Author, entrepreneur and internationally-acclaimed motivational speaker DJ Eagle Bear Vanas will speak to NMU students on Monday, Feb. 18 from 4-5:30 p.m. in Whitman Hall. The Skill Builder is sponsored by the Student Leader Fellowship Program. Vanas said the focus of his message will be to use humor, stories and questions to help inspire student leaders to become creative thinkers. “When we are in a position of leadership, we have to be visionaries. We have to know what we’re looking for, what we’re fighting for,” Vanas said. His career as a motivational speaker started as somewhat of an accident, he said. Born into poverty with teenage parents, Vanas received his pilot’s license at 17 and went on to get a master’s degree in systems management from the University of Southern California. Later, he was selected as the Air Force’s youngest ever Chief of Minority Enrollment. From there, word of mouth about Vanas’s abilities as a motivational speaker spread. “Sometimes you just stumble through a door and it changes everything,” he said. To register for this Skill Builder, students can call Janet Crick at 227-1771 or e-mail [email protected]. The Skill Builder is free to attend.