Against the Odds: Bill Schuffenhauer's Journey from Homeless to Olympian

Imagine going from sleeping on the streets of Salt Lake City to standing on an Olympic podium in front of your hometown crowd.

Shara Park sits down with three-time Olympian and Olympic silver medalist Bill Schuffenhauer to share a story that seems almost impossible. Raised in a home marked by addiction, uncertainty, and hardship, Bill spent part of his childhood homeless and facing odds that suggested success was out of reach.

In this deeply personal conversation, Bill opens up about the people who believed in him, the dreams that carried him forward, and the journey from a kid struggling to survive to an Olympian representing Team USA on the world's biggest stage. He recounts the emotional moment of winning silver in Salt Lake City, looking into the crowd and realizing just how far he had come.

When Bill reflects on his journey, he shares a powerful truth: "Dreams are only dreams until we take the actions to ignite them. What actions are we willing to take today to change our tomorrow?"

More than a story about sports, this is a story about resilience, hope, and the belief that your beginning does not have to determine your ending.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Imagine going from sleeping on the streets of Salt Lake City to standing on an Olympic podium. Today on the Stand for Kind podcast, we're joined by three-time Olympian and silver medalist Bill Schaffenhauer, whose story proves that your past does not define your future. This is a conversation about resilience, doubt, and rising against the odds. All right, Bill, thank you so much for being here. I'm so excited to have this conversation with you. This is this is fantastic.

SPEAKER_00 0:30

This is amazing. Um, I mean, and and a lot of people probably don't know there's a lot more connections between you and I and Stanford Kind, too. So just to see how this has all come into fruition is just beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 0:39

Yeah, we work together in Stanford Kind. We have actually stood on the side of a road giving out donuts, promoting the Olympics back in the day when I was working on television. Um but I'm just so excited to have this conversation because we get an opportunity to take your story and and hopefully inspire some kids who might be struggling out there. Right. And the first thing I want to ask you, Bill, first, just to kind of if you take your journey and wrap it into maybe, you know, one message, how would you define your story?

SPEAKER_00 1:11

Yeah, so there's a lot of ways we could define it, right? But um, over the years I've been a huge fan of coming up with quotes that kind of represent different parts of my story. And one of my favorite quotes uh I created, uh, you know, this is probably back in 2019 when I had an opportunity to uh speak at the commencement for Weaver State School of Business. And uh it was all about leadership and how do leaders get to be leaders and eventually leave a legacy behind. And that's when I really started like deep diving into what truly leadership is and how do we achieve true leadership. And through that conversation and through that presentation, I came up with a quote, and uh I use it quite a bit in everything I do day to day, but the quote goes like this dreams are only dreams until we take the actions to ignite them. What actions are we willing to take today to change our tomorrow? And I think that really sums up my entire life because there's so many moments where as a young kid, just like all the other kids that we're talking about, that Stanford kind of have the opportunity to touch, is they all have some sort of dreams. And some of them may be deep down inside and they don't understand how to bring those out. And and and I hope I have that opportunity to share my story and my goals and my dreams with them and how I just the thought of having that dream and and and and especially in those situations with some of those kids, as as we all know, my situation was pretty dark, and to still have the mindset to believe that I could still achieve anything no matter what, is is goes a long way. And so I just want to inspire those those the youth that that may struggle with what is it they want to do or where they're at right then and there, and realize just come up with a dream and find people that that care about you, whether that's a teacher, uh a mentor, or what have you, and help them figure out how do you achieve those dreams by taking one step every day to move that needle forward.

SPEAKER_01 3:08

Well, Bill, your story is one coming against the odds. I mean, from the get-go. I mean, we're sitting here with your silver medal from the 2002 games in the bobsled. You didn't start there. You didn't start with a silver platter and everybody catering to you to think that you were gonna be an Olympian, right? Yeah. Your story starts basically on the streets of Salt Lake City, homeless. Yeah. Take me back because I don't know how many people can really relate to that, but they can see you now today and say, wow, I want to be that. Yeah. So walk us backwards and tell us how you began.

