- I was on his show.

- You were in the talk show, right.

- The talk show.

- Y'all danced.

- How do you know this?

- I've done some research.

- Where did you, that's nowhere.

Where did you see that?

♪ We're gonna take over - [Narrator] Every life has a moment, a shift that changes the way you see everything.

- You gotta have open tomorrow.

If you don't have open tomorrow, it's game over.

- In those moments, people discover what remains and the courage to step forward anyway.

Tell me about the moment where you didn't succeed.

- I'm coming to realize there's room for redemption - Where you prepare for what you about to embark on.

- [Jim] What comes next is not the end of the story, but the beginning.

- Resilience, what does that word mean to you today?

- Life's a blessing.

Appreciate the blessing by living it fully.

♪ Can you feel it, we're gonna take over ♪ (cheerful music) - Cool dragon.

Doesn't look like my school.

(cheerful music) (doorbell rings) Oh wow.

- What's up, Jim?

- [Jim] Ron.

- Woo hoo.

Good to see you.

- What a welcome.

Good to see you.

- Thanks for being here.

- Absolutely, thank you for having me.

This is amazing.

Today I'm in southwest Atlanta to speak with an education rockstar, Ron Clark.

Ron has won a myriad of awards for his work, most notably the Disney Teacher of the Year award in 2000.

Today, I wanna get to the heart of who Ron is outside of the classroom, to try to uncover how his life has influenced his success in education.

Wow.

- Thrilled to have you here.

And I have to warn you about something.

We have two traditions here at RCA that you must experience before you go.

- Okay.

- We have slides here and they're symbols.

We say in life, a lot of people take the stairs of life the way everyone else is going.

We say don't be afraid to slide.

So you have to get slides certified.

And then also we want to test your skills at a game of nine square with our students before you go.

It's a lot of fun.

- All right, I am ready.

This is the court over here.

- Yes, sir.

- All right.

Let the games begin.

(upbeat music) - Come on in.

Welcome.

- Wow, it's amazing.

- This is it.

But it used to be this.

- It's come a long way.

- It was 111-year-old factory.

It was an old tent and awning factory.

There were two drug houses on either side of it.

We had street walkers in front of the building and we looked at the factory and we said, "This is it."

- It's perfect.

- It's perfect.

We're gonna make this the school.

- Excellent, wow.

- And one interesting thing about our school that people don't know is that we have all different types of kids here.

1/3 of our kids that come here have never had academic success at their previous schools.

1/3 of our kids are kids who they do okay at school.

And 1/3 of our kids, they're killing it.

They're on the honor roll before they come.

We wanted to have a very diverse class because when educators come to learn from us, we wanted to show them how our methods affect all different types of kids.

The one thing our kids have in common is that for the majority of our kids, their parents pay $45 a month for them to attend our school.

- Wow.

- Then we have some middle income families and some high income families.

The majority of our kids come from underserved populations.

But our school's cool because they started in that situation and then when they graduated, it brings 'em full circle.

They were over the 90th percentile of the nation in every subject area.

And they got $840,000 in scholarships.

Last year as eighth graders were offered $6 million in scholarships, which is pretty cool.

- Take me back to Eastern North Carolina.

When you had graduated, you didn't necessarily want to be a teacher.

You wanted to live a life of adventure.

- Whew.

I have always, my whole life been like, what are we doing?

If we're gonna be here, be here.

Live life to the fullest.

When I was 10 years old, my parents, when I grew up, you're younger than I am.

Do you remember when it would be 12 o'clock at night and the TV would go (imitates TV hissing).

- Oh yeah.

- I don't think you do, you too young.

- After the national, no, no, after the national anthem.

- Okay, you do remember, you do remember.

Okay, so we had to go to bed at 10 o'clock.

I would sneak up and watch TV till (imitates TV hissing) till that happened.

And one night I was so bored, I crawled out of my window, got on my bike, and I started riding down these country roads and I felt free.

And I saw the sky and I was the only one alive in the whole world, the only one awake.

And I just felt alive.

