Nick “Sunshine” Tokman, a cast member of the long-running Discovery Channel show “The Deadliest Catch,” visited Dutchess BOCES on May 2 to share his remarkable life story with students, while encouraging them to pursue their dreams.
“I don't have a rags to riches story by any means, but I had a goal and I hit it,” Tokman said. “Each and every one of you is going to be making a difference in other people’s lives more than you might think.”
Prior to the assembly, clips from Tokman’s tenure on the program were shown in BOCES’ Conference Center, accompanied by Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer,” a rather fitting song for Tokman, who had it tough when he first went to Alaska seeking work as a commercial fisherman. He suffered a staph infection and did not receive pay for one job because he did not sign a contract, but would catch his big break in a unique way.
“I printed up my resume, put it in a Ziploc bag to protect it from the rain, put rocks in there to prevent it from getting blown away and I threw it on every single boat,” Tokman said. “Just because you don’t have as much money or as many resources as you might think you need, doesn’t mean it has to stop you from going after what you want.”
Failure happens and Tokman knows it well because he was fired from a job because he put water in the boat’s fuel tank. However, he was given a chance to work on the F/V Northwestern, a commercial fishing vessel that would be featured on “The Deadliest Catch.”
“The next time you think something bad happens to you, ask yourself if it happens for a reason,” Tokman said. “I don’t believe anything in life is a coincidence.”
Tokman made the assemblies interactive by throwing an impromptu dance party, belting out Bon Jovi’s “It’s My Life,” asking students what careers they want to take on and asked them if there was ever an instance where they had to hide their true identity. Tokman then asked everyone to write down one thing they want to do for themselves every day.
“By doing that one thing, you’ll be more connected with who you are and you’ll have a better idea of what you want to do with your life,” Tokman said. “You can go after the life you want, you may not get completely where you want to be, but I guarantee you that it’s better than not trying.”
Olivia Boryk, a second year student in CTI’s Early Childhood Education program, initially came to the assembly guarded, but her perspective changed as she found Tokman was genuinely interested in hearing from her and other students about their goals.
“It wasn’t just him talking and not caring, he full on wanted to be engaged with us,” Boryk said. “He showed that you shouldn’t shut down your dreams just because other people doubt you.”
Resilience Academy sophomore Dylan Seaboldt found the assembly amazing and appreciated Tokman’s offbeat approach to motivational speaking.
“I think it’s good he’s being himself,” Seaboldt said of Tokman. “A lot of the things he said were really inspiring.”