SPEAKER_00 3:43

Yeah, I mean, still today at 52, it's uh it's surreal. I mean, I can sit here and I'm sitting across from you and we know each other pretty well. I'm sitting there in front of an Olympic medal that at one point in time, um, you know, so I I have another quote successes in my past were once dreams of my future. And so I get to look at that medal and and be like, man, that was a goal so long ago that seems so far away, and and now we've achieved it. But did you even think it was possible as a kid? Oh my gosh, I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_01 4:08

Is that even in your wheelhouse that I'm gonna be an Olympian?

SPEAKER_00 4:12

Right. It it uh I don't know if it was really in the wheelhouse because at the time when I moved from Salt Lake City um to Roy and attended Sandridge and Roy and Weaver State, the my early year, my early stage coaches and mentors, my teachers and stuff like that, um they believed in me before I believed in myself. You know, I was simply I took steps to reach out to them because I didn't have the father figure, I didn't have the you know the traditional family figures at home. And so I reached out to them and I was like, hey, you know, this is who I am, full transparency, this is my life.

SPEAKER_01 4:44

But who were you at that time?

SPEAKER_00 4:45

I was I was a kid who literally moved you know from Salt Lake City on the streets, in and out of 17 foster homes, in you know, involved with gangs and drugs and alcohol, watched my you know, my mom and my stepdad involved with gangs, alcohol, drugs, um, prison, jail, um violent crimes, um, you know, I mean, pretty dark situations.

SPEAKER_01 5:08

You could have gone down that path.

SPEAKER_00 5:09

And it would have been significantly easier for me to go down that path. And um, you know, at some point in time, I, you know, my grandma obviously played a significant role in in that process as well, but I just realized at a young age that someday I'm gonna have to grow up and someday I'm gonna want to have a family and kids of my own. I don't know what that journey looks like, but I think if I reach out to these people, and and and again, they were to me, they were mentors and and guides for me because I was so used to seeing the chaos and violence that when I was with my mom, you know, I was just I was uh reaching out to anyone that would be willing to help.

SPEAKER_01 5:46

So you get up to Roy High School and I mean you're built like an athlete. So were you built like an athlete then? Or did you know you wanted to be in sports, or what did how did you get involved?

SPEAKER_00 5:58

Yeah, I I had no clue what I wanted to do. Um, you know, I was a I was a skinny little street kid, and it's funny to look at pictures from like Roy High, and there's one particular when I um my first year of high school, I was throwing the javelin, and I, you know, I was in this spread position in my skinny little eggs, and not the same story now, but um, you know, when I when I was reaching out um to the teachers and trying to figure out like what would be something I could focus on, of course they really helped me understand that I had to focus on my education. So that was first and foremost important. And uh one day, and this was at Sandridge Junior High, one day after school, I followed uh Jake Schultz. He's a great friend of mine, he's a principal at Roy High now, and he's in my documentary against all odds. Um, but I followed him out, and I was just like, you know, he was that kid that everyone liked, that everyone was just like attracted to, and I was like, I want to know what that feels like. I've never experienced that type of energy, right? It's always the street life, the chaos, the drugs, the alcohol, police.

SPEAKER_01 6:55

Let me ask you, what was it about him? Was there just a happiness about him, a a security about him? What was it that drew you to him?

SPEAKER_00 7:04

Yeah, he didn't know me, so I was kind of like a creep following him around through the school. I don't think anybody could call you a creep. Yeah. Um but mind you, this is seventh, eighth grade, right? And I was a kid that uh you know shows up at Roy Sandwich, you you know, Sandridge um junior high, big afro, torn-up clothes, so I didn't fit in at all. Um But the thing that really stood out about Jake was his energy, and and and the energy was so beautiful that you could see all the other kids were attracted to it. You could see how the teachers and the coaches interacted with him. And and I just had never experienced anything like that. It was always the chaos side, and I was like, yeah, you know, like I mentioned, what does how do I achieve that? What does that feel like? And so one day I just followed him after school out where all the other kids were going. And I'm like, okay, what are these kids doing? And you know, they're running over stuff and throwing stuff and handing stuff off. And the first thought that came to my mind is like, I don't know what this is, but I'm really good at running from cops and jumping fences. Maybe this translates, right? And so that was like my first taking a negative experience and turning it into a positive, as opposed to saying, my life is bad because I started this way, right? It's like, let's throw that mindset out and be like, oh, other people are doing it. Like, how can I be a part of that? And um, you know, I I did get kicked off the track team and the baseball team my my first year of trying out, which was eighth grade.

