Girls Only Conference ROCKED!

Yesterday I was in Northern California for a Girls Only Leadership Conference. It was so much fun and such a unique conference. We had 289 junior and seniors in HS and 13 advisors-it was an amazing group! I had the opportunity to speak with Shyana Boyte and another young woman Karla Lyngrar. We had three keynote speakers and then the girls had discussion groups about the keynote message.


It was great to see the young ladies connect with each other and think a little deeper about their own lives and who they are becoming. Also, it was extra special for me to work with Phil Boyte (the speaker I met when I was 13 years old, who inspired me to be a speaker). He had the vision for this event and did a wonderful job putting the conference on and organizing the day! I hope to do more Young Women conferences and events in the future---they ROCK!

NHS-National Honor Society Conference- It was an HONOR

This past weekend I had the honor of being at the NHS conference in Orlando, Fl. There were over 850 NHS and NHJS students from across the nation. The students in this picture were the two student emcees for the conference and very inspiring young people. Gordon and Charlotte did a wonderful job and it was tons of fun coaching them on delivery skills (although they are both naturals)! While not working with the emcees, I presented two workshops on Communication Skills and Building Dreams for Life. Also, the closing speaker, Bob Tryanski, www.bobtryanski.com did a great job and it is always fun to see speaker friends on the road!

Canadian Teens Are Great Leaders

This week I was in Canada for a speaker show case at www.ylcc.com . I was invited to share my keynote message, "Go Big and Make A Big Difference" with 900 Canadian students. The teens there are very similar to the teens in America...they just say "ehh" a little bit more. :) Seriously, it was a wonderful experience and traveling to see Niagara Falls was an incredible sight too!

FCCLA Leadership Fun

I just had the opportunity to work with another speaker friend Justin Boudreau http://www.leadwithjustin.com/ at an Arizona FCCLA Leadership Conference. It was a wonderful day of leadership and the kids there were excited for workshops and leadership lessons. I presented a workshop about leading your dreams and we had a mock auction where kids bought their “dream lives” and then we looked at how they can really achieve those lives when they go back home. It was a great day, thank you Justin and FCCLA!

Teacher Training Fun

Just a few days ago I was in Bloomington, Il with the Illinois Association Junior High Student Council. I had a wonderful 2 days with 60 amazing student council advisors. We looked at interactive ways to teach leadership to their students. I promised them great resources and I figured rather than emailing them, I would post them to the blog and share with everyone. These are some of my favorite sites and resources to help teach leadership to young people. Enjoy!
(Pic- Bruce Small and Bob Hayes)


Activities That Teach- Tom Jackson http://www.activelearning.org/

Premier Agenda- GO Program with Steven Covey
http://www.premier.us/index.php?option=com_ag_supplemental_programs&Itemid=47&prog_id=1

Dream Leader (Game and Book- Jill Esplin
www.dreamleadergame.com

Inspirational short movie
http://www.rock-solidmovie.com/

Leadership In the Movies
http://www.nasc.us/s_nasc/store_front.asp?CID=3&DID=3

What If….
http://www.google.com/doodle4google/

On-line Resources
http://www.asbdirector.com/
http://www.leadershiptogo.com/

What Are Your Big 5 For Life?

I just got back from a wonderful trip to Kenya. I went with a friend’s non-profit group to do volunteer work (a 2 day leadership program with teens), we went to orphanages and safari for 2 days. It was an incredible experience and opened my eyes to how blessed we are in the states.

The schools in Africa are like nothing in the USA. Our worst schools are still their best schools. One of the days we were in a school room with no air, a bird’s nest in the ceiling, over 75 kids (3-4 kids per small bench), no running water in the bathrooms and each kid had rice and beans for lunch. To top it off, they were so happy. I didn’t hear one complaint the whole day. They were so grateful for us teaching them. We gave each kid a book and they signed their name in it and said it was the first book they ever owned…talk about eager students.

The reason I wanted to go to Africa was because of this book called Life Safari. It is the idea of the Big 5. Not just the animals in Africa, but one’s personal Big 5 for life. The 5 things they want to do, see or experience in your life time. My friend John Strelecky wrote the book and continues to inspire millions around the world to reach for their Big 5 for life. You can check it out at http://www.thelifesafari.com/

As you start the school year, consider your Big 5 for this year. What are the 5 things you want to do, teach, achieve or move towards? How can you share this idea and message with your friends and students?

Let’s help each other, feel free to post your Big 5 and see if we can connect people to each other.

Summer Fun and Back to School Activity

Summer was absolutely wonderful. I know I saw many of you at NASC (http://www.nasc.us/s_nasc/index.asp) in Texas which was amazing. Trent and Myles (in the picture) were wonderful to work with and they did a great job hosting the conference. This year I had the opportunity to be a “Spotlight Speaker” and I met Josh Sunquist who is a great speaker and young man.


This summer I also traveled to major university across the nation (Harvard, Stanford, George Washington University and UCLA) to speak with amazing student ambassadors with People to People (http://www.studentambassadors.org) They have a wonderful program and dedicated teachers that work with them.

Finally I am off to Africa for a 10 day volunteer trip with Orphans in Kenya and a Safari. I have a friend who runs leadership camps in under developed countries and I have wanted to go for a few years. We are going to work with teen orphans and teach them basic skills for personal success. www.visionsforthefuture.org is the group that I am going with and we leave in just 2 days.

As for my 2008-2009 school year goals, one of my big goals is to use this BLOG a little bit more.
For the first week of school a great activity to try is Group Link!

Have your class stand in a circle and the first person shares about himself/herself for 10 seconds. Once he/she says something that connects with another student they link on at that place in the cirlce and start to share. For example, on student says, “I have 4 brothers, I play soccer, I like to eat ice cream, I am a gamer. I like to play WII and I also play the guitar.” Another student plays the guitar and yells LINK out loud and links arm and stands next to the person sharing. He/she begin by sharing the link and continues on, “I too play the guitar, I grew up in NYC…etc” It is easy, fun and pretty low risk.

Until next time…have a great first week of school.