At one of our recent assemblies, all grades were invited to attend the “Magic with a Message” program. At this program, the magician, Mr. James Warren, gave speeches about how to make the wiser choice and incorporating it with magic.

The first magic trick was about social media. He talked about how people on the internet can rip our lives apart and make us think badly of ourselves. With this, he ripped up a piece of newspaper into small pieces and smooshed them together. They magically turned into the newspaper that it was before he ripped it.

The next magic trick was about influencing people. He showed us a long list of famous people who died from making the wrong choice (overdose, drugs, alcohol, smoking). Then, he called up someone and claimed he would influence him. He asked him to pick a card from the deck and told him to say what his card name was. The magician’s response was “Nick.” Everyone looked about the auditorium as if it had three heads. Everyone thought he was talking about a specific person, but they were wrong. He gave all of the cards a name (Mary, Jose, John, Suzy), and the ten of clubs (the card the kid was thinking of) just happened to be named “Nick!”

The next magic trick was about illusions. He talked about people doing something they think is right, but the choice is really wrong. So, he put a spinning hypnotizer up to his face that spun clockwise for thirty seconds. After the time was up, his head seemed to have shrunk. Then, he spun the hypnotizer for thirty seconds counterclockwise. After time was up, his head seemed as if it expanded.

The last magic trick was about family and friends. He spoke about how your family and friends can guide you in your life to the right decision, and they can even hold you up when times get tough. Via the speech, he called up four girls of about the same size to sit on a chair. He had the chairs in a circle facing different directions. Each girl had to sit on the chair and lay back on the other person’s lap. After he told the girls to tighten their abs and legs, he pulled each of the chairs away. Surprisingly, the girls stayed in that position!

Overall, all the kids learned about how to make the right choice, while enjoying the magic that was incorporated into his speeches. The student body really enjoyed the assembly!