BRIDGTON – The Bridgton Academy community welcomed Kevin Hancock of Casco, president and CEO of Hancock Lumber, a recent guest speaker at the weekly assembly.

In an introduction to his topic of achieving success, Hancock, a former faculty member and basketball coach at the academy, told students, “I admire the decision you made to come to Bridgton Academy. It would have been easier for you not to come here, but you had the courage to make the difficult decision. It’s easy to get a diploma,” he continued, “it is much more difficult to get an education. You are the CEO of your education.”

Hancock, a trustee at Bridgton Academy, focused his discussion on the book, “Failing Forward.” He spoke of the book’s three major principles: get comfortable, lean in, fail forward.

Hancock urged his audience to “be sure you are not always in a comfort zone. We need to be exposed to new things, to take risks and chances. You’re already doing this by coming to Bridgton Academy. Forcing yourself out of your comfort zone is creating growth.”

“Lean in,” he advised, “take risk, be involved, be engaged.” Hancock described the concept of “failing forward” as the ability to learn and grow from mistakes. Taking risks will certainly lead to some failures but “…one factor that separates succeeding from not succeeding is your perception of and response to failure.”