SPEAKER_01 8:29

Uh behavior, grade, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:32

So it's you know, it's a combination of both. Yeah. But you knew you wanted it. Yeah, I definitely knew I wanted something different. Um, but it was at that point in time, it was that that old adage we always hear, you could take the kid out of the street, but you can't take the street out of the kid, right? So there were some learning lessons. Um, that that eighth grade year, I obviously got, like I said, I got kicked off the track team in the baseball team. Um, that summer, uh I kind of fell back to the old school roots and and hung out with some bad people and broke into Bingham Schwin up in sunset and got busted for that. And that was a wake-up call. Um, you know, I was like at that point in time trying to change my stars. We talked about the you know, the movie A Night's Tale. And and so I went back to the teachers and the coaches and I was like, okay, here's what happened. Um they knew because when I got in trouble for the uh breaking into Bingham Schwinn, I had to do my community service hours at my junior high. That was embarrassing. Um so they had an understanding of what was going on. And so they were willing to literally take time out of their schedule, stay after school, whatever it took to help me really understand what it looks like to move that needle forward, to step away from this old life and hopefully step into this new one.

SPEAKER_01 9:43

And when you think back on it, was there one particular teacher or a coach that really invested in you? And and and what was it specifically that kind of uh helped you turn that behavior?

SPEAKER_00 9:55

Yeah, it um when I was at Sandridge, it wasn't just one, it was a community. And and that's what's so beautiful about finding ways to create success in our in our lives is we do that through community, right? And it in and and once I transitioned from Sandridge to the high school, it was still more community. But at that point in time, it was then my my my track coaches, Mike Hine and Neville Peterman, that really, really took interest in me and really kind of helped me carry that torch and just understand what it meant to be a team player, um, create goals for yourself, understand that failure is not failure, it's a learning tool to create success. And and understand like how what does team truly mean? Together everyone achieves more. We hear that all the all the time. But when it's in action, what does that look like?

SPEAKER_01 10:41

So you become this high school athlete. Yeah. You end up becoming this star high school athlete. And in different events, um, what would you say was kind of your standout event?

SPEAKER_00 10:52

Um it was track and filled in the department. All the things it was just all the things.

SPEAKER_01 10:55

And and uh And you get recruited to go up to Weaver State.

SPEAKER_00 10:58

I got recruited to go everywhere.

SPEAKER_01 11:00

Everywhere. Um But you land at Weaver State.

SPEAKER_00 11:02

Yeah, landed at Weaver State. Uh 1991 was a phenomenal year. Myself and John Goudino, which uh John is a standout shop putter from back in the day, Team USA. He and I were the two highest recruited athletes across all sports. And uh at that point in time, in between there, I got adopted by a military family, my ninth grade year, tenth grade year, 11th grade year, they got orders to go to Misawa, Japan. I was like, I'm not going to Misawa because you know I was had all these scholarship offers. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so my my senior year of of high school, I lived with my high school coach, Neville Peterman and his family. And uh he and uh the Weaver State staff were really good friends. And so uh, interesting enough, um, as the offers came in, coaches like, oh, don't worry about those, we're gonna go to Weeber State. And uh so yeah, so that's how I ended up getting to Weaver State and um had a you know interesting career at Weeber State as well.

SPEAKER_01 11:56

But I want to talk about that because you go to Weeber State and you have I mean you're building your success there, but once again, you get knocked down. Yeah. And being an athlete myself, I understand I went and played Division I volleyball and got hurt. And and as an athlete, I feel like you don't get prepared for what happens to you mentally when you can't play or you work so hard at something and suddenly it gets taken away from you. Yeah. That happened to you multiple times. Tell me though about the championship.

