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BILLS BLOG-Editors Note: I am nearing a year of Blogging on
my programs, and have appreciated the comments that I have
received from so many of you. The purpose of this blog is not so
much to tell you the reader what I speak about, topics or
content I cover in my programs. It has been my experience that
in order for you to get a feel for what goes on in my programs
you "kind of need to be there." The purpose of this blog
is to give the reader an idea of where I have been, the kinds of
audiences that I reach and the types of programming I do. As you
scroll through the places I have been over the year my hope is
that you would find something similar to what you are trying to
create in your community, school or business and then inquire
more about it so we can hopefully find a program, keynote, or
curriculum that might work for you. I also want to provide
links to key people I have met, and organizations I have reached
so that they may become a resource for you. So scroll through,
click on the links find out what others are doing and if you
have any questions email me at
bill@billcordes.com .
5-14-07: In Mid-Move
For those of you who don't know we are moving to Lawrence, Kansas.
There are a lot of reasons for our move, but it is mainly to get
me closer to a major airport. We have always enjoyed the
community of Lawrence and since Josha is a freshman, soon to be
sophomore at The University of Kansas, it seemed like a good
time. This move has been in the works for a long time and it is
hard to believe that we are so close to moving day. Our plan is
to move on Saturday, but we have been busy changing our address,
setting up services at our new house, finalizing details,
packing boxes, and arranging the move for a long time. It seems
to me it doesn't matter how much you prepare....moving is a
major challenge. It re-arranges every part of your life, it is a
time to reflect, a time to be optimistic, a time to be sad, a
time to be joyous, a time of curiosity about what lies ahead and
a time of stress. I think we are dealing with it all pretty well
and taking it all in stride. Luckily we have had some great
people to work with because our real estate agent, and builder
have been awesome! It has made a challenging event very
exciting. Special thanks to Rod Donovan, our builder and John
Esau our real-estate agent at
www.lawrence-realty.com
It has been a joy to work with both of you and we are looking
forward to being your neighbor. To all my friends in Great
Bend...I have spent the past 17 years here and I have developed
many close relationships. I will miss all of you, I will miss
Great Bend. It is a wonderful community and we are sad that we
are leaving, but hope that our new adventure will lead to new
connections and new horizons for our Great Friends of Great
Bend. If you didn't have a Lawrence connection before...you have
one now! We will be back to visit and to share stories and until
then we wish you all the best! Thanks again for the best 17
years of my life so far! Stay posted...my next blog will be from
Lawrence, Kansas!
5-6-07: Kiowa, Kansas YES Leadership Banquet
On Saturday afternoon with storms still crossing our part of the
country I headed down south to Kiowa, Kansas to speak at the YES
program for their middle school students. I will still a bit
nervous because of all the weather and a tornado was actually in
my path but thankfully I was aware of the storm coming through
and waited it out in St. John, Kansas. I arrived, had a great
evening speaking to the middle school students and their
parents. We passed the hat and raised $595 for Greensburg. It
was so cool to see such a small group of people raise such a
large sum of money in such a short time. Thanks Kiowa!
5-5-07: Home and a challenging evening
Because of my delayed flight I didn't get home from Virginia until
Friday afternoon, on Friday night we watched the weather roll
across the country. Our first report was that Greensburg (it is
about an hour southwest of us) had lost 60% of the homes. It
wasn't until the next morning that we realized that the whole
town had been wiped out. We watched the weather almost all night
on Friday evening and the storm skirted Great Bend, but hit many
parts of our county. We had a lot of flooding, and some tornado
damage but nothing like Greensburg. I did my very first
all-school assembly at the high school that is no longer there.
We were devastated by the loss, as a product of southwest Kansas
I understand their challenge and for those of you who think that
they shouldn't rebuild let me just say that the residents of
their communities "out here" have a very strong identity with
their towns. I think this link kind of sums it up...
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=2864787 . How
about LPGA golfer Mi Hyun Kim, It seems like she really
understands! Go to
http://sports.espn.go.com/golf/news/story?id=2864018 . This
was impressive and we are so thankful for her generosity!
5-4-07: South Boston, Virginia - Teen Leadership Conference
Yesterday was a great day, and a great opportunity to meet with
Loretta and Irene with the South Boston Mental Health
Association. These are two of my favorite people because they
have such a strong desire to be "proactive" and make a
difference in the lives of high school and middle school
students from their county. It was a quick trip in but the
students were great and the students led me in a very profound
direction. We worked with our relationships with our parents and
it was exciting to see so many teens who had a strong desire to
make their relationship better even though many have struggled
with their relationships in the past. The ability to recognize
that you play a role in the quality of the relationship is a
very powerful thought that led to some personal breakthroughs
for me as well. I hope to blog more about this in future, but
just know that my day there was a great breakthrough for me as
well. My flight back was delayed and I missed my connection from
Dallas to Wichita which led to some very introspective thinking
and I had the opportunity to "donate" a video Ipod to someone on
the flight after me. I hope they enjoy my selection of music!?
4-29/30-07: DECA National Conference/Senior Management
Institute: Orlando, Florida
I arrived in Orlando late Saturday night after a hectic day of
travel and was picked up at the airport by Phil Boyte
www.philboyte.com my
co-facilitator for the Senior Management Institute. For those of
you who don't know DECA is a National Marketing Organization the
exists in high schools across North America and its purpose is
to provide hands on business marketing and leadership
experiences for youth. It is an amazing organization that makes
a huge difference in the lives of high school students.
The national conference hosts 14,000 youth from all over North
America, and for the past six years under the direction of
Shirlee Kyle, the DECA High School Division Director, Phil Boyte
and I have facilitated the Senior Management Institute. The
mission of the Senior Management Institute is to provide key
leadership skills for high school seniors so they can transition
into life after high school with a passion for leadership
opportunities so that they may in turn give back to their
community when they complete their formal education. Our program
began with an opening keynote and then we prepared the students
for the Executive Mentorship Program. In the Executive
Mentorship portion of SMI corporate executives from all over the
country flew in to talk to and work with high school seniors in
round table discussions. Each round table discussion consisted
of the executive talking about their experience, and then a
question and answer session followed. It is a simple formula but
has powerful results. It was amazing. We were in a huge
conference room with over 500 students sitting at round
tables with one space open. Then the doors open, the students
stood and cheered and in came the executives walking in as the
students cheered. They each chose a table and the mentorship
process began. The students then would switch tables about every
15 minutes and the mentoring would continue. A very powerful
experience! Phil and I spent the rest of the day and the next
day on the SMI Leadership Curriculum. It was a great chance to
meet some incredible leaders and get to know some awesome
people. One of the highlights of the curriculum for me was the
Mad Minute at the end of the second day. DECA models leadership
in their communities by fundraising and being of service for the
Muscular Dystrophy Association. We asked our seniors to look
into their hearts and wallets and give up something to help
others. In one minute we raised $1581 dollars! To learn more
about DECA and MDA go to
www.deca.org/mda.html . A special thanks goes out to all the
advisors who showed up at SMI to support and to
help...thank-you. Thanks to all the students who got involved in
the programming it was an amazing two days. Thanks to Shirlee
Kyle the DECA High School Division Director, you have an amazing
gift for managing, coordinating and making a difference with a
smile on your face and love in your heart! It was an
amazing conference!
Key Link = to learn more about DECA and all they do for
students... www.deca.org
4-28-07: KU Volleyball Coaches Clinic-Lawrence, Kansas
As soon as I was finished in Cranbury, I caught a 4:30 flight out
of Newark, connected in Chicago and then back to Wichita,
thankfully everything was close to on time. Connecting through
Chicago is always crazy...especially on a Friday! I made it into
Wichita at about 11:30pm and then drove 3 hours to Lawrence
where I had a coaches clinic on Friday morning. So if you are
doing the math...I had to sleep very fast. The coaches clinic
was awesome for a lot of reasons. For Raymond Bechard, the head
volleyball coach at KU (you may recognize the name he is the
brother of Richard Bechard the man who introduced my at KIAAA on
a previous blog...Ray is also my sons Godfather...which is very
cool!) For Raymond Bechard coaching volleyball is not just a
sport but it is a mission that involves making a
difference in the lives of college students and other coaches.
Ray came upon coaching volleyball by accident. His first
coaching job was the head Mens Basketball Coach at Lewis Kansas,
and the principal through in girls volleyball as part of his
assignment. He then took the job at Barton County Community
College where in 15 seasons became the coach with the highest
winning percentage on all levels. In 1998 he took the head job
at the University of Kansas where he has been since. I have had
the privilege of working with all his teams since 1990, as a
team building consultant. Each year I also get to work with the
coaches clinic. The day was also special because my daughter
Josha is also the team manager. So I got to see her which made
the day great! As soon as I was done I was back to Wichita (3
hours to catch a flight to Memphis, and then into Orlando, to do
the National DECA Senior Management Institute. WOW! What a day!
Key Link =
www.kuathletics.com
4-27-07: Cranbury Middle School: Cranbury, New Jersey
As soon as I completed my time with SADD I drove to Wichita to
catch a plane to Newark, New Jersey, luckily everything was on
time. I got into Newark at about midnight and was picked up by
Joann Charwin. I got to he hotel late and was up early so I
could present an all school assembly for Cranbury Middle School
for about 600 students. Cranbury is a wonderful little community
that is a place of peace amongst the hustle and bustle of
Jersey. If feels like a quiet little rural town and you would
never know that you were just a stones throw away from the
busiest place on earth. The students there are amazing and are
moving toward success. Each year Joann and the staff at CMS put
on a career day to give students exposure to opportunities and
ideas. My role is to set the tone for the day, and then present
two breakout sessions on leadership. Needless to say my job is
easy compared to all the work that the staff at CMS go through
to put on this very rewarding day. This program is on a three
year rotation for me and on the years that I am not presenting I
am in good company. Next year, Ed Gerety will play my role
www.edgerety.com Ed is an
amazing speaker who moves audiences into action! The following
year it will by Bobby Petrocelli
www.10seconds.org . Bobby
talks about the power of decision making and how 10 seconds can
change your life. Thanks for a Great Day Cranbury!
4-25/26-07: Kansas Red Ribbon and SADD Training: Salina, Kansas
Today marks the beginning of 7 days non-stop traveling. On this
next adventure I do 19 programs in four different states, I will
fly to the east coast three times, to do that I will need to
board 12 planes, rent cars, numerous hotels, I will get to see
many old friends, I will drive many miles, and I will have many
late night arrivals, early morning starts. It should be a fun
adventure, and it all began with my very good friends with
Kansas Family Partnership. The Red Ribbon training
www.nfp.org began with about
120 students from all over the state of Kansas who came in to
begin the process of planning for their Red Ribbon Week that
will occur next October. I started with an opening keynote after
I was introduced by Richard Scott. You may remember Richard, he
is a key player in my network, and he is the one that put on the
two day leadership training for the youth of Chase County. We
attended Breakout sessions, danced, collected ideas and
networked all day long. We closed up the Red Ribbon training and
then 120 more students and advisors registered and arrived so we
could begin the SADD training.
www.sadd.org In the evening we did a luminary ceremony that
was facilitated by Maria Torres Anderson of Kansas Family
Parnership, and it was very powerful, after the luminary
ceremony while students were sitting in the dark students were
asked to stand and mention the names of those whose lives were
lost because of destructive decisions. It was powerful to hear
all the names, and it was surprising to hear how many names were
mentioned. It was a powerful reminder of how important this work
has become. The following day we attended breakout sessions,
collected ideas, danced, got involved and created and presented
community action plans. These days would not be possible with
out all of the dedicated volunteers who show up to present
sessions and support the process. Thanks for a great two days. A
special thanks goes out to Michelle Voth the Director of Kansas
Family Partnership. Michelle works tirelessly to put together
programming and funding to make all of this work. And of course
my unending gratitude to Maria Torres Anderson who coordinates,
plans and orchestrates all of these wonderful experiences for
youth. Key Link =
www.kansasfamily.com
4-20-07 - KASBO: Great Bend, Kansas
KASBO is the Kansas Association of School Business Officials...Let
me put it another way...these are the people who balance the
budgets, and run our schools all across the state of Kannsas.
They are an organization of wonderful people who have learned to
work hard and play hard because if things don't work out for
them, then things don't work out for anyone in the
district/community/city or town. They are constantly under the
gun to do their jobs perfectly, and when they do, no one
notices, but when they mess up...EVERYONE KNOWS. This may
sound like a tough audience (there were about 350 of them from
all over the state) but believe it or not, people who have tough
jobs, laugh the best, understand the most, can empathize with
adversity and are very willing to hear a good message. This was
certainly the case with this group, and the fact that it
went well made it even better because it was the last time that
speaking in Great Bend will be a local speaking engagement for
me. (We are moving to Lawrence, Kansas soon...more on that in a
later blog). This was my second time back to KASBO so I knew it
would be a great audience, but this one was a little bit
difference because my business has grown tremendously since my
last time speaking at KASBO. This time I knew so many people in
the audience, I have spoke in their schools or for other
organizations they belong to. It was very cool to look across
the audience and see so many people that I have connected with
in the past. If by chance I did not get the chance to visit or
say hi...my apologies. Time goes by so fast and it was a
whirlwind experience in that we had lunch, closing keynote,
visiting with so many and people trying to get on the road to
get home. I was very pleased with the whole experience and glad
to be a part of working with people who make such a huge impact
on their community. A unique thing about today was that today
was Virginia Tech day, a day in which we honored the victims of
VT by wearing their colors. Let us always remember the bravery
of those who lost their lives, let us remember the innocence of
those who lost their lives while trying to better their future,
and let us always remember how important it is to always keep
our children safe. Key link=
www.kasbo.org
4-19-07 - Burlington High School: Burlington, Kansas
It was nice to have a few days off to collect my thoughts and of
course I was looking forward to getting back into it again and
returning to Burlington to do an assembly. On Monday of this
week our nation was rocked by the tragedy at Virginia Tech. As
the parent of a college freshman this tragedy affected me
personally, as a speaker and an educator it really knocked the
wind out of me. I woke up this morning only to find that the
Topeka Capitol Journal had plastered a picture of the shooter,
(in this pic...he was holding guns etc...) to me it only
glamorized the tragedy and made me wonder if the TCJ was willing
to take responsibility for creating the next shooter by
glamorizing this shooter. I resolved in that moment to never say
the name of the shooter and to place all of my focus on the
victims rather than the shooter. To be honest, I was a bit of a
wreck on the way to the assembly. I felt a little hopeless by
the situation...and here I was again trying to make sense of a
difficult situation, while speaking to students. I called my
mentor in Hawaii, Delorese Gregoire, and it turned out that she
was feeling the same thing I was. She told me that I had a
responsibility to be hopeful, to push on...she gave me some
words of encouragement that got me to moving forward again. I
was greeted outside the school by SADD Advisor Sharon Henry, and
right away I knew we were going to have a great day.
