Fostering community, giving back, and standing up for change were themes at this year’s Falcon Revolution May 22 at Kentlake High.

On the day of the event the regular class schedule was suspended so students could hear from speakers in the community. Speakers talked about their jobs, what kind of training or education they went through, their relationship with the community and what it took for them to get where they are.

“The idea of if you want to make a revolution or change you need to unite or come together to make that change,” said Greg Kaas, the freshman and sophomore leadership teacher whose students planned the event. “So we were looking at how we could make a change in our school and in our community as well.”

The school hosted a similar event, Be the Change Day, last year.

Six students from the leadership class took on the organization of Falcon Revolution.

“It was daunting, it was unbelievable. It took a lot to make this happen,” Kaas said of the work that went into the event.

The day included 40 speakers including self-proclaimed Seattle superhero Phoenix Jones, business leaders, artists and a former professional football player. The students who organized the event also sought out and invited Kentlake graduates to participate.

Among those was Shawn Seeley, a 2004 Kentlake graduate and Marine who was wounded in Iraq and is now a pastor at Northwest Life Church near Meeker Middle School in Renton.

Seeley spoke to students about how he became a Marine, his time in Iraq and how after recovered from his injuries he went to college, earned a bachelor’s degree and now gives back to the community through his work at the church.

“You have a life and you get to choose how to live it,” Seeley told students.

That’s among the wider message of Seeley’s story — that even when life doesn’t go how you plan, you still get to make the most of it.

Jones spoke to students about his crime fighting ways, something he got into almost by accident. His was a message of anti-bullying, standing up for what you believe in and being the change you want to see.

Topics of other speakers included sex trafficking, the power of social media, animal rescue, overcoming challenges, and hot jobs of the future, to name a few.

According to Kaas, one of the downsides of the school being located on the far edge of the school district and away from the center of a town is that a sense of belonging to the wider community can get lost.

“We wanted to create that sense of community,” Kaas said. “The kids and community work together to get to know one another better and get an idea of how we can work together.”

Students were encouraged to participate in their community and even beyond.

“Think locally, act globally,” Kaas said.