SPEAKER_00 12:32

Yeah, um, so you know, at Weaver State, um there there were several moments um throughout my career there where things were going really well and then something happened, right? Um you know, probably the the one of the biggest ones was um at a conference championship, you know, we were favored to win conference.

SPEAKER_01 12:50

Um You were favored to win.

SPEAKER_00 12:52

So it's favored to help the team win conference.

SPEAKER_01 12:54

Um you're so modest.

SPEAKER_00 12:57

Yeah. I mean, the year before I scored, I think, more than half the team points for for our team. And and uh that was my senior year, and was supposed to go to the NCAAs and compete in the championships and win the championships, and and and life is gonna be grand from there. And unfortunately, uh during the long jump of of uh conference championships, I I ruptured my hamstring. And that literally just slammed the door on on uh you know winning the decathlon, winning the conference, going to NCAAs, and I had plans. I was gonna break the conference the NCAA record and win NCAA's, and and that was devastating. And um didn't really know where I was gonna go from there, but uh again, thankfully I had great coaches around me and and uh didn't let me fall too far into like the victim mentality. And so um from there, you know, I stuck around with the coaches and and I was like, you know what, I've been in Utah my entire life. Um I'm gonna take a gamble and reach out to one of the top coaches in the world in multi-sports, and he's currently training the top athlete in Dan O'Brien. Um and uh I I you know back then we didn't have internet and all that stuff, so I literally wrote a letter, a handwritten letter to um uh coach Mike Keller at the University of Idaho and said, Hey, here's who I am. I would love the opportunity to come up and train with you and Dan O'Brien, right? And and I thought there's just absolutely no way they're gonna say, Oh yeah, why don't you come up? And several weeks later I get a letter back in the mail saying, We'd love to have you come up, let us know when you're here.

SPEAKER_01 14:34

And uh I So you went up there with the intent to train in what?

SPEAKER_00 14:39

In the decathlon.

SPEAKER_01 14:40

In the decathlon.

SPEAKER_00 14:40

Um and and I thought if I had an opportunity to train with the best coach, with the best decathlete in the entire world, that would only help me like level myself.

SPEAKER_01 14:49

So they didn't come to you. You went to them.

SPEAKER_00 14:51

I reached out to them. Okay. Um and and it's again, you know, it goes back to that quote. What what what actions are you willing to take today to possibly change your tomorrow? And uh so I uh quit my job. I was working at uh Nordrum's in men's suits and furnishing at the Ogden Mall when that was there, and bought a Greyhound bus ticket and jumped on the Greyhound, got rid of everything I owned here, and took one of the most miserable rides in the middle of winter from Ogden, Utah to Moscow, Idaho.

SPEAKER_01 15:21

Not only cold, but colder.

SPEAKER_00 15:24

And and and that was an interesting time as well. Um, one of the things that I learned throughout my career is that as as I popped onto the scene of sports as a high-level athlete, um, you know, a lot of people saw that as my value. And so all the other things that I needed guidance on um were still kind of lacking. So I made a lot of mistakes along the way that I had to learn from. Um, and that it is what it is. And and I'll, you know, I'm very transparent about my career, but I got involved in in the partying up there at Moscow Whitehall lot. And uh, you know, two years later, the coach asked me to leave. And uh just was extremely disappointed and and hurt. And but I could only look in the mirror and realize that I was responsible for that failure. And so I wrote the coaches at Weaver State and said, Hey, I really apologize. Would you be willing to have me come back to Ogden, Utah and train for the 2000 Sydney Olympics? And they said, Absolutely. So closed up shop in Moscow, um, bought another ticket, bought another ticket and came back home. With the Olympics in mind, with the 2000 Sydney Olympics all in mind. Okay, and um that was um by far, it's even in the documentary, it was one of the best years for me. My first decathlon, I opened up at Utah State, um, scored just under um 8,100 points, which put me number one in the world at that time, and just everything was on point. I had just taken all the all the ideas, the thoughts, the trainings, the education that I got from all my mentors and coaches and people along the way, and family members, and said, okay, no more excuses, right? You are responsible for this success, no one else. We everyone can give you all the best information. It's like you could lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. I was gonna drink the water this time. And so what happened? That entire year was phenomenal. We we went and did another competition, and the rest of the world had caught up, but I was still top five in the world, uh, favored to win an Olympic medal, make the team. Everyone was like, Finally, this is it. This is the moment this is the moment we've all been waiting for. Family, friends, colleagues, um, people that I didn't even know, right? That have watched my career, news or you know, news acres that I've known. And and uh we go down to Brigham Young University to this two weeks before Olympic trials just to do a warm-up meet. Um we'd already qualified for trials, already made a standard.