I've always had this like desire to, if we're gonna live, live, let's take every moment.

Don't go to sleep.

And so when I graduated college, I decided that I was gonna get on a plane and just go somewhere.

I moved to London, England.

I knew no one.

My mom freaked out.

She's like, "What are you doing?"

But I just, I wanted to live and to experience something.

I'd never really been anywhere.

And so I moved to London.

I was a singing and dancing waiter at a restaurant.

It was at Texas Embassy Cantina.

And the tips were horrible, because in London, they don't tip you like they tip in America.

And so I said, I gotta find a way to get better tips.

And so I walked up to every table and I'd do this dance.

Can I show you?

- Sure.

- Okay.

So every time I walk up to I'd say, "Hello, my name is Ron and I'm gonna be your waiter.

Welcome to the Texas Embassy Cantina.

There is no greater.

So prepare yourself for a mighty fun time.

You've come to the place to wine and dine.

We're gonna serve you right the Texas way and give you food to make you say ole.

We're gonna go the extra mile to serve you right, Texas style.

Yeehaw!"

- And they didn't tip that?

- Yeah, they did.

The tips got better.

- Okay, good.

- Because of my dance.

After I left London, I actually got a backpack and I said, I've made enough tip money that I'm gonna get this backpack and I'm gonna go across Europe.

So I was just traveling across Europe, going from country to country.

And then in Romania, I had this desire to be an archeologist and I was looking for the grave of Vlad Dracul.

I went through a spell where I wanted to be a vampire and I wanted to be bitten.

It's a long story.

- [Jim] Okay, okay.

- Anyway, it's a long story.

- We won't have to get into that.

- Y'all gonna think I'm crazy.

'Cause "Interview with the Vampire" and Brad Pitt was very popular, so there you go.

So anyway, and so I'm there looking for the grave of Vlad Dracul.

Long story short, I ate a rat on a stick at a fair.

You're hungry and you're poor.

And I got food poisoning, got really sick, had to fly home to North Carolina.

I had partial paralysis of my left lung.

I was in the hospital.

And my mom's like, "Ron, you've gotta stop traveling.

You gotta get a job."

And I was like, "No mama.

I want to go live on the beaches of California.

I'm gonna run down to Great Wall of China."

And she was like, "No, you're not.

You don't have any money."

And I said, "I'll just work to the Dunkin' Donuts, save up a little bit more money, then I'll go do it."

And then she told me that at a local school, a fifth grade teacher had passed away.

She said, "They're having a hard time with these kids.

They're gonna have substitutes every day.

Would you go teach these kids?"

Now I didn't want to, but my mama said, "If you don't go talk to this principal, I want support anything you do for the rest of your life."

So I said, fine.

- That's kind of heavy.

- You know how mamas can be.

- Right.

- So I went to the school and talked to the principal and she said, "Oh, this class is all different types of challenges, and we need you, Mr.

Clark."

And I said, "I'm not interested."

She said, "What, you don't want the job?"

I said, "No, ma'am."

She said, "Then why are you here?"

I said, "My mama made me come.

I don't want to teach."

And she said, "Well, let me introduce you to the kids."

She walked me down to the class and I saw the class and I said, "Oh, this is where I'm supposed to be."

- Why?

What was it about those kids?

- Sure.

Well, they were throwing paper and they were loud.

The substitute teacher was teaching and her wig was off to one side.

She was floundering, kids were throwing paper.

And this kid's desk was pushed up to the front door.

And I looked down at him and he said, "Is you gonna be our new teacher?"

And he had this just look in his face like he was excited, like, "Is you gonna be our new teacher?"

And I was like, "I guess so."

'cause like I told you, I'm always like, while we doing, if you gonna live, live and if you get a feeling in your heart, go for it.

And so I said, "I guess I am."

And the principal said, "You'll take the job?"

And I was like, "I guess so."

And the next day I started teaching and then I found out why his desk was pushed up to the front door 'cause he was the worst little hellion I ever taught in my entire career.

That's why he was pushed to that door.

