SHIPROCK, N.M. — It’s Hispanic Heritage Month – so what better way to celebrate than with a little music and food, and a motivational speaker?

Ryan Stream has many titles, including motivational speaker. Singer, songwriter, author entrepreneur, retired military veteran… so it’s no surprise he has an incredible story. His story begins before all of that even happened.

Central Consolidated Schools hosted an event Monday for students and community members to come out and listen to Stream speak.

“I struggled my whole childhood. [There was] abuse, trauma was inside of my home. It was a broken home. And there was a motivational speaker that came to my school, and he told the audience that we could do whatever we wanted,” he told the audience. “My grandma, she was Apache Indian and Mexican, and one of my goals was to speak on military bases all over the world and go to reservations and go to schools and corporations.”

Stream shared the struggles he faced before getting to where he is today. He wants to help students and community members better understand their identity and be proud of it.

“I wanted to go into the schools and talk about. How did I go from a homeless shelter, how did I go from being in my car wanting to take my life? How did I go from crying to struggling to putting on a mask, going to work, acting like I was happy, to now having the confidence to get in front of people that made fun of me? But not only having actual advice, but also steps to teach them how they can change,” Stream said.

The hardships he shared really resonated with students.

“He was explaining from going from a hard life and like succeeding in many ways, and I kind of think that it caught a lot of students’ attention,” said Sarah Labor, a sophomore at Newcomb High School.

Helping switch students’ mindset about the struggles they face.

“Most students around here struggle with that, embracing their identity around the school and also within the community…and yeah, a lot of people really started to show their their side of their culture and really embraced it,” said Cody Tsinnijinnie, a senior at Kirkland Central High School.

“Some people are told to not talk about it, and it’s only kept at home, I guess, in a way, but if they see it and someone else talking about it, they’re like, Okay, there’s other people that do talk about it and everything, they’re like, ‘Oh, well, I feel safe enough to open up to a person about what is going on at home’,” said Nevaeh Sandoval, a junior at Kirtland Central HS.