Trooper Todd was on hand, because he was there to show a video
to the students about the dangers of drinking and driving after
the assembly. I was also greeted by Natasha Hosford and several
other students who attended our KFP summer programs. Mr. Jim
Kuhn who is a relative via marriage on my wifes side was also
there as well. So as you can see even in difficult times if we
look around we are never alone. What made it even better is that
Burlington is a great school with some great students who really
'get it' when it comes to making good choices. The assembly was
so much fun and we laughed a lot but there was plenty of time in
the assembly to hit the really important issues about how
choices today affect our future. My assembly went for about 1.5
hours and then I introduced Trooper Todd who did a great job of
setting up the video. The video is a heart wrenching collections
of stories that was filmed my the Missouri Department of
Transportation about the consequences of drinking and driving as
well as driving without being belted. All in all it was an
impactful assembly and I was pleased to be a part of it. Thanks
Jim Kuhn, Sharon Henry, Natasha Hosford, all the TABS
participants and Trooper Todd for renewing hope in me and for
giving hope to a new generation of students!
4-12/13-07 Leadership Programs Abilene and Salina Kansas
Brenda Haaga with the Regional Prevention Center of North Central
Kansas made all of this happen. During these two days Brenda
coordinated two leadership programs that included students from
Abilene, Bennington, Herrington, Salina, and surrounding areas.
These programs grew out of the work that we do with Kansas
Family Partnership in creating community action plans. Our focus
was YOGOWYPI and leadership. We did a lot of work on servant
leadership and how to maximize your leadership opportunities
while in high school. A special thanks to all the advisors who
took the time to coordinate and bring your students to the
events. If you are interested in attending more programs like
this please visit this site to learn more about our ongoing
mission to make a difference in the lives of students.
www.kansasfamily.com
4-11-07 - Clifton-Clyde High School and Middle School -
Clifton, Kansas/Clyde, Kansas
I have had the opportunity to speak at CCHS many times over the
years and my history with them goes all the way back to the
early 90's! Wow! I'm getting old! Recently I have spoke at the
school nearly every year. It is such a compliment to get asked
back and I feel like I have a lot of friends in the district. In
the morning I worked with the HS and in the afternoon headed
over to the MS for an assembly. Most of our focus at the high
school was on making good choices during your high school
experience, and at the middle school we worked on some student
success skills. Always great to go back to Clifton-Clyde!
4-5-07 - Garner-Hayfield High School - Garner Iowa
I was in Garner two years ago for an assembly and it was great to
get back for a follow-up! When I arrived I was again greeted by
Get a Grip students. Garner-Hayfield is also a long time Get a
Grip school. It was cool to see them again and to get a chance
to visit prior to the assembly. I was especially excited to see
Laura Priebe, long time get a gripper and staffer who has been
coming to GAG for years. She had briefed me a little before the
assembly about what she felt would be a good fit for this
assembly and after some talented singing in the beginning we
were off to a great start! Afterwards I got a chance to work
with the teen council and we did a breakout session to discuss
leadership in the school. Both programs were a lot of fun and I
was sad to leave but it is good to know that I will see some of
the students again in the summer at GAG!
4-4-07 - Eldora-New Providence Middle School
After I finished at GRHS I headed over to Eldora to speak at ENP
middle school. I was greeted by Get A Grip director, Laurinda
Smith, Principal John Zimmerman and several Get A Grip
students from ENP high school. The focus of our assembly was to
challenge ms students to a successful transition into high
school. We laughed a little but got down to the business of
giving them tools for student success. The high school students
fielded a few questions, and it was a fun event. Thanks Get a
Grippers!
4-4-07 - Gladbrook-Reinbeck High School - Iowa
It was a long drive from Great Bend, Kansas to Gladbrook-Reinbeck
High School in Iowa, but it was well worth the trip! I got there
early and was greeted by Principal Mike Studt as well as several
Get a Grip Students. I have a long history with
Gladbrook-Reinbeck as I have spoke at their school several times
and they are a "Get a Grip" school. I have blogged about "GAG"
many times on this site but if you have questions go to:
www.dps.iastate.edu/getagrip/about.php . When I arrived at
GRHS I got an education because I arrived the day before the
annual pickleball tournament
www.pickleball.com . I had no idea what pickleball was but
when I asked a student at GRHS his response was: "It is the best
game ever!" At GBHS they take their pickleball very serious. It
was cool to learn about it but it was even cooler to see the
collective excitement the school shares about this activity.
They had brackets set-up, and there was an anticipation in the
air about the upcoming event. Oh...the assembly. Well what can
you expect. This is a great school with great leadership that
really cares about students. This is a great environment for
student assemblies. I think we went for about an hour and 45
minutes and the time flew by. I love student assemblies, and as
the years go by I love them even more. It was a great
environment. Thanks Principal Mike Studt for trusting the
process and letting me work with your students. It was a great
experience for me! GRHS has a lot of great stuff going on be
sure and check out their site!
www.gladbrook-reinbeck.k12.ia.us . Oh, it was great to see
Roxanne Hild (former GAG advisor) and Beth Thompson again
(current GAG Advisor). Both are great people and I am glad they
are in my network of associates! Thanks for all you do for kids!
3-30-07 - Wisconsin Upward Bound - State Conference
I love working with Upward Bound students. I can't put my finger
on it but there is just something great about working with
students who are wanting to make the most out of their college
experience. For those of you who don't know about Upward Bound
it is a program designed to support high school students in
preparation for college and professional lives. I was not a part
of this program while I was in high school but I would have been
eligible because like many of the participants in the program I
am a first generation college students. At this program I got to
meet and work with individuals who are completely
committed to student success and they make a huge difference in
the lives of students. Special thanks to Amy Castelic and the
entire Upward Bound staff for putting together such an
incredible opportunity for students! On the day after the
keynote I got to stay around and present some workshops for
students on students success. It was great to get some one on
one time with students! Great Program! Great Conference!
3-25-07 - Louisiana State FBLA Conference
Visiting Louisiana and speaking at their state FBLA Conference was
a great time. My time on stage was short, but my time there was
long on memories. I was treated with great hospitality by the
folks of Louisiana, and the students were awesome. It was so
much fun to hang-out afterwards, talk to students and listen to
their stories about all they have been through in the past few
years. So many amazing stories of resilience and dedications.
Louisiana FBLA is going full force and still making a difference
in the lives of teens. Special thanks to Andrew Ducote the
Louisiana FBLA State advisor. Check out their site
www.lafbla.org . I also got
to work with the folks at PDC the sound and lighting company who
does a great job of making a meeting first class. The are
amazing! In all my years of working with them I have seen a
dedication to excellence that is second to none. I have never
noticed a programming glitch, missed cue, or non-working
microphone on stage. They do a great job of preparing state
officer teams for their time on stage so all of their
conferences come off without a glitch! Thanks Patrick Boylan for
putting together an amazing staff of professionals! To learn
more about PDC go to
www.pdcproductions.com .
3-24-07 - News from the Road:
While on my way to the airport I stopped off to get gas and saw a
couple sitting next to the gas station with a sign that read,
"Out of Gas - Full of Love". (Naturally that led to a
contribution I was happy to give) We have all been there "Out of
Gas and Full of Love". Not a bad place to be!
3-22/23-07 Leadership Retreat - Cottonwood Falls, Kansas
Earlier this year I had the opportunity to speak to the students
at Chase County Middle School and High School, and Richard Scott
(long time friend and associate from Kansas SADD, Red Ribbon
Training and Kansas Family Partnership) thought it would be a
great idea to do a two day retreat for his students. Richard and
Liz Scott run a after school program/ technology center that
supports student success in Cottonwood Falls and Strong City.
Our two day retreat was filled with leadership opportunities,
growth and celebration. The program was capped off with a parent
program celebration. It was a great interactive opportunity that
gave us all a chance to grow and learn together!
3-20-07 - Career Day Sedgwick Kansas
Today was a great day because I got to return to Sedgwick, Kansas
and see some old friends and speak to the entire middle school
and the high school for the closing of their career day
festivities. Pat Breckunitch a friend that I had met at an
in-service in Salina several years ago had me in last year to
work with the teachers and this year asked me to return to work
with their students this year. We started off with a middle
school assembly and then ended the day with a high school
assembly. Both assemblies went great and the student
participation was amazing! I also had the chance to touch bases
with Rae Niles, who is a nationally known speaker dealing with
technology and how to maximize technology in the schools. To
learn more about what Rae does please visit her site at
www.raeniles.com . Rae has
lots of ideas and answers when it comes to teaching with
technology and has done a great job of integrating technology
into education in their district.
3-17-07 - KIAAA Conference - Hutchinson Kansas
KIAAA is the Kansas Interscholastic Athletic Administrators
Association, and I had the opportunity to keynote their annual
conference in Hutchinson this year, for the third time this
year. This is a great association whose purpose is to
promote high school activities throughout the state of Kansas.
To be honest presenting at this conference was like "old home
week" for me because I have had the opportunity to work with a
huge percentage of these activities directors in a variety of
situations. I have been to many of their schools, and worked at
many conferences that they have put on over the years. Kelly
Nusse, from Lyons Kansas was the president at the time of the
conference and did a great job of putting together a conference
filled with activities and educational opportunities to support
activities directors so they can continue to serve their
schools. I was introduced by good friend Richard Bechard who is
a past president of the association and active on the national
level as well. It was a fun conference and it was great to get
to see Cheryl Gleason from the Kansas High School Activities
Association, Lee Gillan, from Ulysse, Terry Ostmeyer from
Grinnell and many others!
3-14-2007 - Cheney High School Career Day - Cheney Kansas
My day today started with an early morning drive to Cheney where I
was greeted at the doors of Cheney High School by fellow speaker
Dustin Galyon,
www.dustingalyon.com . Now understand that Dustin is not an
employee of Cheney High School he simply welcomes the
opportunity to be a greeter of good will whenever he gets the
chance. Dustin was speaking at the career day as well so it was
a great chance to share some fellowship and catch up a bit. The
career day was put on, and coordinated by FACS instructor
Michelle Higgins. It was a well planned, well coordinated event.
I also got a chance to catch up with Curtis Conrad who is the
assistant principal at Cheney. He and I met at the Kansas
Athletic Directors conference several years ago. The day started
with the entire high school coming in to their wonderful
auditorium at about 8:30 this morning. We did the career day
opening assembly and I spoke for about an hour and a half mostly
about maximizing choices, taking advantage of this time and
doing a lot of learning activities that teach. They were a fun
bunch, quick to laugh, quick to learn and quick to praise. A
special thanks to Mr. Joe Shellhammer, for getting extra excited
at the beginning of the assembly and getting us started off
right by jumping up, getting involved during the opening portion
of the program. Also, special thanks to my new friends Tanner,
(Cannon), Ashley (Usher) and BROOOOCK! We just had a ton of
small jokes and inside humor that popped up during the assembly
that made the day "more fun than I should be allowed to have and
call it work". After I was finished with the assembly the
students broke out into sessions with community speakers and
they talked about different career opportunities. Dustin did a
great session on "Life Choices". I got to sit in on one of the
sessions and was so happy to get to listen to a great message,
that made a difference for me. Thanks Dustin!!! Thanks Michelle,
Curtis and staff for making this day a fun and successful day.
My day would have been complete if I would have had the chance
to re-connect with Principal Ron Traxson, who is an outstanding
administrator who cares deeply about the success of students in
school. Maybe next time Mr. Traxson! I also got the chance to
sit and visit during lunch with Superintendent, Brad
Neuenswander. On my way out I got a chance to connect with long
time friend Linda Patterson. Linda and I were friends back when
we were students at FHUS and she has coordinated several events
and used me as a speaker for those events. Good to see you
again! What an amazing man! Mr. Nuenswander will be leaving this
year to pursue an opportunity with the state department. I am
sure he will be missed. Hey check out this great school web
site: www.cheney268.com
3-10-07 - 2007 Youth Rally - Pratt, Kansas
I drove down the road about 50 miles today to speak at the 2007
Pratt Youth Rally today. It was a good day, a good chance to
catch up with some old friends, and a great opportunity to
connect with some great teens. The event was sponsored by the
"Pratt Youth Advisory Council" and "Leadership 2000 Plus". I was
brought in by a very dear friend Jeanette Siemens who is the
former Chamber Exec and now a community volunteer. Jeanette and
her husband Jerry are very committed to their community and are
always working diligently to make their community a better
place. I also got a chance to re-connect with Becca Flowers,
from Pratt Skyline High School Becca has had me come out and
speak at Skyline in years past and Lisa Miller from Pratt
Community College, who also works with the Miss Kansas Pageant,
and I have had the opportunity to work with her in that capacity
as well. Our purpose of the day was to inspire and motivate
Pratt teens to get involved in their community and brainstorm
strategies that they could use to make an impact on their
community. I spoke for about an hour and then Lisa broke the
teens into groups so they could learn and brainstorm. It was an
honor to work with this group and can't wait to return! Thanks
to all the sponsors and coordinators who made this event work!
3-2,3-07 - California Activities Directors Association-San
Diego, California
A few months ago fellow speaker Phil Boyte,
www.philboyte.com
encouraged me to come out to California and speak at the
Californina Activity Directors Conference (CADA) in San Diego. I
had no idea I was about to go on a major adventure in learning
and networking. The plan was for me to do a workshop and a
couple of showcases so Activity Directors in California could
get an idea about what type of services I provide. All of those
things happened but I had no idea that I was going to be
introduced to the hub of student activities in our nation. This
conference was amazing! I met so many amazing people who are so
passionate about bring quality experiences to their students. My
time started off with meeting up with Patrick Maurer, another
speaker, www.pmaurer.com
and he showed me around. I also met up with another fellow
speaker, Jill Esplin,
www.jillesplin.com and we all proceeded to head over to the
keynote presentation. This keynote was extra special for me
because it was being delivered by another youth speaker who I
had met years ago at an NSA convention, Scott Greeneburg.
www.scottgreenberg.com
. Scott is a veteran of our business, and this was his first
time keynoting at CADA. WOW, was I glad to be able to witness
this event. He was amazing, funny, educational and
inspirational. He knocked it out of the park! Afterwards I met
up with Phil and he introduced me to a zillion people...It was
great! Later that day I did my workshop, that went great and the
next morning I delivered two showcase events. 17 years in this
business and it was my first showcase. I have never done this
before, and it is very challenging to give someone an idea of
what your program is like in only 20 minutes. I took the
approach of giving them my first 17 minutes of the program, and
then saying that is how we start off, I made a few comments
about other services I provide and that was it. Short, sweet and
fun. Oh, I also met Keith Hawkins for the first time,
www.keithhawkins.com
and Tyler Durman,
www.tylerdurman.com . It was also cool to get to see Denise
Vanaidis, Student Council Guru from Union High School in Tulsa,
and Brenda Hagga from Gridley, California. Both former clients
who were in attendance. Thanks Denise Vandoren, CADA president
for allowing me to be a part of this special event and I am
forever grateful to my friend who never stops giving, Phil Boyte!
