Hampton students hear riveting presentation by 1997 Nobel Peace Prize winner by Bethany Hofstetter

The students at Hampton High School got an early graduation speech when Jerry White came to encourage them to take ownership of their futures.

White, founder and executive director of Survivor Corps, survived a land mine accident while studying in Israel when he was a junior in college.

However, White survived the accident and grew from his experience.

Now, he helps others through Survivor Corps, a global network of people helping each other to overcome the effects of war and conflict in over 40 countries.In 1997, White won the Nobel Peace Prize along with the International Campaign to Ban Land mines.

White says he knows the students at Hampton don't have to worry about land mines in their school yards, but he wanted his story to be a wake-up call for the students.

"It's an opportunity to provoke thinking about the future," he says.

White's story is more than one of a college student who survived a land mine, it's a story of surviving, he says.

Mary Lou Ellena-Wygonik, an enrichment facilitator at Hampton, invited White to speak to the students and provide them with a window to their future.

"Basically, I wanted them to see, in flesh, someone who overcame adversity and is helping others," Ellena-Wygonik says. "And I think they did -- you could have heard a pin drop."

More than 100 students sat in the crowded auditorium listening to White open their eyes to the struggles around the world and how war victims overcame them and the students can too.

White shared the steps to surviving anything life throws at the students from his book "I Will Not Be Broken: Five Steps to Overcoming a Life Crisis." He said the last step of giving back is the most important and is the "icing on the cake."

White's sister, Susan White, of Hampton, says she always is impressed by how her brother weaves together his story and facts about the state of the world and makes it accessible to what the average Hampton high school student is facing.

"It's a story about today and what young people are facing," Susan White says. "I hope a percentage of them would look at the Web site as a next step, and some of the teenagers would feel encouraged, and a third group who would do more service, and a fourth group who would want to get involved and interested internationally."

Jerry White says he just hopes the students are encouraged to pursue opportunities in their high school and in Pittsburgh and to be a survivor.

"You inherited a messy world," he says. "Don't be a victim."

Via Your Northhills, http://ping.fm/wM5vC