But fell in love with him and all the kids and I just fell in love with it (upbeat music) I'm gonna let you head on in.

- [Jim] All right.

- Gotta push your way through.

- [Jim] Through the closet here.

And I'll open up.

(Ron screams) - [Jim] Okay.

- It's just me.

It's just me being silly.

It's just me.

- Hey, thanks for that.

- I'm playing.

My bad.

It's a trick.

Sorry about that, Jim.

- It's okay, it's all right.

It's all right.

- So over here, Kim Bearden is the co-founder of our school.

These are pictures of her life and her teaching experiences.

These are pictures of mine.

- You have a lot of family here too.

Why is it important to have kind of that reminder alongside like your first class?

- Who inspires you more than your own family?

That's why people at their desk, they have pictures of their family, their kids.

You want to always remember why you do what you do, to make your family proud.

You work hard because you want to provide for your family.

It's your connection, it's your roots.

So it's important to have that on your walls so that you keep that in your memory.

- Your grandmother was very important to you growing up- - Mudder.

- Mudder, you have a picture of her?

- Yes, she's right over here.

- Okay.

- So this is Mudder.

Mudder did not play.

She was all about her rules.

She had her switch and her fly swat.

Did you ever get hit with a fly swat?

- Oh yes, uh-huh.

One broke one time, but that's another story.

- Like these days you can't hit kids with fly swats.

They don't let you.

They used to.

We got tore up.

So anyway, so Mudder had lots of rules.

I said, I'm gonna teach my students my grandmama's rules.

And once I taught them, the class changed, felt more respectful.

One of the kids in Harlem said, "I like this class now.

I could pay attention.

Ain't nobody bothering me."

I said, "Buddy, you were the worst one.

What are you talking about?"

But I realized in that moment, if you are specific with kids and teach them manners and teach them rules, it doesn't make them perfect, but it makes them better.

And every kid you teach wants to know that you have it under control.

Every kid in that classroom wants to know that you're the big dog, that you have it all so that they can feel safe and relax, get an education.

When they don't feel you have it under control, that's when kids will be loud and rude and disrespectful 'cause they don't trust that you are providing a safe space for them.

- Mudder's rules were inspiration for your first book, "The Essential 55."

- So I was on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and she said, "You should write a book."

And you know when Oprah tells you to write the book, you write the book.

- And that provided the money actually, as I understand, to build this.

- The book made $840,000.

And I said, this money should go into a foundation.

We should use this money to start this dream school that I've had in my mind that could teach other schools how to be like this.

And so then we found the old factory and we bought it with the money.

We're gonna have all different types of people coming into this school to watch us teach and learn about our programs.

♪ Parentheses first now, please be clever ♪ - This is you.

- Yes.

- [Jim] You look a little, I don't know, angry or, what's going on here?

- I didn't wanna be there.

Mudder dressed me up.

She put this sweater on me, which was itchy.

I still remember it was itchy sweater.

And she put this coat on me.

She said, "We're going to get," and she was combing my hair.

You could see like the combs come through it.

And I was not happy, then she said to smile.

And that was the best I could give.

In many ways, I'm still just this little kid from the country.

I'm still this little kid who we had to dig potatoes.

We didn't have no money.

We grew up in the middle of nowhere.

No one in my family on either side had been to college.

So we're from the country.

So this reminds me who I was, where I'm from.

- You, as I understand, were kind of the class clown, kind of, I don't wanna say wild child, but you had a lot of energy.

- Well, I was suspended three times in eighth grade.

- Oh, wow.

- Yeah, 'cause I had a lot of energy.

I was just always mischievous and things and, "Oh, let's do this, it'd would be fun," and played tricks.

I've always just wanted adventure.

- Yeah.

And that carries with you today, the adventure, seeking adventure?

- Yeah, mm-hmm.

This is my dad.

My dad crazy.

I love him.

He used to be a DJ in the '70s.

This is my mom.

She's the best person on earth.

The whole answer, all this is just my parents.

I had great parents.

I won the parent lottery.

