“No, [I have not been to BVNW before],” Thomas said. “I have been to Kansas City but I have not visited the school before. It was very impressive, a beautiful building with neat students and nice faculty and administrators.”

After briefing students about how he got involved in journalism, Thomas said students received the chance to ask him questions about various topics. The questions were engaging and the discussion went on for two hours, Thomas said.

“I enjoyed it,” Thomas said. “My whole thing is I started out very young and I learned a lot from older people, and now I am one. I want to relay some of the things I learned to people who are interested in following this career path and how to become successful in it. Things are changing a lot more rapidly now than they were when I was coming up, with the Internet and social media and those things. There are many, many more opportunities to get information and communicate than from when I started out in this business. It’s a challenge as well as a blessing.”

The lesson Thomas said he wants students to remember is persistence triumphs over everything. Persistence and not taking no for an answer will help make students successful, Thomas said. Another lesson Thomas said he wants remembered is for students to not just get a job, but a career. Thomas said he wants students to do something in life they really want to do in order to be happy and content.

“So many people are working at jobs they hate because they have to in order to pay bills and so many other things,” Thomas said. “But if you do something you love and build wealth instead of just paying bills you’ll be happier. Being content, even at a job that makes less money, is better than a job that makes more.  If you believe in yourself, if you believe in what you want to do and just keep trying you’ll be successful. That was the major message I wanted to communicate to [students].”