2-23-07 - Leadership Program-Southeast Technical College-Red
Wing, Minnesota
I rose early again the next morning for a flight back to
Minneapolis. Sounds crazy doesn't it...it was even crazier to
live it! However, this time I was greeted by fellow speaker
Craig Hillier,
www.craighillier.com . Craig is like a brother to me and he
had the day off so agreed to take me to my next program in Red
Wing. This program wsa with the same Cindy Kottke and Tascha
Kinney who brought me into Winona earlier this month to work
with students about making the transition into life after high
school. This time I worked with a different group, but were
equally motivated and excited about the days events.
2-22-07 - Leadership Program, University of Tennessee-Martin
I got up extra early this morning to catch a flight from
Minneapolis to Memphis. Arrived early in the morning and
proceeded to The University of Tennessee-Martin. WOW! What a
great staff that is student centered and is willing to do
whatever it takes to create a positive campus environment. I
first met David Belote, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Student
Affairs and the Director of Student Life. We met briefly and
discussed the upcoming program that I was about to do with his
pep leaders. Pep Leaders are upperclassmen who are in charge of
the new student orientation. Each of them will lead a group of
new students through the orientation process next fall. I then
spent about an hour and a half working with them and giving them
some skills for leading new students through their first year
experience. Our time together was too short, but I will get to
work with them again, soon! David Taylor then took me over to
the facility where the student leadership conference was being
held. They decided to go with the YOGOWYPI theme which made me
feel very welcome. I had about an hour and a half with some very
motivated student leaders and my time with them was finished but
wished I would have had another three hours with them! The
University of Tennessee at Martin is a great facility with a
great staff who are student centered in their approach to
education. To learn more about UTM go to
www.utm.edu A special thank-you
to Erin Smith who got one of my books at a leadership conference
from another speaker and took the initiative to bring me to UTM!
2-21-07 - Minnesota Regional Student Council Conference - St.
Francis Minnesota
As soon as I finished with the KHCA I headed off to the
airport to catch a flight to Minneapolis to speak at a student
council conference in St. Francis Minnesota. I got in late, got
my bearings and headed off to St. Francis. St. Francis is a
great community north of the twin cities that really has the
best of both worlds. A quiet community close to the twin-cities.
We started off our day with a Keynote at the conference and of
course the students were great, fired up and ready to receive
ideas about making the most out of their school environment.
Then after the keynote I got to address all of the freshman and
sophomores at St. Francis High School. We had about 1000 in
attendance and the energy in the school was phenomenal!
Thank-You Julie Cuscaden, Student Council advisor at St. Francis
High School, for giving me this opportunity!
2-20-07-Kansas Health Care Association - Topeka, Kansas
On this day I had the honor of working with about 200 health care
workers from across the state of Kansas. Cindy Luxem, a long
term friend and former fellow employee from my days at Barton
County Community College is now the president/ceo of the Kansas
Health Care Association and hosts a series of conferences
designed to motivate, train and educate health care workers
about the importance on their role in health care through out
the state. I got to spend about an hour with them and our time
together was awesome. As the son of a health care worker, and
some one who has two sisters in the field I know a little about
the challenges they face on a day to day basis, but I know
little about how extensive their job really is, but I am
learning. This is my second time working with this group and I
gain a little more respect for their mission with each meeting.
To learn some more about what the KHCA does go to
www.khca.org .
2-13,14-07- Nevada FFA Advanced Leadership Training - Carson
City, NV
I flew into Reno on the 12th, made a supply run and picked
up Rhett Laubuch at the airport and we proceeded to head off to
Carson City to prepare for the ALD-MFE training. For those of
you who don't know Rhett, you can learn more about his business
by going to
www.yournextspeaker.com . Rhett and I have been doing
programs together for years and it was great to get a chance to
spend some time with him. At this program Rhett spoke to the
Made for Excellence students (these are freshman and sophomore
FFA students) and I worked with the Juniors and Seniors at the
ALD conference. It was an inspiring two days as we got to work
with highly motivated students who are interested in maximizing
their FFA experience. We had about 8 hours of training and it
all went very well. We focused on personal, group and chapter
leadership skills that students could apply once they got back
home to their chapters. Thanks Nevada FFA for making us feel so
welcome and for bringing some first class students to your
program!
2-9-07-Southeast Technical College - Winona, MN
As soon as I finished with Farm Bureau in Overland Park I headed
off to the Kansas City Airport to catch a flight to Lacrosse,
Wisconsin so I could speak across the river in Winona, MN on the
following morning. The weather in Kansas was mild, but
apparently the weather in Chicago was less than mild because my
flight into Chicago got delayed, but my connection out of
Chicago to Lacrosse was on time. So, I missed the connection. It
happens. This is the side of my business that not many people
see. The delayed flights, rental cars, hotel rooms, dealing with
weather etc.. However, in my case things seem to work out.
Fortunately I had a gate agent who was willing to spend some
extra time at the end of her day and she booked me on a flight
into Rochester, I rented a car there and got into Winona late
that night, just in time to catch a few hours of sleep and up in
time to speak to about 300+ high school students from various
schools throughout the area about "Life after high school". They
were a great bunch and our time together flew by. Cindy Kottke
is my contact at Southeast Technical College and her mission is
to support as many kids as possible in making good choices after
high school. Thank Cindy for pulling all of this together!
2-8-08 - Farm Bureau Conference-Overland Park, Kansas
About a year ago I did a Farm Bureau Meeting in Ness City,
Kansas and I met Larry Riley who thought it would be a good fit
to have me come and speak at their annual Valentine Meeting. At
this program we had agents from all over the state of Kansas who
are interested in providing the best benefits for their clients.
Farm Bureau agents as I have learned through direct experience
are not just agents who write policies but all the ones I have
met are authentically interested in the well-being of their
clients. Having so many people in one room who are there to
serve first made my day a great one. It was a fun interactive
keynote filled with some laughs and some hands-on learning and
some lessons of the heart. Thanks Larry for making this happen,
it was great to meet all of the wonderful folks at Farm Bureau!
2-7-07 - Leawood Elementary-Leawood, Kansas
Today was a unique day, and I love it when I get a chance to
do new things and mix it up a bit. What made today unique was I
got to present a parent program in the middle of the day at an
Elementary School. The even was well attended as we had about 50
elementary school parents show up to attend the event. We
focused on parenting skills and some small adjustments parents
could make that would have an impact on the lives of their
children. These were some great parents who want success for
their children. Christy Jennings the Parent Education
Coordinator for the Kids Under Construction Program at Leawood
Elementary and she is committed to bringing good programs to
parents. Thanks for a great day Christy!
2-6-07 - Overland Park, Kansas
I had two middle school assemblies in Overland Park, Kansas
today. The first one was at Overland Trail Middle School and the
second was at Pleasant Ridge Middle School. We had a great time
at both assemblies where we focused on choices that could
benefit the students during the next few years of their
education. I was so pleased by the way I was greeted at both
schools and the amount of enthusiasm I received back from the
students. All of the laughing and fun led to a great opportunity
to insert some serious messages about their future. A special
thank-you goes out to Shari Shaake at Overland Trail and Stacy
Ozier who worked diligently to make these programs happen. Both
of these programs came from the Johnson County Stop Underage
Drinking Project program I did last fall in Overland Park under
the direction of Karen Leisner. Thanks Karen!
1-31-07: McCook High School: All School Assembly
It was great to return to McCook high school. I was just there
this past fall where I had keynoted the Nebraska State Student
Council Conference. We had such a great time that the student
council decided that this would be a great message for all the
high school students to receive. Our morning began with all the
students filing into the auditorium, we played a little "name
that tune" and then Brett Burton introduced me and we were off.
The students got involved right away, and they were AWESOME! It
was great for me because we laughed a lot, which provided an
excellent opportunity for me to deliver some content as well. My
main focus today was to get students to thinking about how their
choices today affect their future. Not just the big choices but
the little choices like, how we choose to interact with teachers
and fellow students on a day to day basis. We also talked about
the big choices like choosing to stay away from drugs and
alcohol etc. Special thanks goes out to Hannah, Brock, and
Kirsten for being so willing to jump in and have fun. Also
thanks to the student council and all the groups who sponsored
the program. It was a great day. To all of you at McCook...feel
free to email, or touch base I would love to hear from you! Want
to visit a great high school web site? Go to
www.mccookbison.org .
1-26-07: Iowa Farm Bureau Young Farmers and Ranchers: Des
Moines, Iowa
I had to switch gears and change hats from middle school
students to Iowa Farmers and Ranchers today. Luckily, I had the
drive from Kansas City to Desmoines, Iowa to make the shift. I "blogged"
about Young Farmers and Ranchers earlier this month when I spoke
at the Young Farmers and Ranchers Conference in Nebraska. I got
to be in Iowa speaking at this conference because of a referral
from Cathy Day in Nebraska when I spoke at her YF&R conference
last year. Iowa YF&R has a similar purpose to the Nebraska YF&R
in that its purpose is to provide leadership opportunities to
Young Farmers and Ranchers who range in age from 18-35. By doing
so they give them tools to lead and become a voice for their
organization. They also educate YF&R members about needs that
are specific to their industry. Many of those needs are how to
handle running a business, while working at another job, while
raising children at the same time. The benefits of being a Farm
Bureau Member (as I am) far out weigh the cost because Farm
Bureau is a business that is based upon serving its' members. At
this program I got to deliver the evening keynote, and then I
stayed around and did a workshop on effective communication the
next morning. Both programs were fun to deliver and as always I
met some great people as well as learned some stuff a long the
way. A special thanks to Melissa Brooks, the Leadership Programs
Coordinator at The Iowa Farm Bureau Federation for working so
hard and putting a great conference together. Make sure you
visit the Iowa Farm Bureau site at
www.iowafarmbureau.com
.
1-26-07: Westridge Middle School: Overland Park, Kansas
It was Diversity Day at Westridge Middle School in Overland
Park, and I got to be a part of the celebration! During the day
students get to hear speakers, and take part in activities that
dealt with appreciating and understanding differences. I got to
deliver an assembly to about 500 7th graders, and then 500 8th
graders. In my program I focused on making the most of your
education, learning to work with others, and taking
responsibility for you own direction. This program came to
me by way of Mary Beth Peterson who is a counselor at Westridge
Middle School. Mrs. Peterson had attended a conference earlier
this year that was sponsored by The Johnson County STOP Underage
Drinking Project. Her thought was that it would be a great idea
for all of the students at her school to hear The YOGOWYPI
Message. She called and I happened to be coming through on that
day so it all worked out great. Westridge Middle School is a
large school that does a great job of working with its middle
school population. It is always interesting for me to walk into
a school, and since the quality of my assemblies is always
dependent upon the environment in which they are held I am
always hyper-sensitive to the surroundings. Many times, if the
assembly is in the morning I am usually one of the first people
in the building, so I always ask the question: "Is it a clean
environment for the students." When I meet teachers as I
am walking down the hallways, I then start to notice, "Am I
greeted with a pleasant 'unforced' greeting, and are these
teachers curious about the presence of an unfamiliar
face." The last thing I always look to is am I greeted by the
principal, I look for the latter especially in the case where
the principal was not my contact in the building. In this case I
got a resounding yes to all three! Westridge is an environment
that handles tons of kids, yet in the morning before school
started the building was looking great. Teachers who passed me
in the hall either greeted me, inquired about my presence in a
respectful way or were looking for ways to assist me. Lastly, as
busy as her day was the principal, Janice Jackson, made it a
point to get to me before I started my program. I don't think
you need to ask how the program went. It was great, the students
were respectful, energetic and ready to go! Thanks Mary Beth
Peterson for all you hard work in making this day happen! To
learn more about Westridge Middle School in Overland Park,
Kansas go to:
www.smsd.org/schools/westridge/
1-25-07: Kansas Department of Corrections: Topeka, Kansas
I am sure a lot of "stereotypes" come to mind when you think
of working with a State Agency like the Department of
Corrections and let me assure you that you could not be further
from the truth if you are living by assumptions and
"stereotypes". Today, I got an education about what is really
going on in our state regarding corrections. I met with a group
150+ that were directors, parole officers, and some former
corrections officers, who rocked my world when it came to
"jumping to conclusions". I met a group of people who are
working diligently to work themselves out of a job, and are very
optimistic about the results that they will produce. Understand,
the role of a parole officer is not an easy one, yet they are
introducing innovative strategies that are designed to keep
repeat offenders out of jail and their results are promising.
Today, I got to work with the change agents who stand to make
the biggest difference in our state in terms of prison
population and making our state a safer place to live. Our day
opened with Department of Corrections Secretary Roger Werholz
who talked about Leadership and how the rest of the nation is
watching what Kansas is doing because we are making an impact.
He also talked about change and risk as well as strategies to
maximize our opportunities. I got to follow-up and reinforce. We
jumped right into "The YOGOWYPI Factor" curriculum and did some
interactive activities that dealt with communication, change and
getting involved. Their participation level was amazing. I would
describe them as a serious audience who was willing to laugh and
learn. We had fun, yet we got down to business. In a short
period of time I was able to roll through some important content
and strategies that they could use to affect their population. I
could go on and on, but just know it was a memorable day, that
changed my perspective on the "Business of Corrections". A
special thanks goes out to Kristi Drewel who set up the event.
Kristi actually attended some of my programs back when she was
in grade school (now I feel old) and has gone on to do some
great things. First with the DFYIT (Drug Free Youth) when she
was working with the Juvenile Justice program in Barton County
and now working with the Kansas Department of Corrections.
Kristi, you are a true professional with wisdom beyond your
years! To learn more about the Kansas Department of Corrections
go to www.dc.state.ks.us
be sure and click on the "newsletters" section to get up to date
information about policies and changes by Secretary Werholtz.
1-24-07: Riley County Middle School: Riley, Kansas
I was fortunate to get the opportunity to work with a great group
of middle school students in Riley, Kansas today. Riley is a
small school just north of Junction City, Kansas. I got to be
there because of Tony Ballard who had seen me at another school
several years ago and recommended the program to Principal
Teresa Grant. We had about 200+ 5th - 8th graders who came in
with a lot of energy but were very eager to get involved, laugh
and participate while "getting the message". I enjoyed the
students and met some faculty who in a short period of time
noticed that their job was a mission not just a J.O.B. It really
is a wonderful school that cares about kids! Could not have
asked for a better day with middle school students. To learn
more about all of the great educational programming that is
being done in Riley County, Kansas go to
www.usd378.org.
