I recently traveled with 22 students from my school to a county youth summit. The purpose of the summit was for the students from each school to work together in regards to identifying developmental assets in teens (examples: family support, achievement motivation, safety, youth programs: click for the complete list ) and developing a plan of action to take back to their respective schools. The facilitators, Jutta Dotterweich (Cornell University) and Tracy McGee (Erie 1 Boces) did a fabulous job engaging the students. They used research from the Search Institute that identifies 40 assets (click on above list) used to develop individuals and explained how supporting and building these assets can strengthen the school, its youth, and the entire community. The challenge of the summit was for each school (group of students) to identify the assets that they need to strengthen/build and plan steps to improve them when they return back to school.
Jutta and Tracy emphasized that positive student influence at a school can promote helpful change! All students seemed to embrace the challenge. I know the students from my school (Thomas Edison) are ready to bring their ideas to our student council and begin work!
The best part of the summit was to witness the energy amongst the students. It reinforced my belief that when you empower students and allow them to take ownership of a challenge designed to help their school, they commit to the process.
The result of the day….students want to learn…..when it is fun and relevant!!!
The websites below help explain the program/process my students experienced.
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Be sure to check out the idea of the week at www.energizetheclassroom.com.
It only takes TWO MINUTES to implement!!!!!!
-Paul Richmond
E.T.C.
