Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Michael Johnson gave the keynote speech at Dohn Community High School’s graduation this month.
The 2017 Bengals Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee spoke passionately and offered advice to the high school graduates as they embark on their next journeys.
“Set goals, smash them. Set more goals, smash them,” Johnson said. “And just keep going. It doesn’t stop.”
He was engaging, funny (poking fun at a Ravens fan during the speech) and offered great advice.
“In that struggle there’s strength, you’ve got growth right there, you gain knowledge and wisdom and just continue to build yourself up by everything you’ve gone through and overcome so when you meet other obstacles later in life, it won’t seem like such a big deal. You’ve been there before, you’ve defeated it before, you’ve done it,” Johnson remarked.
He also spoke about giving back to your community, something Johnson does frequently and enjoys. “It’s not OK just to uplift yourself,” Johnson said. “That’s the easy part because you put in the work. How can you help out others? How can you help them get to where you’re at and see the vision that you have?”
It’s great to see Johnson offering such great advice to students in the Cincinnati community. You can watch his speech in full above.