1-20-2007: Nebraska Farm Bureau Young Farmers and Ranchers
Conference
Farm Bureau has an amazing network of Young Farmers and Ranchers
all across the country. Each year on the state level these
organizations host conferences to support young farmers and
ranchers (you must be 18-25 years of age and in an agriculture
related business to belong) in creating a network, leadership
opportunities and giving them information about how they can be
the "voice" of agri-business. This year I was asked back to
Nebraska to give the keynote presentation. I arrived in Columbus
Nebraska late the night before the conference and was greeted by
a group of conference participants who had attended last years
conference. I was so pleased to see that they were sitting
talking about their business, and was excited to hear their
comments about how their businesses had expanded since last
years conference. The next day I delivered the keynote, and got
to sit in on a session that dealt with the future on Nebraska
Agriculture. I could sum up their thoughts in a
word...Optimistic! For me it is so great that we live in a time
where there is so much optimism for those in agriculture related
fields. It is such a welcome change from the "lean years".
Nebraska is putting more effort into agriculture, and the result
are paying off. Alternative fuel sources like ethanol has led to
increased prices for grain, and that has put farmers in the
drivers seat for the first time. Also, farmers and ranchers are
becoming more efficient in their business by stream lining their
operations and diversifying their opportunities at the same
time. It was an educational conference to say the least and I
would like to thank Cathy Day for putting on such a great
conference. It was also good to see a good friend of mine from
Kansas Farm Bureau www.kfb.org
who was there educating Nebraskans about "Beef Verification
Solutions" I could go into a long history of this but it is
basically an electronic tagging system that will save ranchers
time, money and energy. To learn more about this break through
solution go to
www.agsolusa.com/bvs/ . Thanks to all the Nebraskans for
making my day a great day and to learn more about the Nebraska
Young Farmers and Ranchers organization go to:
www.nefb.org/yfr/
12 -22-06 Touchstone Energy Leadership Summit, Oklahoma City,
Oklahoma
Got to end my year right with a dose of Rhett Laubach and Kelly
Barnes,
www.yournextspeaker.com . It was a great day as the three of
us got to spend the day with a group of leaders from across the
state of Oklahoma at the Touchstone Leadership Conference. The
curriculum of this program consisted of Rhett's Personal
Leadership Insight Curriculum, and Kelly, Rhett and I each took
a "Chunk" of the curriculum and ran with it then rotated. It was
fun to watch Rhett and Kelly at their best and I was impressed
with their level of ownership and expertise. They both bring a
great sense of professionalism and passion to the profession
that created a desire with in me to be at my best. The group was
small and that made the day even more fun and unique. Thanks to
the folks at Touchstone and to Rhett and Kelly for making my day
great. See ya next year!
12-16,17-06 - Oklahoma FFA: Advanced Leadership Conference,
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Two days with Oklahoma FFA Members and Phil Boyte
www.philboyte.com . That
is what I call a great weekend. Each year Oklahoma FFA does an
Advanced Leadership Development program for its' members. Phil
and I get to do the program every other year, and in the in
between years that is done by Craig Hillier,
www.craighillier.com
and Patrick Grady
www.patricktgrady.com . Phil and I designed a fun, yet
full of content program for the ALD members, and it is always
fun to watch Phil working with students. His approach is fun,
yet impactful. We started in the afternoon of the first day, did
a keynote and then broke up into two sessions. The second day
had a similar format. It was fun to visit and interact with the
students and especially enjoyed the input by half of the
Oklahoma State Officer team who acted as support for the event.
Oklahoma State Officers are the demonstration of respect and
professionalism. Thanks team, for hosting such an awesome event.
Also a special thank-you goes out to Mr. Murray and Rose for
handling all of the details for the event.
December 13-06 - Nebraska Ag Classic in Kearney Nebraska
I had a great evening keynoting a program for the Nebraska Ag
Classic in Kearny, Nebraska. In this audience were influential
business people from all over Nebraska who have taken on the
mission of furthering agricultural opportunities for Nebraskans.
My message for them was short and too the point. Maximize your
opportunities, understand that success and failure go hand in
hand, and to make sure you are furthering your mission my
mentoring young Nebraskans. No meeting in Nebraska would be
complete without the presence of coaching legend Tom Osborne.
Yes, he was there and I got to share the stage with him for a
moment. A thrill for me, but made better by hearing his words
and passion for Nebraska's Future. It was a great time!
11-29,30-06 - Des Moines, Iowa, Jostens Leadership Conference
Every three years I get a call from Tim Robson to do the Jostens
Leadership Conferences for Des Moines area schools. At this
program we have about 500 students per day and its purpose is to
serve the area students by giving them some leadership skills to
take back to their schools. We go from 9-2 each day, the
audience is big, the room is great and the people are are always
great. We get top notch students and advisors who come ready to
participate and maximize the day. Because the students were so
great we got to roll through a ton of curriculum in a very fun
and entertaining environment. I was also treated with a special
event on the night in between programs. Tim and I got to attend
the University of Northern Iowa-Iowa State University Basketball
Game. It was a treat, and thanks Tim!
11-28-06 - Dunlap, Woodbine Iowa - Get a Grip All School
Assemblies
This was a great day put together by Laurinda Smith from Iowa
State Department of Public Safety. We started off the day in
Woodbine, and I was greeted by some of my Get a Grip students
who had attended the summer conference. We got to do an all
school assembly and went off great then we went over to Dunlap
for another assembly. Again the focus of the assembly was
responsibility, choices and making the most out of your high
school experiences. At both assemblies I told a story about a
friend of my daughter Clint Flegler who died my daughters
freshman year. This story is about the kind of person Clint was
and how he lived his life to inspire rather than to intimidate.
By coincidence I had his cousins in both audiences. Another
reminder of what a small world we live in.
11-17,18-06 - Milwaukee, Wisconsin FBLA Fall Leadership
Conference
After I finished up in Iowa I headed up to Wisconsin to speak at
my third and final FBLA Leadership Conference. This is the same
type of event that I did the previous two weekends in Denver,
Colorado and East Brunswick, New Jersey. I got to end these on a
high note as the students were totally fired up and that made my
job very easy. It was a fun time and I got to hang out and chat
with some FBLA students afterwards and that really made the
whole event worthwhile. The next morning I got to speak at a
couple of large group breakout sessions and then to cap off a
great weekend I got to have lunch with two of my favorite
professional speakers Ed Gerety
www.edgerety.com and Patty
Hendrickson
www.pattyhendrickson.com . It was a lot of fun to hang out
and talk business! Then I was on a plane home ready for some
well deserved rest and relaxation with the family!
11-16,17-06 - Goose Lake, Bellevue, Iowa
Laurinda lined up another great day of Get-A-Grip regional
programs for us today. Get a Grip is a mission that is kept
alive by participants who attend the summer intensives, and by
Laurinda, and Lisa who work for the Iowa State University
Department of Public Safety. Their mission is simple to support
teens in making good safe choices. Some of our programming deals
with traffic safety issues and some of our programming deals
with respect, accountability, community and choices. The
strategies we use to meet our mission really revolves around two
types of leadership programs. One is the summer intensive that
we do on campus at Iowa State University. We have been doing
these since 1991, and I have been involved since 1992. The other
strategy is by going into schools and doing either a regional
meeting or by doing all school assemblies. That is what we were
doing this month in Clinton, Goose Lake and Bellevue. Don't just
think we are "talking at" students...naturally that is not our
style we use activity driven messages that bring forth thinking,
leadership and positive action within their communities. This
was our second trip to Goose Lake and this time we got to work
with an entire class. In this session we focused on class
development so that students would understand how their role as
a class member affects the entire school environment. When we
went to Bellevue, we first went to Marquette High School and did
two programs one for freshman and sophomores and the other for
juniors and seniors. The next day I went to Bellevue High School
and we did some leadership programming for the high
school. If you would like more information on what Get a Grip is
all about please visit
www.dps.iastate.edu/getagrip while you are there be sure and
check out the college programming which is another area of
leadership we have taken on to support college students in
transition!
11-15-06: Clinton, Iowa Clinton High School
Laurinda Smith from Iowa State Department of Public Safety put
together an Iowa tour for Mid-November that began with a morning
at Clinton High School. It was a great morning that involved
students from Clinton, and surrounding schools. Brian Galusha,
teacher in the Clinton High School alternative education
program, we there, and brought his students along. I was so
amazed at their level of participation and with Brians
dedication to make a difference in the lives of teens. Great
Morning. Afterwards, Laurinda and I headed over to the Catholic
High School in Clinton where we did an extended assembly about
leadership, choices and accountability. Of course we laughed a
lot and had a great afternoon as well. As I reflect back on the
day, both programs I believe the way we had the most impact was
giving the students an opportunity to think about their choices
through humor and participation in the program. I had
several students approach me afterwards and we discussed how
they are going to use the tools to make a difference in their
lives and they also talked about how some of their past choices
have not been serving them.
11-11-06: FBLA/PBL Fall Leadership Conference: East Brunswick,
New Jersey
As soon as I finished in Nebraska I drove home and caught a little
bit of "home time" before I headed off to catch a flight for New
Jersey the next morning. This was the second of three Fall
Leadership Conferences and at this on I got to do the closing
for the conference rather than the opening like I had done in
Denver. The students from the East Coast were every bit as
excited as the students from the West. I only had about 30
minutes with them so I had to move fast! The program went well
and thanks again to Cybis for handling all the av needs. They do
a great job!
www.thinkcybis.com . Also special thanks to the National
Officers in attendance they did a great job as well. They all
spoke so well from the platform and were very professional in
their delivery. It was also great to see Ted Harsberger, PBL
Advisor from Nebraska, always great to see you Ted and I wish
you the best!
11-10-06: Nebraska State Student Council Conference: McCook,
Nebraska
Each year Nebraska hosts a student council conference and they
alternate from East to West. The conference is always well
attended and this year we had about 1000 student council members
from all across the state. It was a fun conference and it was
great to get to speak to students who have the capacity to make
such a huge difference in their schools. I was fortunate to get
to do two sessions in which I had the opportunity to speak to
all the conference attendees. This was a fantastic audience who
came in prepared to learn and be involved. They had tremendous
energy! If you would like to learn more about the Nebraska
Student Council go to www.nasc.org
. Special thanks goes out to my student contact Brett Burton who
handled all the booking and preparation for the program. Great
job Brett you were very professional to work with and best of
luck next year as you take on the next challenge in your life!
Bills Blog 11-7-06: DYFYIT: Drug Free Youth In Town: Great
Bend, Kansas
I spent the morning with 300 very excited teens from Great Bend,
Chase, Ellinwood, Sterling and Lyons Kansas at the annual DFYIT
conference. It was a good morning and my time with them was very
brief. We got them started for a day of activities and education
as they worked toward strategies that can support them in making
good choices as they move through their teen years. This is an
awesome group of teens who agree to staying substance free and
make good choices. Thanks to some great leadership and support
over the years the group has grown, and the program has
flourished. It is exciting to see so many teens involved in this
program. Many of them have participated in the Kansas Red Ribbon
and SADD Trainings as well as the Kansas Youth Leadership
summit. Great job Robin Wetig in pulling all of this together so
quickly. She has recently taken over the helm as the coordinator
and I know that she will do a great job!
Bills Blog 11-7-06: Kansas Centers for Assisted Living
Conference: Topeka, Kansas
After I had finished in Great Bend I headed to Topeka to do the
closing for the KCAL conference in Topeka. KCAL is a mission
centered organization that is focused on providing quality of
life for seniors who reside in assisted living facilities. Their
mission is not simply to create a place to live but to do that
in a way that empowers and nurtures their clients. I had a great
time working with this very heart driven organization. It was
apparent to me from the beginning that this is a group of people
who are passionate about making life better for others. My time
with them centered around service and the importance of "doing
the work" for the right reasons. We laughed and moved through
material and our time together was short and went by quickly.
This program was made possible by Cindy Luxem who is the CEO and
President of the Kansas Health Care Association. Cindy and I go
way back to Barton County Community College where we worked
together back in the early 1990's. It was great to see her and
was also great to see that she has put her passion into
something that makes such a huge difference across the state of
Kansas. To learn more about KCAL and their mission go to
www.khca.org .
Bills Blog 11-3-06: FBLA/PBL Fall Leadership Conference, Denver
Colorado
FBLA/PBL is a national organization that promotes business
education and leadership for high school and college students.
Students who belong compete in business events, gain leadership
skills and get a chance to network with students all across the
nation. Tonight was the opening for the first of four fall
leadership conferences that will take place in Colorado,
Florida, New Jersey and Wisconsin. I get the opportunity to
speak at three of the four events. This evening we had students
from California, Nevada, Washington, Coloradto, Texas, Missouri,
Wyoming, Nebraska, Arkansas, and Kansas. It was wonderful to see
some familiar faces from Wyoming, Kansas and Nebraska. Bev
Newton the state advisor from Nebraska was in attendance and it
was great to see her and her team. She does a great job with her
students and embodies the professionalism of FBLA. Special
thanks to Robert Smothers for putting together a great
conference and to the folks at Cybis who handled all of
the AV for the conference. If you would like Cybis to handle
your next event go to
www.thinkcybis.com. They will handle all your AV needs and
do it with professionalism! To learn more about FBLA/PBL go to
www.fbla.org
Bills Blog - 11-2-06 - Marshall, Illinois, All School Assembly,
Leadership Day
Barb Gard and all of the community supporters did a great job in
putting together an outstanding day of leadership. I was in
Marshall Illinois a small community on the Eastern side of
Illinois. We started off the day with an all school assembly
with about 450 high school students. The energy in the room was
outstanding. Great assembly. Thanks Dan for setting up a great
sound system! The sound in the gym was amazing! Special thanks
to Principal Farr for trusting the process and for allowing me
to speak to his students. Following the leadership day, about
50+ students and about 30+ adults got together for a program
designed to support teens and adults to develop better working
relationships. What we did was a cross-generational program that
supported relationship building and understanding. It was so
cool to see the two age groups working together, laughing and
being involved in the programming. We had a lot of great support
from community business leaders, and I really appreciated their
input and participation in the program. Thanks again Barb for
making the initial contact that led to two great days in
Illinois!
Bills Blog - 11-1-06 - Paris, Illinois, Youth Leadership
Program
Got into Terre Haute Indiana late on Tuesday evening, and met up
with Bernie Mcgee,
www.berniemcgee.com for a little bit of dinner and we mapped
out a game plan for the next two days. We were in Paris Illinois
early on Wednesday morning where we had about 75 students and
adults from three different Illinois High Schools. Our purpose
was to provide some leadership skills, and create individualized
action plans for each of the communities in attendance. By the
end of the day each school had an individualized SMART Plan of
Action for their community. For those of you who are not aware
of my "Programming Philosophy" I believe this would be an
excellent time to discuss it since my philosophy is a lot more
spoken on action planning days. "Lead Yourself then Lead Others"
My philosophy is simple to use humor, activities and information
to involve students in having some personal success while
attending various programs. As a result of small personal
success students will apply that wisdom into creating team or
group leadership success. So during an action planning day we
roll our personal successes into a desire to create a community
action plan that will have a positive action in their community.
Each of the three schools in attendance worked together in
analyzing their communities and finding a place in which their
group could make a difference. Paris created a community
action plan that focused on doing a series of four different
programs at each of the three middle schools in their community.