SPEAKER_01 17:48

So the moment is coming, like you're finally after everything.

SPEAKER_00 17:51

Finally, everything is there, and and we knew it. Everyone knew it, like this was it. And uh dang long jump, which is one of my favorite events. But long jump is the second event in the decathlon. So we did the hundred meters, ho-hum, not a great, no, not a great time, but we weren't looking for time, we were just getting ready for trials. And uh during the long jump, uh it starts raining. And again, we didn't really think anything of it. And uh at my very first jump, I come running down the runway, and and long jump is one of my really, really good events. And I just remember going to jump and something went wrong. And um, long story short, you know, as I went to plant my foot um to jump, my heel hits first normally, but because it was wet, it starts to slide and my foot rotates out like this, and then my spikes catch and nearly like tear my foot off my ankle. And I land face first in the sand and was just like, there's absolutely no way that this is happening right now. And we went into panic mode. We should have stopped um right then and there and just said, okay, let's just rehab and get ready because the trials are in two weeks. But but it is what it is, and and that's life. Sometimes we go into panic mode and we taped it up and numbed it up and and tried to go do the shot put, which I rotate on on that leg, and then the high jump was the the nail in the coffin. Um, and I, you know, I I remember uh I traditionally opened up at 6'4 um in the high jump and we're like, let's just open up at five foot six. I should be able to do this off my opposite leg in my sleep. Um but we'd done so much damage that there's just no way. And and I just remember taking that last jump and and hitting the bar and the bar landing on my back, and I'm laying, I'm laying spread out on these high jump pits and just seeing all my dreams melt away. It's raining, I can feel the raindrops, I can feel the sweat from me still like you know, warming up and realizing that it's over. And um I don't know how long I laid on those mats, but I just reflected from day one when we made the decision to try and f create a another life, change our stars. And I felt like everything had just come crashing down, and I'd let so many people down, and let myself down, and my coaches and the state of Utah that I wanted to represent and and USA. And um, I walked up to my coach and I said, I'm done. I left all of my gear at the track and walked off and was was done. And uh was planning on just going back to school and becoming a normal person and working a regular job. And and uh yeah, unfortunately, uh you know, several months went by and I I was on crutches and and all again went into victim mentality and I was starting to So how did you get out of it?

SPEAKER_01 20:41

Yeah, so I was you know I was uh Because you could have you could have just stayed in that, you could have been angry at the world, you could have said, I've done everything right, right, I've worked so hard, and yet again, I've been kicked down. Right. And yet you didn't.

SPEAKER_00 20:56

Yeah, and you know, for several months, uh again, I was in victim mentality, walking around in crutches, not knowing exactly realistically what I was gonna do. And unfortunately, um, you know, I I had somebody that knew somebody that knew somebody else six degrees of separation, and they're like, Oh my gosh, you should train for the winter Olympics. And there's this sport called Bobsled, and track and field and football guys like you are perfect for it. And I was like, hold on, first off, what are the winter Olympics? Because I don't ski, I don't figure skate, right? I don't do any of that stuff. And and they're like, Bobsled. And I'm like, okay, what is this? And just like everyone else out there is probably watching this, um, I get introduced to Bobsled via the movie Cool Runnings.

SPEAKER_01 21:41

And were you like, okay, at first were you like, okay, I could do that? Or were you were you like, no, no, no, this isn't for me?

