NASC 2009

This past week I had the chance to help with the NASC Conference http://www.nasc.us/s_nasc/index.asp in Denver, CO with main sessions and coaching the conference co-chairs. Annie and Hayley were amazing young student leaders and were so great to work with. NASC 2009 was a huge success-great job!

Inspiring Teens From 14 Countries Gather at UCLA for 1 Week

I had the opportunity to speak at UCLA for a youth program focused on bringing people together from all over the world to better understand each other and be leaders in their nation.

There were about 110 teenagers from all over the world (South Africa, Tanzania, England, Philippians, Korea, Central America,USA) coming together for 1 week and to create an "action plan" for a service project to lead back home. I was the opening speaker for the week and challenged each and every participant to make the most of their week, to be fully present and connect with as many people as possible.

After the speech, we had a Q & A, lunch and connected in smaller groups. It is great to know we have amazing young people in our world today!

Training LIT's In My Local Community

For the past two weeks I had the opportunity to work with a local private school and a local science camp for kids! I have worked with some of the most mature teenagers and I am excited for them to make a difference in young campers lives this summer and be those amazing role models.


We focused on leadership skills such as communication, goal setting, event planning and exploring different leadership styles. We practiced leading games and songs that little kids would enjoy and looked at what it means to be a role model to young kids.

Day In the Life of a German! Discoving German School....

During the month of May I did an exchange program through Rotary International- Group Study Exchange www.rotary.org . I had the opportunity to spend one month in Germany looking at their educational system and learning about the German culture. It was one of the most interesting and amazing months. I lived with 8 different host families around Bavaria and visited 5 German Schools.

I learned how different their system is to the USA system. They focus only on academics and do not offer clubs or extracurricular sports! There are 3 different schools types, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Germany

When I told the German kids about detention and that school goes till 3:00 pm (German school is till 12:30-1:00 on most days) they were shocked. They did not understand why we had dress codes or why kids had to change classes and walk to the teachers (it is the opposite there).

They asked me questions like, "Is America school like High School Musical?" "Are the cops mean?" Very fun and funny. A big difference...teens in Germany are not addicted to Ipods and text messaging. One night I was at a carnival and only saw 4 teens on their phones and 1 with an Ipod...NO WAY! Overall, the teens were the same, they just spoke German and wished to visit America and ours want to visit Europe:)

Dream Leader Goes to Asia

We had our first international Dream Leader event. This last weekend we held a teen/parent Dream Leader event in Manila, Philippines. We had 27 teens and 35 parents attend the Saturday retreat. The parents and teens were split apart for the day and had their own special sessions. The teens focused on their personal goals/dreams and learned skills to help empower them to reach their goals. The parents learned more about the teenage brain and ways to best support their teen during these formidable years.

The day concluded with a special teen and parent session where they came together to share their thoughts and leanings with each other. Dream Leader was a hit in Asia!

Minnesota Student Council Conference

I just got back from BRRRR Minnesota. I had the opportunity to spend 2 days leading the Minnesota MS State Student Conference. About 200 MS students from all over the state of MN came together for “Round Up Leadership” and focused on developing their personal leadership skills. We looked at communication, personal leadership styles and focused on making a different back in our schools. Here are few snippets of our time together!

This is the largest group I have ever done Team Towers with-amazing!

South Carolina Student Council Conference

I LOVE the South! Sometimes I think I was born in the wrong part of the nation. This past Friday night I was the Keynote speaker for the South Carolina Student Council conference. The opening session was amazing! They had a neat glow stick dance, a step team perform and an ending like no other! The theme was G'Vegas and the students did a wonderful job of playing up the theme. After I spoke, there was a surprise visit...from none other than Elvis himself! It was wonderful! Thank you for having me as your speaker!