Former professional linebacker Bryan Kehl recently shared powerful messages with Brighton High students during their career day, encouraging them to keep an open mind, find what excites them, and transform that passion into a career.

He also emphasized the importance of hard work in achieving success.

“He told them the first ingredient you need for anything — in sports, academics, music, theatre — is to do the hard work,” Brighton High work-based learning coordinator Eileen Kasteler said. “Kehl wasn't always the best, but he worked harder than others who were better than he was and he became better. The second ingredient (he said) is to make mistakes faster, so you can learn from them and move forward. Don't be afraid of mistakes — avoiding them will slow down your success.”

Kasteler said the Brighton alumnus was able to connect with students through his own experiences. Kehl shared even after playing in the NFL, he still had to work hard. He spoke about the risks he took when becoming a business owner, a decision which gave him flexibility, but also the realization that failure could lead to financial loss.

“He openly shared his career path, including both successes and setbacks, giving students an honest view. I think his encouragement helped them imagine all the possibilities that are out there and gave them confidence about choosing a career,” she said. 

The career day, organized by the student business club with Kasteler’s assistance, was spread out over several days. Freshmen and sophomores learned from Kehl, while older students attended sessions with various professionals, including a pilot, an actor, a construction project manager and a mechanical engineer.

Entrepreneur Mike Deaver spoke to another group of students, offering advice based on his own experiences.

“What I see in my career is people are here to help you succeed,” he said. “We're here to help our partners; they say, ‘teamwork makes the dream work.’ If you haven't found a team, reach out to people to help you find that team.”

Deaver encouraged students to think about their futures beyond high school.

“It’s the time to start thinking broadly about your future. When I was in high school and in college, I knew I wanted to be the guy behind the scenes who was helping sports, politics and entertainment. So, I started working to make my team, and I feel super blessed I’ve been able to be in that field. But think beyond your school; there's a whole big outside world out there you can participate in and be connected.”

He also advised student to “pick up every piece of experience, every credential, every certificate, anything and everything you can pick up as a tool” to “get connected and gamify your life.”

Brighton junior Caleb Vickers, vice president of membership for the school’s business club, was one of the driving forces behind the career days. This initiative also ties into the group’s project for DECA, an organization that prepares students for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality, management and entrepreneurship.

“There are multiple things that can be done for this project, but we picked the career fair because it’s a way we can reach out to the 2,400 Brighton students,” Vickers said. “It allows them the chance to hear from a speaker and engage with possible future careers they might go into.”

Vickers learned the event required flexibility and adaptability. Despite months of planning, the group had to adjust last-minute when a speaker canceled on the second day. Another speaker canceled on the final day, but they quickly secured a replacement.

“We started planning it early so we could coordinate speakers’ and class schedules. Even so, we had a speaker not show and we had to pivot as students were filing in for that speaker,” he said.

They also had to ensure students would be in attendance since Brighton has an open campus.

“We wanted to ensure they would come so we created a raffle for students in attendance,” he said, explaining the school club reached out to local businesses to donate gift cards. “I think we were pretty successful as there were about 800 students at Kehl’s presentation.”

Vickers, along with juniors Jonas Barnes and AJ Stanfield, will take their 20-page paper to compete at the state DECA tournament Feb. 21-22.

“We’ll give the judges the paper and give an oral presentation of the planning, the organization, the execution and everything we did. We have 15 minutes to give them the highlights,” he said.

The trio is part of a 100-member student business club that has toured local businesses such as RSL, Hale Centre Theatre, and Crumbl, learning about operations, marketing strategies and business management.

Janet Goble, Canyons School District career and technical education director, praised the efforts of the Brighton High students in organizing the event and helping their peers explore potential
career paths.

“It’s important students have these opportunities to learn about different careers than what they might know,” she said. “We want to open their eyes to these different types of careers as it might spark their interest in a career they never even thought about and give them a launch into their futures.” λ