SPEAKER_00 21:47

No, I I I saw the even with the Hollywood flair, I saw the athletic opportunity, I guess. Uh I had no idea that the Olympics were here in Salt Lake City, which was really weird, and they were a year. And three months away. And at the end of the day, the reality was I wanted to create a life that other people could look at and be like, wow, look at everything he overcame to achieve greatness. I can do the same thing. And so I had this conversation with myself and pulled in my coaches and family members, and we like, so what do you think? I mean, the reality of making an Olympics a year and three months away in a sport you don't even know existed is probably zero to zero.

SPEAKER_01 22:28

And for a team that hadn't won it in 40 six years.

SPEAKER_00 22:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:32

Which let's be honest, nobody expected the US to win.

SPEAKER_00 22:35

Yeah. And and yeah, because there had been several times that they were in a position to do well.

SPEAKER_01 22:42

I don't know if bobsled was really the US's sport, right? You weren't known for winning bobsled.

SPEAKER_00 22:47

Correct.

SPEAKER_01 22:48

Okay, so you start training. You train, train, train. You make the team against, I mean, really, odds. Yeah. Right? They're stacked against you, but here comes this track and field athlete who's been injured multiple times. You make the team. I want you I want you to walk me through like that feeling when you first find out you make the Olympic team. I mean, you had tried so hard in track and field, which you thought was your sport.

SPEAKER_00 23:13

Oh, yeah. Still today in my own mind, it's still my sport.

SPEAKER_01 23:15

It's still your sport. And yet, life gave you a different hand, it gave you a different opportunity. Right. How did you um kind of process that?

SPEAKER_00 23:24

Yeah, well, the inspiration was when I sat down with my coaches and family members, and we were like, you know what? The chances of you making this Olympic team are probably very little, but why not us? What if we could write this story that the kid who grew up on the streets of Salt Lake City turned his life around against all odds, and made the Olympics in his own hometown. And we just said, let's just go for it and see what happens. And so we, you know, I I've said it for years. We took all the training and the mental um the mental capacity and and mental sports performance and took it out of this track and filled bucket and went over here and dubbed it into this bobsled bucket and we said, let's just go for it.

SPEAKER_01 24:04

Here's the thing, Bill. Nobody handed this to you.

SPEAKER_00 24:07

No.

SPEAKER_01 24:08

Nobody said, Oh, here's this guy, let's just go ahead and put him on the team.

SPEAKER_00 24:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:12

You trained. What did people not see? What did they not see in that process from going from a track athlete to a bobsledder?

SPEAKER_00 24:18

They didn't see the drive and the passion and the story and all the people. Um all the people behind the story that were there to make that happen, you know. And um there was there was so much determination, love, and support from family members, the state of Utah, that I was like, I don't care what the the the the odds are here. We're gonna go for this, and and and this is our time. And and there it just felt different at that moment in time. And and then when you know, when I made the team, it is still surreal today. Like as I'm thinking back, I'm just like, wow, that really happened.

SPEAKER_01 25:03

Well, spoiler alert, they win silver. Um and you do it on a day where the track is snowy, the odds are once again a little bit stacked against the team. Yeah, you guys come down, you you win a silver medal in front of your home crowd. Oh my gosh. I mean, the images are still in my head of your teammate there with his arms in the air and and you coming out of the sled. And and for a second here, take me to that moment. This kid who's sleeping on the streets of Salt Lake City, watching his mother do drugs. Sorry, you're gonna make me cry.

SPEAKER_00 25:36

Oh, it's okay. It's good, it's good tears.

SPEAKER_01 25:38

It's good tears because it was it was a significant moment.

SPEAKER_00 25:42

It was a very significant moment.

SPEAKER_01 25:44

And and proof that you are not who you are when you start.