Their plan create and deliver a curriculum on alcohol abuse,
drug abuse, peer pressure, and an informative meeting to support
middle school students in being involved in their group once the
reach high school. Shiloh is developing a program to support
their Big Brother, Big Sister Program and Kansas High School is
developing an action plan to provide some educational
opportunities for students in their school. Another unique part
of the day was getting to meet students from Kansas High School
in Illinois. Bernie and I even went to Kansas, saw the school
and took some pics. It was great to be in Kansas! I also found
out that every January 29th every year they celebrate Kansas Day
in Kansas Illinois! How cool is that! Great day...special thanks
to all the advisors and adults who made this day possible.
Thanks Kristin Chittick who was so much fun to work with and is
doing great things to have an impact and save lives in her
community!
Bills Blog 10.30.06-Chase County High School-Cottonwood Falls
Kansas
It was a great, fun, but very short assembly all school assembly
at Chase County High School in Cottonwood Falls Kansas. It was a
great experience because I had so many students in the program
who had been to previous programs either through the Kansas
Youth Leadership Summit, Red Ribbon Training, SADD Leadership
Training or the California Youth to Youth session I had done
last summer. What made the program really great was the fact
that Mr, and Mrs. Scott have such an extreme passion for making
a difference within their community. For them "Making a
Difference" is not just a phrase or a nice idea but it is a way
of living for them. Their whole life is surrounded by ways that
they can support youth in making better choices. Together they
attend many conferences, write grants, get involved in youth
initiatives on the local, state and national level and all of
this is head-quartered at what they call the "Technology Center"
which I really what I call "Support Teens Central". It is
essentially a building that has a lot of computers, kitchen and
music practice room, but really gives teens a place to gather,
develop relationships, do homework, get support and make good
choices. It is obvious that they serve their community in a huge
way. It was a fun assembly, and a great time getting to see some
old friends. Special thanks to Mr. Elliott, the Principal at
Chase County High School and all the youth who are involved in
youth programs in Cottonwood Falls.
Bills Blog 10.23.06 - Solomon High School - All School
Assembly/ Abilene High School - All School Assembly
First of all let me begin this blog by saying I know I am behind
on responding to the many emails that I have received from so
many of you over the past few weeks! Responding to every
email is very important to me, so if you have not received
anything back from me as of yet...be patient as you can see my
fall schedule is very busy, and I am catching up! Today was
another great day in the world of all school assemblies! I
arrived at Solomon High School in Solomon Kansas,
http://www.solomon393.k12.ks.us/ at about 9am this morning
for a 10am assembly. I got to meet Mr. Warkentine the principal
and counselor Mr. Phillips. They are both outstanding
individuals and Solomon is fortunate to have them. Thanks Mr.
Warkentine for trusting me, I am so pleased that everything
turned out so well. The students at Solomon were great, and we
had a great time together weaving in the Red Ribbon theme into
their school climate. Our time together went quickly and I was
so happy to get to touch base with so many students after the
program. This was my first time speaking in Solomon and I
enjoyed my time there. My challenge to you is to continue to
apply the YOGOWYPI message and hoping that we can get some of
you to the KFP meetings we have in Salina this spring. Just go
to www.kfp.org for details and
you can continue to reach more people during your Red Ribbon
Week! After finishing up at Solomon I hustled over to Abilene,
Kansas
http://www.usd435.k12.ks.us/ where I spoke to about 500+
high school students. I was greeted by Mckenzie, Jeff, Sam, and
Carissa. These were four students who actually attended the
Kansas Youth Leadership Summit in Rock Springs this past August.
They had made it part of their Community Action Plan to bring a
speaker to their school and I was happy to get the call because
we had a great 90 minute assembly. Thanks Dr. Ford for the open
end on the back side of the assembly that allowed me to cover
more content and give a more detailed message. We had a great
time. Had some great laughers, and they really appreciated the
humor of the program which makes it so easy for me to cover more
information. It was a lot of fun! Please feel free to forward
any comments to
bill@billcordes.com I would love to hear from you. To my
students who attended KYLS...Keep going on that action plan,
there is always more work to be done and I feel you are off to a
great start!
Bills Blog 10.22.06 - Perry Lecompton High School - All School
Assembly
Today is the first day of Red Ribbon week! To find out more about
the history of Red Ribbon Week go to:
http://www.dea.gov/ongoing/redribbon_history.html Red
Ribbon Week is always such a fun week in my business because I
usually get to do a lot of assemblies. Many of you may remember
from previous blogs that I do quite a bit with Red Ribbon Week
in the state of Kansas. Todays program came to me as a result of
some of the Red Ribbon Week Training I have done with Kansas
Family Partnership, www.kfp.org
and the Kansas Youth Leadership Summit. As time goes by I just
love doing the all school assembly more and more. There is just
something very special about talking to an entire student body.
I love getting to speak to the entire cross section of students,
and I love the challenge of getting everyone on the same page so
we can laugh and learn together. When the setting is right, and
the students come in ready to go...there really is nothing
better. Today was just really one of those super-fun all school
assemblies in which everything went great. We got started at
about 9:20 this morning and went until 10:45. The students at
PHS were great and they have some great leadership at the
school. They have a new Principal JB Elliott someone I knew from
when he was at Hoisington High School, and he is blessed to have
such a great bunch of students! The participation was high and
we just kept building on it as we went through the program.
Following the High School assembly I got to spend about an hour
with the 5th through 8th graders at the same location. In that
assembly we shifted the focus a little but still talked about
making good choices but in an entirely different way. The
students were great and it was a fun assembly as well. Special
thanks to Susie Whittaker, and Beth for putting all of this
together! I hope you have a great week and that your mission
continues at PLHS and Middle School. If you would like to know
more about Perry-Lecompton High School please visit their site
at www.343.net .
Bills Blog 10.21.06 - Mid-America Association of Educational
Opportunity Program Personnel - Chicago, Illinois
As soon as I finished the Student Council Program in Weston
Missouri I drove down the road just a bit to the Kansas City
Airport and hopped a plane for Chicago so that I could speak at
the MAEOPP conference. I did four programs on Saturday, and it
was a very full and eventful day. MAEOPP may not sound familiar
to you, so I will elaborate. There were two conferences going on
at the same time. One was for college students and the other was
for high school students. The college students attending the
conference are first generation college students who are working
toward completing their degree. Many of the students either work
in student support services or are participating in programs
designed to support students in completing their college
education. The program is a phenomenal program because it
empowers students to achieve the goal of becoming a college
graduate. The pre-college program is the same thing for college
students and its purpose is to educate and inform pre-college
students about how to get into college and how to succeed once
they get there. These are some of the most career minded
students who understand the value of an education. You may have
heard of "Upward Bound" or the "Trio" programs. This is the
conference that supports those programs in becoming successful
on the high school and college levels. To learn more about this
program go to their web site and they can explain it better than
I can. http://www.maeopp.org/
or simply google "maeopp" My first stop on Saturday morning was
a breakout students with about 80 college students and advisors,
I then did the luncheon keynote for about 300 conference
attendees. It was so much fun but it is also serious business
and these students mean business so I made sure I gave them
plenty of skills to support them in having success. My next stop
was a breakout for the pre-college conference and in this
workshop we focused on supporting their success through
developing networking skills. Later that evening I spoke at the
evening dinner banquet for the pre-college students. There were
about 800+ students and advisors present at this session and
their energy was "over the top". I love this organization and
all they stand for and it was so cool to meet success minded
students at both conferences. I met students and advisors from
Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois,
Ohio, Michigan and Missouri. All in all it was a very busy day.
I owe such a debt of gratitude to Rebecca Dukstien from the
University of Kansas, and Renae Hampton for putting all of this
together. Also this would not have been possible without the
referral from my friend Jan Madlock who I met while she was an
assistant coach for the University of Kansas volleyball team.
Thanks Jan for bridging a connection!
Bills Blog 10.20.06 - Northwest District Student Council
Conference - Weston Missouri
I had about 1100 Missouri student council students today at the
Missouri Northwest District student council meeting in Weston
Missouri today. When I arrived at West Platte High School at
about 8:15 in the morning the students were already cranked up
and ready to go. The gym floor was filled with student council
representatives from many different schools, and they were doing
cheers, dancing and showing their school pride. It is so much
fun working with students who arrive ready to go and ready to
receive a message. This was certainly the case with these
students. By the time I was introduced at 9:15 the stage was set
for me to deliver my message. We focused mainly on the
difference they can make in their schools by leading by example,
we touched on personal responsibility and making sure they used
their influence to positively affect their school when they
return. It was a great audience, and I was happy to be a part of
it! Special thanks to Ben and Alana for chairing the event and
thanks to Student Council Advisor Jacque Coleman for putting the
event together and handling so many of the necessary details to
put on an event as large as this one!
Bills Blog 10.19.06- Fort Dodge, Iowa Community Action Network
I really switched gears today! After I finished up in Great Bend,
Kansas I drove all the way up to Fort Dodge, Iowa to speak at
the Middle School and the 5th and 6th grade building. This
program was unique because it was sponsored by "Fort Dodge on
the Move" a Community Action Network put together to keep the
citizens of Fort Dodge Healthy. It was unique for me because I
was faced with the challenge of speaking about a topic slightly
different from my normal area of programming. The area of focus
of this programming was really two fold, to support students in
developing healthy lifestyles through eating right and staying
active. It was really an easy fit for me and I was so pleased
with the level of involvement from the students. I got to work
with Fort Dodge Middle School students as well as the students
from St. Edwards Catholic school for 90 minutes and the Fort
Dodge 5th and 6th graders plus the same grades from St. Edwards
for an hour. Stay Active Fort Dodge, set those smart goals and
keep moving and eating right. A very special thanks goes out to
Pamela Bunte, and the staff with Character Counts for being such
great hosts and for working with me in putting all of this
together! It was a fun adventure and looking forward to working
with you in the future. Also, my job was made a lot easier today
because of the participation from the high school Youth In
Action Team. You are great role models for the residence of Fort
Dodge, and your involvement makes a huge difference in your
community!
Bills Blog 10.18.06 - Kansas Association of District Court
Clerks and Court Administrators
October has been filled with a huge diversity of audiences for me,
and I have really enjoyed speaking to such a huge diversity of
audiences. It really keeps me hopping and brings a lot of new
ideas into my programs. Wednesday was certainly like that for me
with KADCCCA! This was especially fun for me because I got to
speak just two minutes from my house at the Great Bend
Convention Center. Speaking there is always like coming home for
me because I know the staff there so well and Iris and Becky
always do a great job of keeping everything organized and going.
So if you are looking for a great place and great facilities to
host a conference please consider Great Bend! Anyway...this
audience is a group of hard working individuals that keep our
court houses and courts running smoothly. We owe a great debt of
gratitude to these individuals because they do tough work that
brings justice to our communities! Right out of the gate we
started having fun and getting down to the business of effective
communication. We discussed strategies for effective
organization, leadership and communication. We had fun doing
some activities and drawing forth some discussions about how to
be more effective when working with other employees. Special
thanks to all of you who keep our courts running, and thank-you
for your diligence to your profession. Also special thanks to
Jane Hrabik and her staff. It was a great conference!
Bills Blog 10.16.06 Union High School - Leadership Retreat -
Camp Dry Gulch near Tulsa, Oklahoma
Wow! Wow!! WOW!!! Is all I can say about my two days at Camp Dry
Gulch near Tulsa where 200 leadership students, administrators
and advisors attended the leadership retreat. If you have ever
wondered about the fate of America's education system then you
have never been to Union High School near Tulsa Oklahoma. Union
High School is a school that prides itself in being rich in
tradition, and takes leadership on their campus very seriously.
I was so amazed by so many things I saw this past weekend I
hardly know where to start. Our retreat was held at Camp Dry
Gulch (a facility owned and operated by the very progressive
"Church on the Move" in Tulsa). The facilities were first class,
but then Union High School only exposes their students to first
class opportunities. The leadership retreat is headed up by
Denise Vanaidas, Assistant Principal, Student Council Advisor,
Leadership Educator and Mom to 100's of students all of which
you can tell she loves, and has extremely high expectations for
each student who walks through her door. Another amazing thing
about the weekend was the fact that there was tons of
participation at the event by Union High School Faculty and
staff and administrators. Principal Dave Stauffer who is an
incredibly busy man attended 100% of the retreat. He sat with
students, talked with them participated in activities and you
could tell that being the principal of Union is more than just a
job but it is his passion to make a difference in the lives of
his students. Union High School is unique in that it is an
incredibly large school. So large in fact that they have a
campus for the Freshman-Sophomores called the Intermediate High
School (called I High) and another campus for the Jrs and Srs.
It is such a privilege to attend the conference that students in
years past actually "camped out" so they could be involved. This
year however they made the change of selecting via a lottery
system because of concern for the students. Students arrived at
Camp Dry Gulch at about 10:30am on Saturday, and we did some
outside activities and then moved inside where we proceeded to
get into the Leadership Curriculum that I had written just for
this event. Our main focus was personal leadership and servant
leadership, and the premise of the weekend was that they must be
whole personally before they can serve others. So our purpose
over the weekend was to give them lots of personal victories,
get them clear on where they were headed on their leadership
path so when they go back to Union they can reach out and serve
others. I got to do about 7 hours of programming with them on
the first day, that ended with a tons of mini-breakthroughs for
the participants. Following the final evening session the
students headed out to a camp-fire where the seniors got to
stand before the fire and "Pass the Torch" of leadership. It was
powerful to hear the students talk about the importance of
leadership, give advice and encourage the next generation to
keep the legacy alive. The next morning students arrived, tired
but energetic! Even though they had been up late the night
before you could not tell it. They arrived in the course room
ready to go. We stepped back into the leadership curriculum, and
then after that we had an inspirational service led by the
students. The singing, praise and music was peaceful and
inspirational and I enjoyed that time tremendously. Brooklyn
Scheer (who is the daughter of GUTS Church pastor Bill Scheer)
then gave an inspirational talk about confidence and in her
message she shared a profound concept: "When faced with
adversity we will not rise to the level of our expectation but
will fall to the level of our training." I have thought about it
a lot since then and realized she was right on. We must train,
all the time, be diligent in out faith and beliefs always so
that when the moment arises we will have the "Word" or our
training to fall back on. It was a great service! We then
finished up the program with our final break-through event. It
was powerful and emotional and I hated to see our time together
come to an end. Thank you Mrs. V and the entire staff who
attended the retreat. I was humbled by your level of service and
your desire to make an impact on your students. You are the true
demonstration of servant leadership!