Its amazing When I was a kid, I have an incredible mom, like the best mom in the world.

So whenever I'd go to bed, "It's time to go to bed, Ron.

Nine o'clock."

I'd go to bed, she'd always come in and she would take my socks off.

And it was a joke.

She would act like she couldn't get my socks off.

And I'm on the bed, my feet in there, and she's trying to get the socks off.

And I'm like four years old, five years old.

She's trying to pull the sock off.

She's like, "I can't get," and then she would pull it off and she would spin around, spin around, and fall down like it was, and then she's just like, then her eyes, she would make all these faces and I would laugh and laugh and laugh.

And so that moment, like every night, and I remember thinking to myself as a kid, I wanna make everyone feel like she's making me feel right now.

I want to do this for others.

When I have kids, I'm gonna do this every night for kids.

So I didn't have my own kids.

But it's like that moment, my mom had many other things she did like that.

And I think that was pivotal for me in my upbringing to want to make this feeling for others.

(Ron screams) (students chant) And if you look here, I was actually on the TV show "Survivor."

There was one summer when I said to Kim Bearden, the co-founder of RCA, "Can I please just go away for six weeks?"

She said, "I'll hold it down."

So I went on the TV show.

I made it 35 of the 39 days.

I lost 34 pounds.

But it was one of the best experiences of my life.

I loved it.

- So I have a question for you too.

Have you ever met a fellow showcase showdown winner of "The Price Is Right?"

(Ron gasps) - Did you win the showcase Showdown?

- I did.

- Are you serious?

- [Jim] March 5th, 2001.

- 18,630, you're over.

You win!

Yes, Jim is the winner.

- And when I won, I wanted to do a back flip.

I've never done a back flip.

I never tried to do a back flip.

But that's all I could think about was wanting to do- - I'm assuming you didn't try to do that.

- I didn't know, no, no, no.

I wouldn't be here now.

- That would be good TV.

- It would be, but it would be the last thing I ever did.

I have not been on "Survivor" though.

- Yep, so this is my "Survivor" museum.

This is one of the actual puzzles from the games.

You could actually, do you wanna try and solve it?

You've gotta get this piece to here only by sliding.

- Okay, so this piece here- - This piece has to come here.

But you can only slide and you can't turn.

- [Jim] Does this count?

- [Ron] Jim.

- [Jim] No?

- Yes.

- Yes.

- It's the fastest anyone has ever completed that puzzle.

- You're kidding me.

- Of anyone who has ever been here.

I'm talking thousands of people have touched this puzzle.

It was the fastest anyone's ever done it.

- I'll take it.

- That's very impressive.

- Wow.

- Congratulations.

- Cool.

Well, but you solved it too.

- You should go on to "Survivor."

- Oh no, no, no, no, no.

There's certain things that I would never come through, and I think that's one.

- You must be really good at puzzles though.

- It just looked logical.

(upbeat music) - There was a need in North Carolina.

But you decided that your calling was to go to New York.

Why leave again?

- Didn't wanna leave.

It was really, really hard.

I loved North Carolina.

I loved teaching there and I had a lot of success.

I'd won various awards.

I was a county teacher of the year.

I've been honored at the White House on three different occasions for the work we did at that school.

So I was quite comfortable.

Also the methods I tried when I told other people to try them, my methods worked for other teachers as well.

That's when I had this idea, I need to get some barn or a factory and have us all teach and show these methods so people can come see it.

We can make a revolution.

Then I saw a TV show about schools in Harlem that had violence, overcrowded classrooms, lack of teachers.

And I had a feeling in my heart and I was like, Lord, I know this works in the country.

Maybe I can go up to New York City and if I prove these methods work in the city, maybe more people will pay attention.

So I packed up my car, drove during the summer, went and found one of the schools, and there was this fight going on in the doorway when I got there.

It was this big 13-year-old kid.

He was swinging his fist and the resource officer was trying to bring the kid in.

And so they pulled the kid in the door.

So I slipped in the door after him.

They took the kid in the office, sat him down, went to call his mom and get the principal.