SPEAKER_00 25:48

Yeah. And, you know, to add to that, um, you know, uh a reporter on the name of John Ceresino asked to do an interview with my mom while she was in jail. And this was like the week that I was getting ready to compete, and I didn't want to do it. And uh, you know, fortunately we did, and it was such an inspirational moment. But it was that reminder of sitting here and across from my mom, and for the first time, her being sober recognizes what I've accomplished. And I gave her thanks for that too, because she was a part of it, even though the lifestyle was a negative one. If it wasn't for the things that she did, I wouldn't have been the guy I was then and still am today. And um, you know, when we went for it and and made that team, oh man, it was just unbelievable. And the the the the first true thought that came into my mind after we won that Olympic medal, and I'm standing there receiving my mental, my medal, and my teammates and my friends, and my family members, and my grandmas in the crowd holding up signs, saying, you know, dreams do come true, and I told you. And the first thing that really popped into my mind is just taking a moment to reflect on the journey and and all the things that needed to happen, um, all the actions, all the dreams um that had to happen to go from a guy who was supposed to make the track and field team to a year and three months later making the US Olympic team and winning the first Olympic medal for Team USA in 46 years in my hometown. It couldn't get any better than that.

SPEAKER_01 27:26

I you you can't you can't even write that story. It is a beautiful story. And it didn't end there because you go on to two more Olympics. Yeah, um, you've done incredible things. Bill, uh your story is one that I hope resonates with teens in the sense that it it doesn't matter how many times you get knocked down, right? You can get back up. Right. And there is a community wanting to cheer you on, right? Um, you might not see it, it might not be right in front of you, but they're there. So, Bill, if you can for me, what is the message you want to lead if with with a teen out there today, if he's listening or she's listening, um, and maybe they're just not feeling like they have it or that they can accomplish it or or get there, what do you want them to take away from this conversation?

SPEAKER_00 28:15

There's so much. Um, but at the end of the day, it's I don't care what situation you're in, there's something better for you. And if you get curious, and that's what I did, I was super curious about what's possible, right? I was used to this chaotic life, just like they are, they're used to some sort of chaotic life. And the reality is that's not a long-term solution for what they want to do. And and I want them, you know, again, I'm gonna say it over and over again, to be curious because again, someday they're gonna have to grow up. Someday they're gonna want to have a family of their own. So, what how do they, you know, how do they imagine that looking like five, ten, fifteen, twenty years down the road from them? And and just reach out to people because as you mentioned, there is a community, but sometimes we have to go out to them. And and I think we're doing a better job nowadays, especially like even with Stanford Kanye, we're actually going to those communities and looking for those kids to help support. But if if this scrub from the streets of Salt Lake City could accomplish all the things that that I did, there is not a kid out there that couldn't replicate that and even do better than I did. And I I, you know, I set out as a seventh grader to hopefully one day be sitting in this chair having conversations with you, telling kids that you can achieve anything you want in life. Here's my story. And it usually relates really well with a lot of the kids that we're dealing with. And and I hope it just sparks something in them to be like, I want to do X, Y, Z. And you don't have to be an Olympian. I don't care what it is. Um, teacher, doctor, lawyer, news reporter, whatever, great parent, you can achieve those things and just realize that the life that you're living is a temporary thing. And let us give this, let us help you with the opportunity to achieve greatness.

SPEAKER_01 29:52

Yeah, and you could decide to change it at any time. Yeah, look at me. I'm trying something new. We both are right. And we're, you know what, you can keep changing and and and redefining and and developing, and there's so many opportunities out there to do that. Bill, thank you for being here. Thank you for sharing your story. Um, I really am inspired by you, and you embody everything that this podcast is about. And I appreciate you being here with us.

SPEAKER_00 30:15

Well, thank you very much, and I really appreciate it and excited we did it.

SPEAKER_01 30:18

Yeah, we did it. This is it. This is the Stanford Kind podcast. You heard Bill talk about resilience and just strength. And of course, we have more resources uh on the Stanford Kind podcast or on the Stanford Kind website. So if you're looking for those resources, head over there. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks for joining us on the Stanford Kind podcast. You can learn more about StanfordKind on our website, standforkind.com. You can also follow us on Instagram, Facebook, X, and TikTok. We also hope that you'll subscribe and share this show with your friends and family. We'll see you next time.