On Tuesday, Sept. 13, Valley Central High School had the pleasure of welcoming Dr. Mykee Fowlin to give an inspirational presentation to all the high schoolers that was one to remember. Mykee Fowlin did portrayals of four different types of people that we meet in high school. The first was the jock football player, the second was an emo kid who hated himself and cut himself every night, the third was a girl whose parents didn't understand how she tries so hard in school and didn't appreciate her, and the last but most impactful character was a disabled kid that everyone would make fun and he would cry himself to sleep. His presentation was called You Don’t Know Me Until You Know Me. Dr. Micheal better known as Mykee Fowlin, knew how to capture the attention of adolescent teenagers while still portraying the message of his performance.

Dr. Mykee Fowlin has been acting since age 11 and has been creating voices and characters since age 9. Dr. Fowlin gave a very humorous performance while still bringing tears to a few teenagers eyes. “We were laughing one instant and crying the next… him speaking and playing the characters can strip you so much emotionally… truly inspiring,” said Nyree, a student from Valley Central. From my personal experience being in the crowd when he was giving his moving performance, I was laughing and smiling but when he would talk about bullying, racism and being prejudice, it brought chills down my spine and tears to my eyes.

He gave a very memorable performance, and even my vice principal remembered one of Dr. Mykee’s several characters when he performed at a previous school my principal had been working for. I especially remembered the oyster story from his performance. The story goes that an oyster produces a pearl out of sand. It’s all a metaphor because an oyster makes a pearl out of the pain it feels. This goes along with the saying that people can make something beautiful out of their own pain. The pearl is very valuable, but it doesn’t become that way until someone discovers it and the oyster gets rid of it. Mykee shared with us that when he was in college, his football coach talked to him and said that all that pain and suffering you went through is going to help people not have to go through that pain. Dr. Mykee Fowlin never understood what that meant until he was able to become a poet and a performer because of his degree in psychology. His performances are remarkable and his characters are memorable with the voices he creates and the characters he brings to life.