WMS Principal Jesse McMillan said “you could hear a pin drop” during assemblies by motivational speaker Terrence Lee Talley on Jan. 22.
Reminder Publishing submitted photo
WESTFIELD — Principal Jesse McMillan said during a visit last week to Westfield Middle School, motivational speaker Terrence Lee Talley’s message of hope and resilience was well received.
McMillan said he found Talley, a widely recognized speaker in K-12 education, through a national principals networking group. When he posted asking for reputable speakers, McMillan said Talley’s name came up quite a bit.
Talley, who is from Minnesota, spent the day in Westfield on Jan. 22 giving four presentations, one to seventh-grade students in the auditorium and one to eighth-grade students, leading a staff meeting at the end of the day and an evening event for families at 6 p.m.
“The kids responded incredibly well,” McMillan said.
One of the topics Talley touched upon was mental health concerns in middle school and navigating teasing and bullying. McMillan said the school has a social-emotional curriculum that Talley’s message reinforced. “We needed to provide a unified message of hope, resiliency and supporting one another — even people you don’t know.”
“It wasn’t your traditional Powerpoint presentation. It was emotional through storytelling,” McMillan said.
He meets students from all over the nation, and weaves in stories from his life, as a child, teen and adult. He talked about challenging relationships; a lot of experiences many students have. “You could hear a pin drop in the auditorium,” McMillan said.
McMillan said there were students Talley’s message had an impact on that he wouldn’t necessarily have expected. “It was really a beautiful thing,” he said, adding that afterwards he sent a message home to families letting them know it had been an emotional assembly for the students. He said the school also had counselors on hand to help them process it.
“I kept hearing ‘we needed that’ — powerful coming from 13 and 14 year olds,” McMillan said.
The overall theme of the assembly was don’t give up reaching out to others, no matter what life situations they’re going through, and encourage people to keep going, not only the people you know, but the ones you don’t know, he said. “Sitting in an auditorium with 350 kids — 700 in the school — can guarantee you that someone is weathering a storm. Be mindful of that in daily interactions. You don’t know what people are going through inside and outside of school.”
McMillan said Talley used stories to help students understand a little more. Even if it’s not one they experienced themselves, it gave them perspective and a lens into someone else’s life.
The presentation was made possible through a Hate Crimes Prevention Grant of $42,000 that WMS received from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education through the end of the school year. The school applied for the grant after anti-semitic incidents in January 2025, in which a swastika was drawn on a WMS student’s notebook, and several other swastikas were found in the school.
McMillan responded right away, sending a letter condemning the incidents, and following up by partnering with the Jewish Federation of Western Massachusetts to develop more appropriate resources for middle schoolers and inviting speakers to come in.
“There have been no further anti-semitic incidents. Students responded incredibly well to that last year,” McMillan said, adding there is a lot to know and understand. “At the end of the day, what I tell students and staff, regardless of our own beliefs, it’s about being a good human being.”
McMillan said what he tries to do when bringing in a speaker is to consider what impact that person will have when they leave. “What is it going to do when they leave those doors?”
During a staff meeting following Talley’s visit, he said four or five staff members said that during their 25 years at the school, this was one of the most impactful presentations they’ve ever seen.
“This was one of those presentations that they’re not going to forget. They may not remember word for word what he said, but they will remember absolutely how they made them feel,” McMillan said about the students’ responses.
He also plans to follow up with a survey to the students for feedback, and what they think about bringing Talley back. If they do, McMillan plans to have him work with some small groups and classrooms.
As for the remainder of the Hate Crimes Prevention grant, McMillan said he is looking into professional development for staff and administrators in the building, and also bullying prevention curriculum resources and materials.
Although they have the Trails to Wellness curriculum, he wants to look into specific resources on bullying, to help students understand what it is, and how to address it — if they see it happening to others, or have experienced it themselves. He said by definition, bullying is repeated and targeted.
McMillan said all of these topics require a community effort. “The school is responsible for having these conversations, which is why we’re doing this, but it’s a community effort. It just can’t be the school system,” he said.