And the kid was sitting there doing this.

(Ron panting) And so I didn't know what to do.

So finally I just kind of sat down beside him.

And he kept going (panting).

And finally I leaned over to him and I said, "You know what?

I was breathing like that one time and I passed out."

And he said, "For real?"

And I said, "Yeah."

And so I started talking to this kid, and after 10 minutes, he'd calmed down, he was laughing and he said, "If you were my teacher, I wouldn't get in so much trouble."

And I said, I think it's a sign.

This is my school.

So I begged the principal and I got a job there.

- How long were you there?

- I was there two years.

The second year I was there is the year they made the movie about, "The Ron Clark Story" movie.

- [Jim] And this had Matthew Perry.

What does it mean in your career, in your life to have that movie?

- The movie was incredible, it gave credibility.

Like, okay, the name of the school is the Ron Clark Academy.

Please know I did not intend or want to put my name on a school.

I'm sitting in, we're a nonprofit.

The board members said we should use the name 'cause "The Ron Clark Story" movie's coming out the same year the school's gonna open.

It's great publicity.

You want people to know what you are.

And I'm like, but people are gonna think I'm arrogant enough to put my name on a school.

And then I was like, and what if the school fails?

Then my name is attached to a failing school.

I said, that's a lot of pressure.

Why don't we name itself like an acronym?

And they were dead set.

And so if you look back in the records, I'm the only board member that voted, no, please do not name this the Ron Clark Academy.

But it happened.

But the movie helped a lot because it raised awareness.

At the end of the movie, it says, Ron Clark is opening a school this year in Atlanta, Georgia.

So it was an incredible boost.

- What would you have named the school?

- Okay, so you know how Paideia here in Atlanta?

So I thought, why don't we come up with a word like that?

But the word is the first letters of our houses.

So our houses are Reveur, Altruismo, Isibindi, and then we have Amistad.

I thought, what if it's Aria, A-R-I-A, Aria?

And Aria is a beautiful word, the Aria Academy, but it's really based off of the houses.

That was the concept.

I was like, this sounds better to me than Ron Clark.

- Does it still?

- It's a lot of pressure having your name on a building.

And then people come here and they're like, "Oh, you're still alive?"

'Cause people think that if you got a school named after you, you must have passed away.

- Sure.

- And it's funny, when I hear Ron Clark Academy, I don't even associate that with my name anymore.

That's, oh, that's a school.

I'm Ron Clark.

So it's almost like, it's two separate things for me now.

- Do you think that people ever dismiss you or have a misconception of who you are?

- Oh my god, yes.

Oh, are you kidding me?

You know what the biggest misconception is?

Okay, so everyone thinks I'm the singing and dancing teacher.

That's what now, it gets on my nerves so much because if you see me teach, I'm all about rigor, academic expectation, raising test scores, relationships with students, building a climate and culture.

And then once in a while I will dance or get on a desk.

Once in a blue moon, I'll do it.

Someone will film it and it goes viral.

And I don't even know why.

I think people think I look funny when I dance or there's something entertaining about me dancing.

Oh, but if I dance a little bit, it's gonna get 60 million views on the Instagram or the TikTok.

But, so that is the biggest misconception people have about our school that, oh, it's just a singing and dancing school.

That may happen once in a while, but 99% of who we are, it's rigorous expectations, it's challenging kids, it's giving kids tools for life.

That's the heart of RCA, not the dancing.

- So we've kind of touched on some moments in your career and younger years.

What would you say is the moment that kind of was the springboard for you, that pivotal moment?

Was it traveling?

Was it leaving North Carolina?

Was it what happened in Harlem?

What moment do you credit with making the Ron Clark that we see today?

- The moment that really was pivotal in my career is that I've never really talked about this, but I was up for the Teacher of the Year award at the school in Harlem.

I'd won all the awards in North Carolina.

I had been to the White House three different times.

I'm teaching in Harlem, had the highest test scores in the building.

And I'm nominated for Teacher of the Year.

