By Lily Augustini
On October 6th, 2010, “America’s Next Top Role Model” Cara Filler arrived at Hopkinton High School in hopes of educating students on the power of choice. Cara travels throughout the world visiting over 200 schools a year, and she has spoken at over 1,500 school assemblies. According to Carafiller.com, she has been North America’s leading female motivational speaker since 1994, and “Her ‘Power of Choice!’ message has moved and inspired over a million young lives across Canada, United States, Australia and New Zealand.”

Stacey Place, a wellness teacher at Hopkinton High School, heard about Cara Filler at a conference and recommended her presentation to Ms. Geary, HHS principal.  The main goal of the assembly was “getting a good message out to the kids”, explained Ms. Geary. “We’re hoping for this to create a starting point for more conversation.” Administration feels that the school needs to come together and talk about issues involving the decisions we make and their negative consequences.

Cara Filler began her motivational speaking at a young age.  Her strong passion for decision making resulted from the tragic death of her identical twin sister, Mairin, which occurred the day after their eighteenth birthday.  That day, Mairin made the decision to ride in a car that was traveling at 110 mph without speaking up for herself.  This decision was life-changing, not only for Mairin, but for the people involved in her life.  One of those people was Cara, whose life would never be the same without her best friend.  Cara does not demand people to make good decisions; instead, she hopes to influence them on making strong choices for themselves and the lives of others.

HHS students had a lot to say about Cara’s presentation.  Sam Chirco, a junior at HHS, stated, “I liked it a lot. It was very informative and it hit home. It had an impact on everyone, not just me.”  Mitch Seagars, a senior at HHS, joked, “I liked it…I thought it was a lot like a bear, because whenever there’s an assembly it seems really large and intimidating, but when it comes down to the core of it, it’s warm and fuzzy.”

Although Cara’s visit was appreciated by many students at HHS, there are some students who chose not to benefit from her message. When asked if Cara had a significant effect on our high school, Sophie Doherty, a junior at HHS, revealed, “I’m kind of on the fence about that because there’s a lot of people that never listen.”  Officer Powers also brought up an important point when he said, “I hope this lasts longer than the one day period…where afterward people forget. So I think it should be brought up at a later date”.  Did Cara Filler have a significant effect on you? Do you think your peers will be influenced by her? How can we be sure?

Visit Cara Filler- The Drive to Safe Lives on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/#!/DrivetoSaveLives to see how Cara has impacted over 200 other schools around the world.