Husky spirit fires up Homecoming crowd

Having graduating from Aurora High School 27 years ago, Brad Bangs is well known to the community and students, and was warmly welcomed as this year’s keynote speaker at the Homecoming pep rally.
Introduced by AHS Principal Doug Kittle, Bangs graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a degree in exercise science in 2005 and later a doctorate from the University of Nebraska Medical Center in 2005.
He began his physical therapy career in Utah before moving back to Aurora in 2007 and taking on the position of director of physical therapy at Memorial Hospital.
“When I was asked to speak today, I wasn’t really sure what I was going to talk about,” Bangs began. “Over the next few days, a few ideas came to me and they kept popping up. Number one is relationships, and number two, Aurora is everywhere.”
Bangs shared that he went to Lincoln for a Husker football game after he was asked to be the pep rally speaker, where he happened to meet with graduates from Aurora.
“I ran into several former Aurora Huskies that I hadn’t seen since I graduated,” he said. “Some of them are from far away, some of them were in Nebraska. A couple of them I haven’t seen in 30 years and we picked up where we left off when we were in high school.”
The next day, a neighbor reached out to Bangs about anyone who could remodel their house, and he highly recommended people he went to high school with.
“The next week, I was at a board meeting here in town and I realized when I was sitting there, everyone at the table was a former graduate of Aurora and several of them were people that I went to high school with,” Bangs said. “It was in high school that I started making these relationships and developing it.”
Bangs spoke to the large crowd gathering in the courthouse parking lot about how important building  connections in high school can be for students later on in life.
“There is so many opportunities and you have the ability to try all of it,” he stated. “You spend most of the day with people that you have spent time with growing up since you started school. A lot of you probably know most of the kids in your own class and at least to some degree, you know kids in the class above and below.
“I challenge you to work on making these relationships with as many of your fellow Huskies as you can,” he said. “Maybe one day, (they’re) your dentist, the guy you buy life insurance from, the guy who puts a new roof on your house or puts a new driveway in for you.”
Bangs highlighted an example of choosing a fellow Husky who worked as a lawyer to help him with estate work.
“I chose someone that was a former Husky that I remember watching out on the volleyball court,” Bangs said. “All those people I do this with today, those people were in high school and I developed relationships with them when I was in high school. There’s an old saying, ‘It’s not what you know, but who you know.’
“Now, don’t get me wrong, pay attention too in class,” he added. “Learn and listen, but worry about those relationships in high school because now is the time to start on that skill of building relationships. That will come easy for some of you, it’ll be more difficult for others, but no matter where you fall in that continuum, now is the time to start working on those relationships.”
He stated that the most crucial relationships start at the school level.
“Some of the most meaningful relationships you’re going to have in high school are going to be with your teachers, coaches, directors and sponsors and only with time will you fully realize all that they do for their students and their athletes,” he said. “I’m still in contact with several of my former teachers and coaches, and it amazes me at the number of lives that they have touched over the years. Nowhere will you find a better group of adults working with high school youth than here in Husky Nation.” 
Bangs followed by speaking on how much more Aurora is beyond the typical small-town stereotype.
“My in-laws always give me a hard time that Aurora was famous,” he commented. “They said, ‘You couldn’t go anywhere without running into someone from Aurora or someone that had ties to Aurora.’ They just couldn’t believe that Aurora was a community of 5,000 or less. They would ask, ‘How could this be?’ I think there are three reasons.”
The first reason Bangs listed was the community’s school system.
“The Aurora school system puts out good people and they do great things,” Bangs commented. “We hear about and meet these people, because of all the things that they go out there and do in the world.”
The second reason, the pride current and former Huskies hold for their community.
“They share their pride in this community with others,” Bangs said. “Even if they don’t still live in Aurora, they share that love and respect for the community with people they meet.”
The final reason, the success of the people who graduated from Aurora.
“I’m not sure if any of you are aware that we have had a few athletes here in the last few years that have gone on to play  a pretty high level,” he said. “There’s also good business owners, engineers and Huskies involved in the arts, but others doing great things not only here in our community or across the state, but across the country.”
Concluding his time with the students and community in attendance, Bangs gave one more piece of advice.
“You belong to a school and a community that has had and continues to have a great tradition of developing talent and producing great people,” he said. “Make an effort to develop as many relationships with your fellow Huskies as you can. That’s a skill that will serve you all your life and many of you are going to go on to do great things.”