And everyone on staff's like, "You're gonna get it.

You're gonna get Teacher of the Year.

You're gonna get Teacher of the Year."

And I was like, if I get this award, more people will listen to me.

If I get this Teacher of the Year for this school, and everyone's saying they voted for me.

And then I didn't get it.

I was devastated and I was confused.

And somebody said to me, "Oh, that's just how things happen at this school."

And I was like, what?

And so I was like, but everyone said I had won.

So I was like, no one's gonna listen to me 'cause I didn't win this Teacher of the Year award.

I want people to listen to me because I think my ideas really work.

And then I went and I was doing some research and I heard about the Disney American Teacher of the Year award.

And I said, maybe I'll apply for that.

And then I got the call, made it to the top 32, you fly to LA and then you make it to the top 10.

Then I won it.

- Ron Clark.

(audience cheers) - So in terms of my career, not getting Teacher of the Year at that school, if I'd gotten it, I wouldn't have looked for something else.

'Cause I didn't get it, I looked for another thing to add credibility to what I was trying to do.

So that was the biggest pivotal moment in my career.

Because also when I won the Disney American Teacher of the Year award, guess who was in the audience?

Oprah Winfrey.

- This is life-changing for you.

- Life-changing.

Oprah sat there and as I'm making my speech when I won, I look at Oprah and she is crying in the audience.

And I'm like, "Oh my god, I made Oprah cry."

And then it was like a month later, I was at my house and answer the phone.

This is about when we had phones, answer the phone.

And I heard, "Hello Ron, it's Oprah."

And I was like, "Oprah who?"

She said, "Oprah Winfrey."

I said, "How'd you get my number?"

She said, "Don't worry about it."

She said, "I want you to be in my magazine.

Can I interview you?"

So she interviewed me for her magazine naming her phenomenal man of the year.

And then she calls back and says, "Ron, I want you to be on the show."

And so it just, it kind of all catapulted.

So from not getting Teacher of the Year at that school, that led me to, let me apply for this one.

Got that one, Oprah sees it, get on the show, write the book.

And so that was the moment.

- This was about year 2000?

- Yeah, mm-hmm.

- Has it slowed down?

♪ Why do you write like you're running out of time ♪ ♪ Write day and night It's like, I'm like that.

It's like every moment, like every moment.

My staff's like, "What are you doing?"

'Cause I'm always like, "What are we doing?

We have to do more."

I'm up every night.

Everyone knows you're getting emails at 2:00 AM from Ron.

Then I'm up 6:00 AM, I'm back ready to go.

I'm like, I don't sleep much.

I'm like, what are we doing here?

What are we doing here?

That's just how I live my life, 'cause what are we doing?

Like what are you doing?

What are we doing?

What are y'all doing?

What are you doing?

Like if you're gonna live, live, you gonna be here, be here, like let's go.

Life's a blessing.

Appreciate the blessing by living it fully.

So Jim, it's now time for you to get slide certified.

Do you wanna go down Big Blue, our original slide?

Or do you wanna go down the monster, the more challenging experience?

- The monster.

- Let's do it.

- All right.

- All right, here we go.

You're gonna come on up, you're gonna take your two hands.

Take a hold of the bar at the top.

- [Jim] Right here?

- Step in with two feet.

- [Jim] Okay.

- Sit down and cross your arms.

- Like this?

- Here we go!

- All right, do you push or do I push?

(students chanting) (upbeat music) (students cheer) - [Students] You've been slide certified!

(students cheer) - Ron, you've had a lifetime of successes.

Tell me about the moment where you didn't succeed and how that changed who Ron Clark is.

- Ooh.

Trying to start this school was very humbling.

'Cause I'm always like, oh, let's go, let's go.

And I think I'm a little naive and I'm a little delusional sometimes, I'm thinking, oh, things are gonna be great.

This is gonna be easy.

Then I get into it, I'm like, what's going on?

But so, during construction of this school building, we had 19 break-ins in the first six months because the copper recycling plant's up the street.

So people get in here to get the copper pipes, go resell it.