Bills Blog 10.13.06 - FCCLA Leadership Conference, Hiawatha
Kansas
Friday the 13th was a lucky day for me because I got to spend it
with in Kansas at the Regional FCCLA conference in Hiawatha
Kansas. In attendance we had students from all over North East
Kansas who came to celebrate, learn and take part in an
incredible organization. Special thanks to Rick Johnson the
principal at Hiawatha who was a gracious host and allowed FCCLA
the use of the facilities for the day. For those of you who
don't know FCCLA stands for Family Career Community Leaders of
America. Back in the day most of us remember them as FHA or
Future Homemakers of America. However, their organization has
grown and the tag...FCCLA better describes their vision and the
work they do to make a difference in the schools. They were a
great audience and we laughed and learned and focused on how
they can be leaders in their school. Thanks Diane Frownfelter,
the district officers and all the others who worked hard to
provide this opportunity. It was also a great day because I got
to see my good friend Gary Sorenson from Royal Valley High
School (home of the Panthers!). Gary is a seasoned school
counselor and educator who has a heart bigger than Kansas and
always brightens the room when he enters!
Bills Blog 10.11.06 - Rocky Mountain Association of Student
Financial Aid Advisors - Salt Lake City, Utah
It was a quick trip in and out of Beautiful Salt Lake City where I
had the opportunity to address RMASFAA. I have had the
opportunity to address Financial Aid Advisors in the past, and I
love working with them because they do so much good for so many.
Financial Aid Advisors do so much work for so many and they are
really the backbone of our post-secondary education system in
America. They do the work so the students can have the funds to
better themselves through education. They have big hearts and
work long hours, always having to learn new laws and procedures
so students can get their money. They also have big hearts and
most of them are in the business of making a difference for the
right reasons. They want to help others make a life for
themselves. However, when you are so often 'Bogged' down in
details it is hard to see the big picture. I view my role with
them as someone who can remind them of the difference they make
in education, because without financial aid I would have been
one of the many who did not have a chance to get an education.
Thanks to all the financial aid advisors who work tirelessly day
in and day out. A special thanks goes out to all of you who
attended and thanks for being such a great audience! Thanks also
goes out to Christi Easton and the numerous conference planners
that made it a great program. Also it is worth mentioning that
the conference raised over $5000 and donated it to the "Make a
Wish" foundation. One more piece of evidence that their hearts
are in the right place. Thanks also to Wendy Clark for being a
great host and getting us to and from the airport!
Bills Blog 10.10.06 - Minnesota Student Council and National
Honor Society Advisors
I just returned from Minnesota where I had a great time working
with Student Council and National Honor Society Advisors. It
really was a fun morning and it was fun to switch gears and work
with an adult group. My life has been so students centered as of
late I almost forgot what it was like to speak to adults. People
always ask, "Which group do you prefer, teachers, students, or
is it businesses." My answer is always, "The group I am working
with today!" Because that is how I really feel. I love the
challenge of what the day is going to bring and it is always
really fun when I get to switch gears. I was speaking to a group
of very "Seasoned Professionals" yesterday. Some had been
advisors and teachers for 25+ years or more. So needless to say
I was humbled by the amount of experience I was surrounded by,
and I was also encouraged. I was encouraged to see seasoned
professionals who are still there with a smile on their face and
love in their hearts because they have an honest desire to help
students be better and to improve their programs. I was
encouraged by their willingness to get involved and to look for
new ideas even after they have most likely seen every idea in
the book. I was encouraged by their willingness to get out and
build their network. Minnesota really has a great group of
advisors and they are doing a lot of things right "up north". It
was a great day also because Ann Postalwaite did a great job of
setting everything up. She had contacted my good friend Craig
Hillier
www.craighillier.com a few weeks ago looking to fill the
date and Craig was busy, so I got the call. Thank-you Craig. It
was great for us because we got to hang a bit the night before,
have a bite to eat and talk a little. It is funny we talk nearly
every day of our lives, but when we get together we still have a
lot to say. Any way thanks Craig for making all of this happen
for us it was a great morning!
Bills Blog 10.03.06 Wyoming State FBLA
I was picked up at the Casper Airport by Luke, the FBLA State
President and Mrs. Christenson and we had a quick ride back to
the hotel and got to talk about Wyoming FBLA and the group I
would be working with in the morning. Luke is a great student
and a very pleasant young man to be a round. It was great
getting to meet him. I got to the room I was speaking in early
the next morning, did a sound check and the room filled up with
FBLA students from all over the state and we began at around
9:00am. It was a lively group and time flew by and before you
knew we were finished. I got to do two more workshops while I
was there and it was all in all a great event because FBLA is a
great organization that really supports students in creating a
successful life in business. If you would like more information
about FBLA and all of the great things FBLA does go to
www.fbla.org to get the full
scoop. Special thanks to Kathleen Humphrey who was a wonderful
host and has an incredible commitment to making a difference
with teens!
Bills Blog 9.27.06 - DW Poppy High School and Langley
Fundamental Middle/Secondary School, British Columbia, Canada
Today has been a busy day, and both assemblies were great! I made
it to DW Poppy at about 7:15 this morning and was pleasantly
surprised that the students there were having a "meeting at the
pole" this morning. For those of you who don't know about the
meeting at the pole it is all about students getting together at
the flag pole and praying for the well being of our nation, our
schools and our families. Of all the ways to be greeted to a
school that is probably one of the best greetings ever! I had to
get inside before the meeting ended to set up for the assembly,
so I did not get a chance to connect with any of those students
until the assembly, but I was so pleased to get to start my day
in prayer with a bunch of teens in front of the school. Then we
got to do an assembly today at DW and it was a lot of fun. We
started at about 8:30 and went all the way until 10:00am and it
felt like 30 minutes. The time flew by. Then I had to hussle
over to Langley Fundamental, for an 11:00 start time on the
assembly. I had a "great moment" in that I learned this
morning that there is a difference between Langley Secondary
School and Langley Fundamental Middle and Secondary School. I
went to LSS first and discovered that I was in the wrong
place...and then had to hurry again to find Langley Fundamental.
Thank goodness for GPS and the Hertz "Never Lost" System. I was
able to key in the school name and got there just in time to
start the assembly...but I left all my gear, microphones, flip
charts etc back at Langley Secondary. Huge "Learning Experience"
for me...so I had to adjust. Since I got to Langley Fundamental
"just in time" a teacher volunteered to go over and get my bag,
and I started the program with only a hand-held microphone.
About 8 minutes into the assembly my gear showed up, and I was
able to set up and talk without a hitch...I don't think the
students even noticed because we just kept right on rolling, the
students kept laughing and participating...it was a great
challenge and I loved how it all worked out in the end. Today it
was so cool to talk with the Leadership Students who attended
the conference in Burnaby last spring, and it was really cool to
get the chance to finally connect face to face with Craig
Bressett from Langley. Craig, Karla and I have been emailing a
lot since last May trying to pull all of this together. Craig
really created the initial push to make all of this happen.
Craig is a very cool teacher, and you can tell the students
really connect with him. He has a lot of energy and is totally
committed to the students. Another committed administrator is
Mr. Hrisch at DW Poppy. I can tell he really likes it there at
DW and that he really wants to create more leadership
opportunities for his students. I have a feeling that I am going
to get to see all of my contacts on this trip again, and I hope
so because the pleasure was all mine! It has been a great
trip. Sorry to see it end, but I am happy to be headed home.
Home...there really is no place like it!
Bills Blog 9.26.06 - Penticton High School, Summerland High
School, British Columbia, Canada
Today was another great day in Canada! It all started with an
assembly of about 600 9th and tenth graders in Penticton, and
they were a great audience, I was introduced by Kyle Harms a
student who had attended the Reaching Beyond Seminar last April
that was held in Vernon. We proceeded to move through a lot of
material and the students were focused and excited about the
assembly. The hour went fast, and Sandy Richardson the Vice
Principal at Penticton was a great host. It was a great time,
thanks Penticton students! Then I traveled down the road and met
up with Jane Stead at Summerland Secondary where I had all the
ninth and 10th graders at Summerland. It is an amazing
auditorium there and it was full of great students. We were on a
roll for the entire hour and 45 minutes. It was amazing...we
experienced the full range of emotions, laughed, danced,
giddyuped, and had a great afternoon. Kelsey, one of the
students down front was laughing so hard that I thought we were
going to need to get her assistance. It was a great afternoon
and I was so pleased to get to talk to a few of the students on
my way out of the school who said they had a great afternoon and
thanked me for the program. As I reflect back on both assemblies
I must say that both audiences today were fantastic, and we did
have a challenge at Summerland...we worked through it, and
thanks for your patience! I was just so amazed at the level of
participation my 99% of the students there, and we were moving
forward and if some people choose not to be a part of it...we
need to say 'next' and move on. As I look back it was a great
day full of great energy, we had lots of laughs that opened the
door to hearing some insights that can support you in the
future. If any of you have comments or would like to chat or
follow-up about today feel free to comment at
bill@billcordes.com .
As I was returning to the airport this afternoon I was in awe of
the landscape and the beautiful place in which you live. The
lake was so beautiful, and the weather was incredible. I have
driven some great highways in my life. I have driven the Pacific
Coast Highway in California, Kalanianioli in Hawaii, and I can't
think of anyplace that compares to the beauty I saw with my eyes
today. You live in an amazing place. Now I am off to Vancouver
and need to get ready for two more assemblies in the morning. I
will be at DW Poppy Secondary and Langley Secondary in the
morning. Both schools are in the Vancouver area, and when I have
completed there I get to click my heels together and say there
is no place like home and back to Kansas. Can't wait to see my
family!
Bills Blog 9.25.06 - Dawson Creek, British Columbia, Canada
I departed on early Sunday morning for Canada, got in to Vancouver
at about 10:00am and then flew on up to Fort St. Johns in
British Columbia, from there I rented a car and drove to Dawson
Creek, BC. It is absolutely beautiful up here, and the weather is
great! Dawson Creek is actually known for being to origin point,
or Mile marker "0", for the "World Famous Alaska Highway". I had asked my contact Sally Curtis, so how
far is it to Alaska from here. (If you look on the map Dawson
Creek is almost even with the bottom part of Alaska)...She said
that she was not sure how far it was to the border, but she did
know that it was 1500 miles to Fairbanks, Alaska. WOW! We just
have no concept of how big everything it is up here. Kansas is
the center of the USA. It is 1500 miles from Great Bend to San
Francisco, and 1500 miles from Great Bend to New York City! Up
here 1500 miles is next door! So I
got a chance to drive around Dawson Creek and get familiar with
the community. This being only my second time speaking in
Canada...everything is just so new and exciting...I just love
being up here! Canada is like a whole 'nother country...Oh
wait...it is a whole 'nother country. I ate some Canadian food,
oh, by the way up here they just call it food! The kids at
Central Middle School in Dawson Creek were fantastic. I was
invited to Dawson Creek as a result of the Reaching Beyond
Leadership Conference I did in BC last spring. Those were put on
by Bill Edgecombe and Jim and Marg Elligott. Those conferences
were fantastic and we did a tour with four other speakers. It
was a fun week. We were in Prince George, BC, Kelowna BC, Nanaimo
BC and Vancouver BC. All of the programs were so much fun to do,
and all the students were so much fun. So as a result of those
programs we have filled three days this month up here and have
some possible programs scheduled for later in the year. So back
to Dawson Creek. It was so cool to get there, see Sally Curtis
again and some of the students who attended the leadership
conference. One of the students who attended the leadership
conference introduced me this morning. Her name is Katlyn and
not only is she a leader but she plays on the football team! How
cool is that! She is an outstanding individual and it was great
to get to spend sometime with her this morning before the
programs began. I did two assemblies there and in both sessions
the students were incredibly focused and allowed me to cover a
lot of great material in a short period of time. Thanks DC
students for being so great! A special thanks goes out to Sally
and all the staff, teachers and administrators at the school. As
the students were walking in this morning there were a couple of
teachers up in the stands coaching the students as they
came in...getting them focused and showing them where to sit
etc. I appreciated getting to watch them "coach" the
students in and being so respectful toward them. They were so great in the way they made the
assembly work from the start. Thanks so much. I don't know your names, but you know who you are! One of the teachers even
went so far as to bring a student back into the gym after the
assembly and re-teach the 'responsibility" piece to him. This
student had obviously had a 'great moment' or was living in
denial about something he had done wrong and the teacher brought
him back in to go over the four thieves of
responsibility...(shame, blame, deny and quit) and was asking
the student to take a look at his actions! I can't say enough
about this wonderful day and getting to know some new Canadians!
I am off to Kelowna now, and I will then drive to Penticton High
Schol and Summerland High School. I can't wait to get
there...and I am so pleased that my Canadian speaking adventure
is off to such a great start!
Bills Blog 9.25.06 - Penticton, British Columbia, Canada
Just arrived into Penticton via Kelowna, and it is getting late,
and I know that I am probably "overblogging" on this trip, but
everything is going so well and I had a few more thoughts that I
wanted to share. As we were flying out of Vancouver, I got a
chance to see Vancouver Island from the air and all the islands
off of the west coast of BC. The beauty is indescribable, but if
you have never been up here you should consider a vacation to
this part of the world in the spring, summer of fall. It is
really an amazing part of the world! By the time I got into
Kelowna it was already dark, but I could see the lake off the
side of the road as I drove into Penticton, and the mountains
towering above the water, and even though it was dark it was
breath taking. I am excited about seeing all of it in the light,
it will be a fun drive back to the airport. Looking forward to
my two assemblies in the morning. If you check in later on
Tuesday the 26h I should have the new blog up already. Thanks to
those of you have been reading and keeping track and be patient
if I have not emailed you back yet...my schedule has been pretty
full!
Bills Blog 9.22.06 - Overland Park, KS
The Johnson County Stop Underage Drinking Project is a first class
organization who has the right perspectives when it comes to
making a difference in the community. Karen Leisner and Mary
Moss head up the project and they are totally committed to
reaching area teens. This past Friday I had the opportunity to
return to Johnson County and work with them for a second time.
This year we did a middle school conference at "Incredi-Bowl"
and it was an "Incredible" day! 115 middle school students from
Johnson County and Tongonoxie Middle School converged on "Incredi-bowl"
at 8am on Friday morning not knowing what they were in for, but
ready to get involved and have some fun. We quickly rolled up
our sleeves and got to work talking about strategies and ideas
they could use to support their peers in making good choices. We
finished the day with an "action planning forum" as teens go
together with others from their school and talked about
S.M.A.R.T. (Specific Measurable, Attainable, Risking, Time
Framed) goals they could implement to support others in their
school. The average age of first alcohol usage in Johnson County
is around 13 years of age, so naturally we are reaching the
right audience. It was a fun day with some "incredible" kids.
Oh, and they did get to take advantage of some laser tag,
bowling and miniature golf for about 45 minutes, but don't
let that fool you ... we worked hard and played hard all day
long. Thanks for a great day middle schoolers! Also, special
thanks to Karen, Mary, Janine, Jason and the other adults who
worked hard to make a difference in the lives of teens. Next
week I will be blogging from Canada, as I return to British
Columbia for some assemblies. To all my Canadian friends, I am
excited about returning to your schools!
