Josh Shipp was the kind of kid who got kicked out of class a lot. Bouncing around the foster care system, he craved attention. Freckle-faced and funny, he soon earned the reputation of a class clown. Almost all of his teachers at Yukon High School saw him as a problem. Almost all.
 
One day, the school DECA (Distributive Education Clubs of America, a business-marketing club) sponsor approached Shipp about joining the student association. “You know, being a class clown means you have the respect of your peers,” she said. “It means you’re a leader. And you can choose what to do with that, whether to lead them in a positive way or not.”
 
Though Shipp didn’t know it at the time, that teacher helped change his life by seeing him as a possibility instead of a problem. It’s a lesson so powerful Shipp continues to share it today as a motivational speaker, addressing teenagers across the country. Over 15 million homes receive his television advice program “Hey Josh,” and a thriving online community chats on his website where he offers “advice with an attitude.” Despite his success, the life of this former Okie almost took a very different turn.
 
Troubled Past
Shipp never knew his parents, and during his years in the foster care system he experienced abuse. A caring foster family in Yukon took him in when he was 14, but his scars went deep. “I went through a lot of ups and downs... mainly associated with being abused and not knowing my family,” he said. “There were various ways I dealt with it, and one was by writing hot checks. I didn’t feel like a very valuable person so I felt if I had enough stuff, that would bring me value and worth.”
 
The hot checks caught up with Shipp at a routine traffic stop. “I got pulled over for speeding, and one of the hot checks I wrote was for my car insurance,” he said. The hot check caused his license to be revoked. Shipp was arrested and spent the night in jail.
 
“It was horrific,” he recalled. “Statistically speaking, more than half of us [foster kids] are dead, in jail, or homeless. I realized I was becoming like these statistics I swore I’d never become.”
 
He expected the worst from his foster parents when they picked him up. Instead, their reaction became a defining moment in his life. Shipp said, “It was a very awkward car ride home—a lot of silence. Toward the end of it they said, ‘You know what, Josh? You are not a problem, you’re an opportunity.’ It felt very ‘Full-House,’ very cheesy, but it shifted perspective for me. I could see my path as a problem or an opportunity.”
 
Their words helped the class clown see the potential of his talents and passions, but it was DECA that provided him the opportunity to shine.
 
Motivated to Achieve
He joined DECA and as a joke, ran for an office in the group. He won. When he learned that officers attended a conference in Tulsa, he anticipated plenty of goof-off time with his friends. “But what I was expecting and what I was met with were two completely different things,” he said. “This conference was very professional yet very vibrant and useful. I saw people who were passionate about DECA. I saw the [state] officers on stage, and I thought, ‘I want to be there next year. I don’t care what I have to do, but I’m going to be a state officer.”
 
Once home, Shipp focused on his local student group and worked to improve it. He used his gift of humor to lead, just as his teacher had predicted. His efforts helped him achieve his “big, hairy, audacious goal” the next year when he was elected DECA’s statewide president. His life was on a new path.
 
Birth of a Dream
As part of his role as DECA president, Shipp traveled across the state and spoke to other DECA chapters. Speaking in front of peers gave him a crash course in communicating
with teenagers. “There’s a difference between an adult audience versus a teen audience,” he said. “With an adult audience, you can be a horrible speaker and they are at least going to be polite. In front of teenagers, if you suck they are going to tell you.”
 
Gradually, Shipp began getting invitations to speak outside of DECA classes, and then to entire high schools. After high school, the invitations continued from other states. “I never thought, ‘Oh, I want to make my living as a speaker,’” he said, “but it became a beast of its own.”
 
Today, he speaks to thousands of youth each year and reaches even more through his television and Internet program, “Hey Josh.” “I’d get a lot of e-mails asking for advice [after speaking engagements] so I began to think about a creative way I could answer questions,” he said. “I don’t really like to read. I’d rather watch a short video that’s interesting and entertaining.” Those videos have now birthed an online community that provides insight and advice.
 
From Screw-Up to Success
Despite the hardships he’s experienced, Shipp doesn’t bemoan his past. “I don’t regret any of the stuff that has happened,” he said. “I’ve learned so much from it. I share it [when I speak]. I think you learn more from your screw ups than your successes.”
 
Looking back, Shipp can see the impact his DECA teacher had in helping him overcome poor self-esteem and negative attitudes about foster children. “When you hear the words ‘foster kid’ you think of a troubled kid, a bad kid, as opposed to someone who’s had a troubled past, a bad past,” he said. “That frustrates me. One of the most dangerous things we do to foster youth is to see them as they were and not who they could be.”
 
Because of the courage and love of people like his foster parents and DECA teacher, Josh Shipp is the kind of kid who could overcome the pain of the past and impact a generation of youth with this truth: you are an opportunity, not a problem.
 
Visit Josh Online
Check out Josh’s “advice with an attitude” at www.HeyJosh.tv and find out where he’s speaking at www.JoshShipp.com.
 
Ben Davis is a freelance writer from Oklahoma City who loves writing, fried okra, and people, in that order.