And so it was really, really difficult.

And a lot of people said, the community will destroy this school.

There's no way this is gonna work.

We have these constant problems.

And so I took my backpack and I went door to door to every house in this neighborhood.

I went to the churches, to the businesses, that took me four months.

And I'd be like, "Hello, my name is Ron Clark.

I'm trying to start a school up the street."

And there's this one house I didn't wanna go up to because they were always smoking and drinking on the front porch.

But I said, you know what, the Lord will be with me.

And I walked up there, I said, "Hey y'all."

And they said, "Are you one of them Mormons?"

I said, "No, I'm not a Mormon.

I'm a school teacher."

And they said, "What are you doing here?"

I said, "Well, I'm trying to start a school up the street.

People keep breaking up into it.

Can I tell you about it?"

And I told 'em, "I wanna build them this amazing school in the world full of innovation and creativity."

I said, "Then the whole world's gonna come to see it.

Take the ideas back to their schools."

And one of the guys said, "If that school had been here when I was growing up, I'd have been something."

And the other guy was like, "Yeah, I'd have been something too."

I said, "Well, could you help me make this school something for these kids?"

And those guys at that front porch became Kim and I's best volunteers.

They painted the bottom floor of the factory.

They moved all the rubbish out.

We'd do community trash pickups.

They'd be the first ones to show up.

We'd go through the community picking up trash.

And so eventually the crime left and the negativity left.

And when the police came for the big open house, they said, "Y'all have brought good energy to this area.

And when you bring good energy, negativity will leave."

That's true, whether it's your church, your home, your family, your school, your business.

If you can bring enough good energy somewhere, you can dispel negativity.

So that was the hardest part of my life, going through a period where I was like, this school's not gonna make it.

They put my name on it and it's gonna fail and everyone's breaking into a school that my name is on.

I was like, this is horrible.

We're not gonna be able to help kids.

But then turning that around.

Since we did that, it's been 18 years, we haven't had one break in at the building since we met the community.

- That sounds like a very un-Ron Clark thing to say or approach to an issue.

Do you look back and kind of challenge yourself on that so that negativity doesn't come back?

It's the first time I've heard you say, you know, any dream, any idea could possibly be a failure.

- I have moments.

I had one recently actually.

I have moments where I'm like, oh my god, is this not gonna work?

And I think whenever I start to have that doubt, I'll wallow in it for a minute, then I'll always come at it and go, of course it's gonna work.

And I just realized, you've gotta work harder.

But I will start to wallow.

But before I drowned, I pull myself out.

I just did it recently.

I think sometimes you've gotta have a little panic.

'Cause that panic within, I think some people will panic and wallow and stop.

You had that panic, you gotta be like, roo.

I tell my kids all the time, when you get to that moment, you find a solution, don't make an excuse.

Find a solution, don't make an excuse.

I don't wanna hear an excuse.

Find a solution, be successful.

That was a hard question.

Let's take Mr.

Jim out of nine square.

Show him how to play, here we go.

- It's just a game.

- Yeah, have fun?

- Yep.

- All right.

So has anybody in here beat Mr.

Clark?

Yeah?

So any secret, anything I should watch for, a handicap that he has maybe?

- [Student] Don't be distracted.

- Don't be distracted, okay.

- You ready?

- No, they weren't telling me how to beat you at all.

But they do say you're the best.

- I am not the best.

- That's what they said, so.

- [Student] Yes you are.

- I'm the best of the, 'cause I'm just tall.

- Okay, okay.

- You will be the best 'cause you're taller than they are.

All right, we ready?

All right, who's getting in the center first?

If the ball lands in your circle, you're out.

So you're out, Mariah.

Oh.

You tried to do too much.

- It goes quick.

(students cheer) That moment that changes everything can come at any time, even when we're at the top of our game.

Ron was riding high on success after success until he lost that one teaching award.

But Ron turned that defeat into motivation, stepped out of his comfort zone, and in the process, forever changed the world of education.

(gentle music) (mysterious music) - [Narrator] WABE.