On Monday, January 17, 2022, the Find You WHY High School Students met for their 2nd Seminar. Each student has entered into their second semester as a Senior in High School. This was a “day off” from school and yet, our students personally chose to show up for themselves and for one another.
From the beginning of our 3.5-hour seminar, they chose a story of gratitude. Every student was grateful for family, friends and their communities. The pandemic has brought a deep gratitude for family dinners, celebrating family culture, being with grandparents and enjoying time with friends.
It’s not easy for anyone to stay engaged and well connected during an in-person seminar, let alone, a last-minute change to a zoom seminar. Yes, the change to a zoom seminar was disappointing for our students and for our facilitators/coaches. Yet, we all chose to be flexible, understanding, supportive and work together, so everyone had an opportunity to have a positive experience. The story we all chose to tell ourselves, “Let’s not focus on being disappointed, but rather, be present with our best energy.” This mindset provided honest, appropriately transparent communication, connection and full engagement with our learning within the large group and small group break-out sessions.
Our Find Your WHY teens learned about the importance of interviewing a team member that they did not know very well. It required listening skills, asking good and clarifying questions and staying curious about the other person. Their take-aways were positive, encouraging of one another and they all expressed how they relied on one another to communicate a true and powerful story about one another.
Every student was honest with parts of their story in who they are, their fears of failing, disappointing others and the fear of the unknown. At the same time, they were energized with the story they chose to tell themselves for moving forward:
- “No one knows me, like I know me.”
- “I can stay true to myself.”
- “I can accomplish things that I work hard for.”
- “I can believe anything I set my mind to.”
- “I believe the best is yet to come.”
- “I believe my best is good enough.”
- “I can be proud of my accomplishments.”
The Find Your WHY program brings greater understanding of who each student is in:
- how they gain energy, in order to sustain their energy
- how they process information, in order to accept that others will be different from themselves
- how they make decisions, in order to accept that some decisions need to be adjusted or changed
- and, how to create order, in order to experience the outcomes that will be meaningful to them and to others
Our Find Your WHY Team is grateful for our students. We value our time together and look forward to the unfolding story that is theirs to write…We have every confidence their story will be everything it is meant to be!
Our Find Your WHY Team is happy to answer any questions about the Find Your WHY program:
Deanna van Klaveren: deanna@findyourwhyinc.org
Kattie Schmidig: kschmiidig@highsonschools.org
Tess Cox: tess@tesscoxandassociates.com
If, you would like to make a tax deductable donation: Please contact Deanna van Klaveren or Tess Cox for more information.