher of the Year, Baillee Meekings, topped the chart.

Sharpe and Maihles spoke to students about how a change in attitude, grit, and tenacity led them to their current professions. Sharpe was a COVID graduate, went to college thinking she had everything figured out, and then changed her major three times before becoming a director at a Hospice Care facility. This career choice is certainly not for the faint of heart.

Maihles, a 2018 graduate, gave students a look into her time at CHS, including her lack of motivation and negative outlook on school. She also shared that her “turnaround” came to fruition when she found a few teachers who changed her outlook on life as a whole, and realized that family doesn’t always have to be by blood. Maihles chose to attend Old Dominion University, where she ‘slayed’ one of the most prominent dental schools in the country. Now, she is a well-known and respected dental hygienist in the same community where she grew up.

Head Boys Varsity Soccer Coach Santo Ripa shared his journey, highlighting his love of soccer, injuries he overcame, and his time at the Virginia Military Institute (VMI).

“The time I spent at VMI and with my soccer coach, Richie Rose, was life-changing. I was given a chance to showcase my resiliency and prove to myself that I could recover from any setback,” Ripa said. “These are the moments that define.  I learned the hard way that we are not judged by success, but rather, our failures, and how we respond to them.”

Falcon Forum Week always ends with a motivational keynote speaker whose voice has made a difference in others’ lives.  This year’s keynote speaker, Lori Hayes, certainly did not disappoint. In fact, in front of a packed gymnasium, she spoke about perspective and the lenses that shape the way people view life.

According to Hayes, sharing the lessons she learns, bringing them back to her community, and then sharing again, has given her a larger reach. Every time she speaks, Hayes believes she spreads even more knowledge, as if it were an ‘infection.’

In the end, Hayes’s energy and infectious vibe showed that even one person can make a change in someone’s life, and then another, and so on.

Words are important, but so are actions. And when she encouraged everyone to accept their peers, the majority of students and staff hit the gym floor to create a larger-than-life, all-encompassing “Electric Slide.”

That day, Hayes used her words to provoke action, but it was the action that spoke volumes.