Bills Blog 9.19.06 - Goal Update
For those of you that attended one of the many goal setting
sessions that I did in Indiana, Kansas and Iowa over the summer
you may remember that during your goal setting session I also
set a goal to coach my sons football and basketball teams this
summer. Well that goal is well under way, and I am excited to
report that all is going very well. I have to admit when I
stated the goal...I was thinking I would be an assistant coach
because there is no way that my schedule would allow the
responsibilities of being a head coach. So I put in my
name...and I am the coach! It is time consuming and well worth
the effort. It is a lot of fun working with the kids and having
this activity in common with my son...it is a great bonding
experience for all of us. Being in constant pursuit of a goal is
an interesting thing, it makes us better on almost every level.
That is why it is so important for us to always have something
in the future we are working on. It has caused me to maximize my
time better, be more focused in how I use my time and also
causes me to be more present with people all of the time. I
challenge all of you who set goals with me this past summer to
go back and look at your community (this includes those of you
who are working on a community action plan) and personal goals,
and ask yourself some questions. How am I doing on this goal?
Have I taken steps to reach the goal or have I made my day to
day activities more important than my future? If you would like
to report back to me on how you are doing on the goals you set
this summer feel free to email me at
bill@billcordes.com . I
would be happy to hear from you! In the mean time I will be busy
working on practice schedules, and getting my team ready to take
the field. Wish me luck!
Bills Blog 9.13.06 - Clarion, Iowa
This was my fouth year back to do the League Leadership Conference
near Clarion. Each year, Dennis March, the principal at
Clarion-Goldfield high school and the other league principals
hold a leadership retreat to support students in developing
leadership skills. This year, as always we had a great group of
students who showed up prepared and ready to get to work. We
mixed up the curriculum this year and focused more on learning
to deal with failure. In the afternoon we applied those skills
by doing the "Chunking and Modeling" program and a ton of
students became experts in "juggleology". We then integrated the
message by talking about ... If today was not about learning to
juggle then what was the message! It was great integration and
students really "got" the message of the program. Thanks to all
the administrators who work so hard to go above and beyond for
their students! The day was also great because my son Shannon
got to make this trip as well. All the way back he talked about
all of the "high schoolers" he met, and appreciated the fact
that they treated him so well. Thanks to all of you for helping
us have a great day. When we finished we drove over to LeMars
Iowa and had some Blue Bunny Ice Cream. If you have been there.
It is a great place to visit.
Bills Blog 9.14.06 - Park Hill High School - Leadership Retreat
It was a long drive from Clarion, Iowa to Kansas City, and Shannon
and I were ready to get some rest. We didn't get in until about
mid-night, we found the location for the leadership retreat, and
then went back to the hotel for some quick-rest. Morning came
early and we were at the facility by about 7:30 and at 7:45 the
students from Park Hill were already filling in for the
beginning of the retreat. These students were awesome to work
with. Park Hill High School has about 1700+ students and we got
170 of their best leadership students. From the time they walked
in until the time they departed we were busy working on YOGOWYPI,
Responsibility, Leadership Skills and lots of team building and
networking. The day flew by! Eric Hayes, my web designer, who
attends the University of Kansas came over and spent a little
time with us as well. Thanks, Eric. A very special thanks to
Robert Franks who really went all out in making this a great
day. This is the first time they have ever had a day like this
so we were all a bit curious about how it all would work out. In
my opinion it was an overwhelming success and I would work with
these students any day of the week!
Bills Blog 9.08.06 - All School Assembly - Holcomb, KS
I got to spend a great day in Holcomb, Kansas where I spent the
day working with the high school students thanks to Mike Perez.
For those of you who don't know about Holcomb it is a great
growing community just west of Garden City, Kansas. Holcomb has
great facilities and is the school system gets a lot of
community support. The program that I did was funded by the
"Communities that Care" grant. This is the organization that
collects data from the schools concerning teen alcohol and drug
use. Mike Perez is young-old friend of mine who attended
Lakin High School with me back in the day. It was very
cool to see him interact with the students as the day went on
because you could tell he had a lot of connections with many of
the students and that he means a lot to them. We started
off the day with an all school assembly and then the students
split up into breakout sessions where they attended sessions
designed to support the students in making better choices while
in high school. The assembly was great and the participation
from the students was awesome. The students then went into
breakout sessions that were facilitated by community leaders and
teachers. We finished up the day by having a short assembly and
then Mike and his crew had put together a ton of giveaways that
included and ipod as the finally. It was a great day and special
thanks to all those who participated and to Principal Bill
Biermann for allowing this day to happen.
Bills Blog 9.07.06 - All School Assembly - Atwood, KS
I was at Rawlings County High School in Atwood, Kansas today. I
spent the best summer of my young life in Atwood when I was 11
years old. My Dad is a Mechanical Contractor and they got the
remodel on the hospital and rather than him driving back and
forth all summer, we all moved there for the summer. When I look
back on it...it was a magical summer filled with baseball, golf,
hunting for golf balls in the streams at the golf course and
watching my Dad pitch as a fast pitch softball player for the
nearby community of Ludell, Kansas. My Dad was an excellent
softball pitcher and that summer he pitched a no-hitter in Bird
City, Kansas. Everything about that summer was incredible.
Another legendary fast-pitch pitcher was Chuck Folke from Ludell,
and the two of them became a tough pair to beat! I got to see
Chuck Folkes daughter. Leanne who I had not seen since she was a
toddler, and that made the trip very cool. Also spent some time
talking with Nancy Wiseapple Kanak who was lived near the lake
when I was there and I spent a lot of time hanging out with her
brother Billy. Anyway...returning to Atwood was very cool, and
there is something very special about the community. The
students at the high school were incredible, I have not laughed
that hard during an assembly in a long time...and we had several
"pin drop" moments that made the program very powerful and
inspirational to present. All of this of course was due to an
outstanding student body who showed up for the assembly ready to
be a part of the message. The Principal at RCHS is Kurt Dillon
and he is also a former Ag teacher/FFA advisor, who put in
office a run of FFA State Officers as well as a FFA National
Officer. In my opinion Ag Teachers always make great
administrators, and based upon how I saw his students interact
with him through out the day he is a loved and respected man in
Atwood. Mr. Dillon had taken the initiative to get in contact
with me last school year to set up the date, and I appreciated
getting the opportunity. Had a great time talking with some
students and faculty afterwards and my thoughts from my
childhood were confirmed that there is something very special
about Atwood, Kansas and I was glad to spend a great day back in
the community. Best of luck to the students of RCHS...Great Job
on "owning" your "great moment" Samantha, and my wish for all of
the students at RCHS that you always remember that you live in a
special place with special people. All of my best to you! To
learn more about a great little community go to
www.atwoodkansas.com .
Bills Blog 9.6.06 - SADD Leadership Day - Norwich, Kansas
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BERNIE MCGEE!
www.berniemcgee.com
So many interesting things occurred today, I hardly know where to
start...Today Linda Hill and the Student Advisory Board for SADD
hosted a grassroots League SADD conference at Norwich High
School SADD is a national student driven organization whose
purpose can be found in their title. Students Against
Destructive Decisions. To learn more about what SADD does on a
national level go to www.sadd.com.
Every year Kansas Family Partnership out of Topeka, Kansas -
www.kansasfamily.com -
hosts a state SADD conference and thanks to the leadership of
Maria Torres Anderson with KFP that conference has grown in size
each year for the past 5 years. One of the groups that always
attends the SADD Conference, Red Ribbon Training and the Kansas
Youth Leadership Summit is the group from Norwich under the
direction of Linda Hill. One of the goals they set during the
KYLS was to host a SADD Leadership day for all their league
schools. Today Norwich completed that part of their goal. If you
remember from previous blogs students come to KYLS and design a
Community Action Plan (CAP)while at KYLS and the purpose of this
CAP is to reduce underage drinking within their community.
Norwich made their goal bigger in that they wanted to increase
their SADD leadership to league wide rather than school wide.
Norwich currently has a 50% of their student membership as
active members in their SADD organization so naturally their
goal was to look for other ways to increase their influence. As
I was watching all of this unfold today I kept thinking what a
great idea this is and what a tremendous opportunity this is to
have an impact in more schools. This is the first grassroots
League SADD conference that I have been aware of in Kansas, and
my hope is that other SADD schools will adopt this model and use
it to increase our participation in SADD throughout the state of
Kansas. I also think it is important because destructive
decisions is the number one reason why our drop-out rates are so
high in schools. I have heard numerous stories about small
schools having higher drop out rates and this concerns me
because schools are the life blood of many of our small Kansas
towns, and losing students to drop outs because of poor choices
is bad for everyone in the community. It is so important that we
make staying in school a priority, and I am convinced that SADD
clubs not only save lives but they keep students in the seats
and that supports our communities. The day started with an
introduction by NHS SADD members Grant and Erin, two long time
participants in the state SADD conferences and the KYLS. Then I
spent about two hours working with the students and talking
about positive choices. The program was fun and interactive and
the students were quick to laugh and get involved which made the
time fly right by. Special thanks to Levi for being such a great
sport through out the day, and glad to see that he was using his
'networking skills" to meet some participants that he was
"interested" in. Hope all that works out for you Levi! Following
the morning keynote we had a working lunch in which students got
together with the participants from their schools and they
discussed the problems related to underage drinking within their
community. Oh by the way the students who participated were from
the following schools, Pretty Prairie High School-
www.usd311.com - South
Barber High School -
www.southbarber.com - Stafford High School
www.stafford349.com -
and Cunningham High School -
www.usd332.com. Following lunch we got together and watched
the Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) video.
www.madd.com If you have not
seen the video it is powerful because it not only addresses the
tradedy of drunk driving crashes but it also addresses how it
affects all the people who lose a loved one due to drunk driving
crash. Following the video the Norwich High School SADD Student
board led the groups in a discussion about how to start a SADD
Chapter in their school. We also spent some time talking about
all the ways they can get involved in making their school better
by participating in the Kansas Family Partnership sponsored
events. Then I gave them a final charge to come to Red Ribbon
Training, SADD Training and the Kansas Youth Leadership Summit.
Maria Torres Anderson sent along some gifts for the participants
that included Heather Shellys CD, "In My Time" and a poster of
Heather and her band. Heather is from Scott City, Kansas and was
recently awarded Best New Act in Country Music and is taking a
stand against underage drinking and her song encourages teens to
make good choices. Thanks to all the Norwich High School SADD
members, the student board, the administration and Linda Hill
for making this a successful day! TIN ROOF! .... RUSTY!
Bills Blog 8.30.06 - Student Assemblies, Trego Community High
School, Wakeeney, Kansas
Over the years I have had numerous opportunities to speak in
Wakeeney. Last year after I had completed an assembly there Rita
Webber, and Principal Daryl Stegman decided that it would be
appropriate to do a follow-up assembly with the high school and
middle school to start off a new year. We had a great time and
picked up right where we left off. The students were fantastic
as you would expect from students who attend school in such a
great community. Following the 2 hour high school assembly we
did an assembly for an hour and a half with the middle school
students. They came in ready to go and had a lot of energy. We
spent a little time on learning to deal with failure, Chunking
and Modeling, Goal-Setting, and strategies for maximizing your
education experience. They had a lot of energy and were a lot of
fun to work with. Thanks Daryl Stegman and Rita Webber for
putting together a great day! To learn more about all of the
great things they are doing at Trego Community High School go to
www.tregoeagles.com .
Bills Blog 8.29.06 - High School Freshman Assembly and Teacher
In-Service at Missouri Valley, Iowa
Missouri Valley, Iowa is a small town right off of I-29 on the far
western side of Iowa. It is a great little community that has a
lot of positive things going for it. Namely the community
invests time and money into the education of their students. I
had the opportunity to visit last year though a program put
together by Laurinda Smith at Iowa State University, the Iowa
Department of Public Safety and the Governors Traffic Safety
Bureau. Diedre Drees, the principal at Missouri Valley decided
that she wanted all of this years Freshman to hear a similar
message so she went out into the community and sponsored the
program. I had the opportunity to meet Jay Smith of Missouri
Valley Insurance Agency, who was one of the sponsors of the
program. He actually sent two of his staff to the freshman
program and he came to the teacher in-service. Thanks Jay, it
was great meeting you and thanks for contributing to your
community. A special thank-you to the others sponsors of the
program as well!
Bills Blog 8.28.06 - Sylvan Grove, KS - Teacher In-Service
Had a wonderful time at Sylvan Grove High School where we had all
the teachers from the district for the morning as they prepared
to take on a new year. The superintendent there, Mr.Jude
Steckline, is one of the warmest, nicest people you will
ever meet he has a wonderful faculty and staff around him. I
took them through the first part of "Teachers R' Us" Phase 1 and
the morning went by quickly. We also spent a little extra time
outside of the "Teachers R Us" curriculum and talked about how
to developing your own personal stories for use in the
classroom. We also spent a little bit of our time talking about
teachers as advocates for their profession within their own
community. A special thank-you to Linda Haring the Girls
Volleyball Coach who attended the KU coaches clinic last April
and suggested that they have me in to do the teacher in-service!
If you would like to learn more about all of the great things
going on at Sylvan Grove please visit their site at
www.usd299.k12.ks.us .
Bills Blog 8.23.06 - Random Thoughts from the Summer!
As my summer winds down it is time to reflect on the many
opportunities I have had this summer and I am thankful for all
of them. This summer I had the opportunity to speak to over
10,000 teens, teachers, college students and business
professionals, did 92 programs in 47 different locations, stayed
in at least 40 different hotels, drove nearly 20,000 miles,
spoke in 8 different states, was on the east coast and the west
coast, designed 8 different curriculums for leadership camps,
ate way too much Sonic, met a lot of new friends and got to see
a lot of old friends. Coached my sons, little league team, spent
a month mentoring Bernie Mcgee, had over 30 different people
stay at my house at various times during the summer, got my
daughter off to college, worried about her too much...and I am
excited about the new year and what it might bring. Many people
think of new beginnings as the start of a new year...since I
have been so connected with education all my life it always
feels as if fall is the time of new beginning and the end of
summer brings for me thoughts of winding down and gearing up for
a new year. I am excited about the upcoming school year, this
year I want to be more effective with my programs, I want to
coach my sons flag football team and his basketball team. I want
to get the most out of my time at home and focus on being a
great dad and husband. Many of you have asked..."How can you do
that while being on the road so much." I always think in terms
of time at home verses time at work. I usually speak about 120
days a year, (This year has been slightly more) that means
2/3rds of the time I am at home, taking my kids to school and
being a full time dad. The days away are tough, but everyday at
home is a joy. It is not easy but my life is full, and this past
summer I have worn many different hats, but have lived to my
fullest potential. I challenge all of you who read this blog
regularly to do just that...maximize your time, fill your life
with many challenges, and when it is time to slow down...spend
that time with the people you love the most, and most
importantly don't leave anything left unsaid, tell the people
you love how you feel about them, and be totally present with
everything you do!
