Lt. Russell Honore presented the “New Normal: Leadership and Preparedness in the 21st Century” at the ULM Library Conference Center last Tuesday.

At the beginning of the lecture a video of Honore was shown with his many accomplishments while he was in the army. Honore is from Point Coupee, La., and was heavily involved in New Orleans during Katrina.

As the video ended, the entire audience stood and clapped as Honore took the podium.

Honore’s spoke some of his life, and about how and why he chose to go into the army despite having a college degree in agriculture.

Honore has several children, two that are leaning towards joining the military.

He started his military career in college.

When asked if he would choose to join the military again Honore said, “Yes, I would. I fell in love with the military.”

When asked what he wanted the students to take from his lecture he said, “I want them to understand that on the other side of education is a big expectation.”

He went on to say that today’s students’ challenge is how to deal with overpopulation.

Joshua White, a senior nursing major main takeaway from the lecture was, “Never be afraid of the impossible.”

When asked what he got out of the military besides structure, Honore said, “I got a sense of self I was able to be myself and not be judged whereby where I come from but my abilities.”

Honore has written two books, both of which are on sale in the ULM book store. The titles of the two books are “Leadership in the New Norma”l and “Survival: How a Culture can Save You and Your Family from Disaster.”

“New Normal: Leadership and Preparedness in the 21st Century” is a course of leadership using Honore’s own experiences and survival. It tells how a culture can save you and your friends from disaster. It is a combination of a memoir and part of the events of Hurricane Katrina. Attendees who bought the books at the lecture received personally autographed copies.

Some students were very impressed with the lecture, and when asked if she would choose the same as Honore, Candice Johnson, a senior Kinesiology said, “Maybe not as determined as he is, but I can tell that he is a very intelligent man and is eager to find a way to make our nation and world a better place.”

Johnson added, “I hope to take his attributes of leadership and utilize that in my everyday life.”

Honore spent some time with some students after his lecture and mentioned that his next project is going to involve one of the rivers coming from Arkansas.