Motivational & Resilience Assembly Speaker for High Schools

Anything is possible isn’t a wish. It’s a decision followed by evidence.

Anything Is Possible is Chad Kempel’s all-school motivational and resilience assembly, built for the biggest room you’ve got. It’s the story behind four Guinness World Records, set pushing his quintuplets in a stroller, including the two times he failed first. Based in Boise, booking nationwide.

Local Introductory Rate: $1,000 per assembly · See what’s included ↓

A motivational assembly with receipts

Students have heard "you can do anything" their whole lives, and most of them stopped believing it years ago. This talk doesn’t ask them to believe. It shows them the evidence: every time, every record and every failure in it can be looked up.

Chad was the kid getting slapped in a locker room and walking the hallways alone. He became a university psychology instructor, a volunteer math teacher inside San Quentin State Prison, an Ironman finisher, and the father of seven. None of it started with confidence. All of it started with a decision.

The talk moves. Chad challenges a student to a race, runs the length of the gym, and gets the whole room yelling. Then it goes quiet when it needs to.

What your students hear

The locker room

Where it started: an eighth grader with no power over what happened to him, and what changed when he found out he had more than he thought.

Two public failures

His first world record attempt missed the Guinness cutoff by 46 minutes. The second missed by four and a half. Students hear what he did the day after each one. Read the full story: What to Do the Day After You Fail.

Run faster, Dad

Mile 20 of the record marathon, pushing five one-year-olds, ready to quit, and the three words that kept him going.

For My Dad

An Ironman finish carrying a sign for his father, and what pain feels like when you know what it’s for. Read the full story: My Father, Nuclear Fusion, and Anything Is Possible.

The decision

Every student writes one line: "I’m going to ___." Then one more ask: be the person who sits down next to someone alone.

The psychology underneath the story

Taught through the story, never announced as a list. Students leave with words they didn’t know they were getting.

Locus of control

Where you believe the power over your life lives. Outside you, with people, luck and circumstances, or inside you, with your own decisions.

Pain with purpose

When you know what the pain is for, your brain processes it differently than pain with no reason. It’s why a hard thing you chose feels different from a hard thing that happened to you.

Post-traumatic growth

Struggle can rebuild who you are. It doesn’t happen automatically. It’s chosen, one decision at a time.

What your school gets

The flagship all-school assembly. Built for the whole student body in one room, with energy that holds a gym.

Evidence, not hype. Every record time and date in the talk is on a Guinness World Records certificate or in a news archive, and the race history lists every attempt, including the two misses.

A talk that fits your schedule. 45 to 55 minutes as written, built to fit your assembly block.

Best for: Back-to-school and kickoff assemblies, the start of a new semester, all-school assemblies, and the first talk in the three-assembly series.

For your counselors
The talk describes being bullied in middle school, the loss of Chad’s twin sons and other pregnancy losses, and his father’s death. Your counseling team can have a full outline before the event. Your teachers and counselors also get the teacher and counselor guide, with what to do if a student opens up and discussion questions for the next morning. Teachers can also open the next-morning plan for this talk online, with questions to put on a classroom screen and a two-week follow-up.

Pairs with

Anything Is Possible stands on its own and opens the three-talk series. Anything Is Possible is the resilience assembly, The Weight You’re Carrying is the mental health assembly, and I Walked the Hallways Alone is the anti-bullying and belonging assembly. Or see all three talks and pricing.

Questions schools ask about this assembly

Is this a motivational assembly?

Yes, but with evidence behind it. It’s the story behind four Guinness World Records, including two failed attempts, and the psychology of why decisions and setbacks work the way they do.

What grades is it for?

High school, grades 9 through 12. It’s built for full-school assemblies.

How long is the assembly?

It runs 45 to 55 minutes as written. Tell Chad how long your assembly block is and the talk is built to fit it.

Are the world records real?

Yes. Chad set four Guinness World Records pushing his quintuplets in a five-seat stroller: the marathon, 10K, half marathon and 1 kilometer. All four are listed on the Guinness World Records website.

How much does a motivational speaker cost?

For the 2026–27 school year, schools within a few hours of Boise get the Local Introductory Rate: $1,000 for one assembly or $2,500 for all three of Chad’s talks, with no travel fee. Anywhere else, send your location and dates and you’ll have a quote with travel within 48 hours.

Is it good for a back-to-school assembly?

Yes. It’s the talk most schools use to open the year or a new semester, since it ends with every student writing down one thing they’re going to do.

Do you speak at schools outside Idaho?

Yes. Chad is based in Boise and speaks at schools anywhere in the United States and abroad.