Bills Blog 8.22.06 Wilber-Claytonia High School, Wilbur
Nebraska - All School Assembly
Ron Oltman is a fantastic administrator who wants the best for his
students! About three months ago I got an email from the
principal at Wilber-Claytonia High School wanting to know if I
would be interested in coming back to do an all school assembly
to kick off the start of the year for them. I had been there two
years ago as the result of a program by Peru State College to
reach out to area high schools. We had a great day on that day
and I was eager to return. I was not disappointed. We had
another great day! When I was there before we did the "Making
Choices for the Real High School High" assembly. That program
focuses on the choices we make as a high school student and how
those choices today have an affect on the rest of their lives.
For the follow up assembly this year we focused on the "Learning
Game" and I gave them three tools that they can use starting
today that will have a huge impact on the rest of their lives.
Those three choices are, The Power of Imagination, (having a
dream about the person you want to become) Chunking and Modeling
(dealing with the crashes of your life and then using those
crashes to break the learning down and modeling success) and
SLANT, the personal classroom management tool that allows you to
be more effective as a student. The students came in energetic
and ready. Thanks for a great day Mr. Oltman and the students of
Wilber-Claytonia High School.
Bills Blog 8.21.06 - Burlington High School Teacher In-Service
After finishing at Neosho County Community College I made the
short drive up the road to prepare for the early morning start I
had with the teachers at Burlington County Community College.
This program was made possible because Jenny Anderson the
volleyball coach at Burlington had attended the KU coaches
clinic in Lawrence and passed my name on to the administrators
at Burlington. Dr. Rawson, the superintendent and Jane Nuessen
the grade school principal decided to move forward with it and
thank goodness because it gave me a chance to be exposed to an
outstanding school district. The thing that impressed me about
Burlington is the willingness of the community to invest in
their faculty and their facilities! I was so impressed by the
number of teachers there who are teaching for the right reasons
and was pleased to hear so many of their teachers were excited
about the upcoming school year. They have a lot to be optimistic
about because all of the investment into their community school
is paying off. Their enrollment is up, they have a great
faculty to work with and it is obvious that they have a lot of
community support. A special thank-you to Mr. Palmer and Sharon
Henry, Sharon has attended the Kansas Youth Leadership Summit
for years and has been a long time supporter of the program and
of all the students she brings to both the SADD Training and the
Red Ribbon Training each year. She loves working with students
and is compassionate in her desire to make a difference in the
lives of her students. Mr. Palmer is the forensics coach at BHS
and came to The Kansas Youth Leadership Summit in Rock Springs
this year, he brought a lot of enthusiasm and it is obvious that
he is in education for all the right reasons. A big thank-you to
both of you for all the support. After finishing the program I
spent about an hour with the middle school and high school
volleyball teams. They have a lot of girls out this season which
is a testament to all of coaching staffs hard work and caring.
We spent some time working together on what it means to be a
team and how to handle difficult situations as they progress
through the school year. It was a fun little session. Once
again, thanks for all the support for creating a great day for
me. Thanks Dr. Rawson, Jane Nuesson, Mr. Palmer and Sharon
Henry. It was a great day in a great district!
Bills Blog 8.20.06 - Neosho County Community College - Freshman
Orientation
Neosho County Community College is a great campus, in a great
location with a great support staff to help their students
transition into college life. Rita Drybread and staff did a
great job of putting together a first weekend experience for the
students and it was interesting to see students coming together
from all over the country to attend NCCC! I spent about an hour
with the students getting them to think about the opportunity
that college provides and letting them in on the fact that a
good performance here as a student can literally allow them an
opportunity anywhere they would like to go. I am a product of
the community college system having spent a year at Colby
Community College and a semester at Garden City Community
College so I feel that I can relate to where they are, and I am
very excited about what they can do with their education once
they leave NCCC and move on to other things. All my best
to all students who are starting their education in the
community college system and my challenge to you is to maximize
your time, and make the most of it!
Bills Blog 8.19.06 - Kansas Wesleyan University
Kansas Wesleyan University,
www.kwu.edu really does a great job of recruiting students
from all over the country, each year (this is my third year
doing their freshman orientation) I am always amazed at the wide
variety of students that come to KWU. Today I had students from
all over the country, and some international students as well! I
even spoke to a student after the program who was from Haiti!
Jim Allen the head of student admissions has a first rate staff
and they take pride in getting to know all of their students on
a personal level both before and after they arrive on campus.
Jim has so many stories about all of the places he has been and
all the connections he makes with the students. I was amazed he
knew nearly every new freshman by name and where they were from
and could even tell me why they chose KWU. Once students arrive
at KWU they get a first rate education as well! This year my
good friend Paul Hedlund
www.hcitools.com
came aboard the KWU staff as a full time teacher in the business
department. They are getting a first rate instructor who has
many years of experience in the business world. So students who
are in business will not only get great theory, but will get
great insight from someone who really understands business
inside and out. I know that Paul will be a great addition to the
KWU faculty. Special thank-you also goes out to Tina Wohler of
KWU for working so hard to put together a great experience for
the first year students. Their agenda was packed and I know they
take a lot of pride in the personal experience that they provide
for incoming freshman. I had a great day with about 225 new
students and it was obvious to me that they were excited about
their choice, and were ready to get involved and participate in
the program. We went about 2.5 hours in the morning and had some
great conversations with a few of the students after the
program. In the afternoon I did a communication seminar with the
student ambassadors. It was a lot of fun because these students
not only represent KWU but are concerned with maximizing their
education while they are there. They really get that their
education in college extends beyond the walls of the classroom,
and all were attentive and ready to pick up the additional edge
to support them in succeeding!
Bills Blog 8.18.06 - Freshman Orientation - Fort Hays State
University
I completed at UNI at about 4:30pm and quickly said goodbyes and
was back on the road because it is a mammoth trip from northern
Iowa to Western Kansas. I finally arrived in Hays at about
2:00am and was on campus at Fort Hays State University at
8:00am. It was a quick night! However, it was also an exciting
event for me. This is my second year back doing the Freshman
Orientation at Fort Hays State University, and it is very
special for me because I am a product of FHSU! I attended FHSU
for the first part of my undergraduate degree, spent three years
at the University of Hawaii, then transferred back to finish up
in the summer of 1989. Then following that I received my Masters
Degree in Communication from FHSU. So it is a huge honor for me
to be a part of the orientation process at FHSU. The student
affairs staff at FHSU has been incredible to work with over the
past two years, and they work so hard at creating a quality
experience for their students. I just can't say enough great
things about them! I was introduced this morning by Dr. Joey
Linn who heads up the Registrars office at FHSU and he is also a
friend of mine from my college days at Fort Hays. That was a
very cool experience for me. I spent about three hours with over
700 incoming freshman and the time never dragged, they got
involved, laughed a lot and we even danced a little! It was a
very cool morning. Josha, my daughter sent me a text during my
program and said all of my friends that are in your audience are
texting me saying they are having a great time at the program. I
got the text while I was using the phone as a visual aid during
my networking portion of the program, opened it up, and it made
me laugh. Josha gave me a list of names and I told the hello
from the stage. It was awesome to have so many of Josha's
friends in the audience and it was even better to be a part of
supporting them in having a great start to a gret FHSU
experience. Have a great year FHSU students and I wish you all
the best. You have made a great choice!
Bills Blog 8.17.06 - Get a Grip University-Freshman
Orientation, University of Northern Iowa
After finishing with the Jayhawks at about 5:30pm I hopped in my
vehicle and drove from Topeka Kansas to Cedar Falls Iowa. Yes,
it is a very long drive and I did not get in until about 1:00am,
and had an 8:00 start time at the University of Northern Iowa.
This program was sponsored by Get a Grip, Laurinda Smith and the
Department of Public Safety at Iowa state University. We call
the college portion of Get a Grip, Get a Grip U or GAGU for
short and its mission is much the same as Get a Grip except to
support college students in maximizing their transition into
high school. The am program was a wonderful experience because I
got to work with the food service staff at UNI! They were a
great audience! They consisted of food service professionals,
and student support staff. So it was a very diverse audience,
whose needs are very different, but we were able to find common
ground on the topic areas of communication and the need to
create a quality work environment. My programming consisted of
mainly the business seminar topics. Thanks Carol and the food
service staff for providing a very uplifiing and unique
experience for me. Following the program Carol gave Laurinda and
I a tour of campus because Laurinda is in the process of moving
Get a Grip to the University of Northern Iowa so that we can
reach more students in a different area of Iowa. So get ready
northern Iowa because we will be in your area soon if all goes
as planned. UNI has some great facilities, lots of meeting
space, lots of stuff for students to participant in and the food
is the best college food I have ever experienced...and I have
experienced a lot of it! Following the tour I met up with Drake
Martin, head of the residential community at UNI and TJ Warren
long time Get a Grip staffer, resident assistant and student at
UNI and we prepared for the freshman orientation for about 300
of the UNI incoming freshman. UNI has a lot more freshman than
this, buit this was a specific group of students who take part
in an extended orientation process. The groups included
Springboard, Jumpstart and the International students. These
students are moving toward success and are all seeking
strategies to maximize their college experience. It was a blast
to be a part of, and the two hour program flew by. I was so
pleased with the number of students who approached me after the
program who were sincere in their desire to get a great
education. Thanks Carol, TJ, Laurinda, and Drake for pulling off
a great freshman experience for all these wonderful students.
Bills Blog 8.16.06-University of Kansas Volleyball Team Ropes
Course Event
After finishing with Clay Center, I stopped in Topeka on the way
through where I met with the KU volleyball team and we went
through a ropes course together to support them in some team
building as they gear up for a new season. I have worked with
every Ray Bechard Volleyball Team since 1989 and it is always a
good time and a great experience for me to spend quality time
with the great players he brings in to the University of Kansas.
This year is special for me because Josha, my daughter works the
role of team manager on the team. We took the team through 5-6
events, and talked about this year being a new year and gave
them some strategies for learning from last year while keeping
focused on maximizing their opportunities this year. The
expectations are high this year because this team is coming off
of three straight NCAA tournament appearances. KU Volleyball had
never been to the touney prior to the arrival of Coach Bechard,
so the team has moved from the attitude of "It would great to
get in the NCAA's" to "We expect to make it". The pressures of
that expectation are both good and bad, but regardless it means
that the team will need to keep focused and keep winning. I am
really looking forward to some great volleyball this fall.
Thanks Coach Bechard, Coach Posey and Coach Jones for allowing
me to play a small role in the huge task you have ahead of you!
Bills Blog 8.16.06 Clay Center, Kansas Teacher In-Service
I got into Clay Center the evening before the program and
was on site ready to go early in the morning. It was a two hour
program to kick off the start of the year with about 300
teachers and support staff. First of all let me say that I
really love doing a teacher in-service that has all of the staff
participate. Because every component of a child's education is
important. I believe that anyone who has contact with students
should be a part of the in-service process because we all need
to be aware of the role we play in making a difference in the
lives of children. I have been to Clay Center many times before
but this was the first time to da a faculty in-service, so it
was extra special for me. It was also special because Mike
Folks, the superintendent is someone that I have worked with
many times before. The first time I worked with him was doing a
program for his basketball team when he was a Garden City,
Kansas about ten years ago. Since that time he has used me to
work with his students on numerous occasions when he was a
principal at Central Heights High School, south of Ottawa
Kansas, then when he was a superintendent there and now that he
has moved to Clay Center we got to work together again. The
theme of the year for Clay Center is "Success Begins with Me" an
encouraging message designed to encourage personal
responsibility on the part of all teachers and staff. The
program began in a typical fashion by having two of the school
nurses talk about "Blood Born Pathogens" always a tough act to
follow because typically BBP is not a very exciting topic. Not
the case here however, Robin and Lynn did a great job with it
and it was hilarious. So if any of you reading this ever dread
the BBP talk at your school, contact me they have an excellent
strategy for teaching this in a hilarious and effective way. I
have heard the BBP talk in many different places but never
laughed as hard as I did at Clay Center. Great Job, Robin and
Linn. In my portion I weaved in a lot of personal strories, we
did several activities and the staff got involved and it was a
great start to a new year. Best of luck as you take on the new
year Clay Center!
Bills Blog 8.14.06 Deerfield Kansas, Teacher In-Service,
Community Program and high school all school assembly
I got to spend two full days in Deerfield, Kansas, and for those
of you who don't know I am a southwest Kansas kid, and Deerfield
is just 7 miles from Lakin, Kansas where I graduated high
school. So this was a lot like going home for me and I had the
chance to re-connect with a lot of friends from my younger days.
My contact there was the result of a Kansas Farm Bureau agent
who was at a program I did in Ness City last spring. He is also
on the school board so he went back and mentioned it to the
principle, Mr. Kedrowski, I met Mr. K at a teacher
in-service I did in Scott City several years ago. He was on
board, called me up and we set up a compelling two day event
that turned out to be two very exciting days. We started off
with a teacher in service on Monday morning, then had a
community program in the evening. We had about 100 students,
staff and community members participate in the event and all the
student participants received a copy of my book, The Yogowypi
Factor, and a Yogowypi T-shirt. The next morning we
did the school kick off with 6-12 graders and I spoke about an
hour and a half. I did the Making Choices Assembly and naturally
the students responded great, just as you would expect southwest
Kansas students to do. Deerfield is a very unique community that
serves its' students very well. It is about 15 miles from Garden
City Kansas and it is a very diverse student population. The
students and teachers in this community welcome the diversity
and as a result they have very few challenges. It has a very
energetic faculty and staff, and facilities that are incredible
because of all the community support. Also while in Deerfield
got to spend some time with a special family that I consider my
"second family". The Hayzletts, Gary, Helen, Teresa, Jill and
Wendy, were very influential to me while I was going to high
school and have continued to be an inspiration. The three girls
are all grown and married with children now, so I only got to
see Wendy who is a teacher in Lakin. It was a lot of fun being
home. Special thanks to Mr. Ansley the superintendent for all
the support. Thanks Spartans for a great year. Coach Richter, it
was also great to see you again and best of luck on the upcoming
football season. If your intensity is half of what it was in
high school I know your players will respect and play hard for
you!
Bills Blog 8.10.06 - Madill, Oklahoma Teacher In-Service
After I finished up with KYLS I headed down to do a teacher
in-service with the faculty and staff of Madill Oklahoma. This
was really like hanging out with may FFA family in Oklahoma. Mr.
Carter, who is the superintendent of the district was a former
Ag Teacher, FFA Supporter and a friend of FFA as well as FFA
Alumni Camp. This was also made possible by Monte Womack who is
the HS Principal long-time friend and the father of 5 of the
best boys you will ever meet. Brian, Brent, Brandon, Bradley and
Brady,. (try saying that five times fast). He and Mrs. Womack
are great parents and community servants. It was such an honor
to spend time with them! Oh, yeah, we did a teacher in-service
as well! What an outstanding group of teachers! We had so much
fun, the day flew by, and we got them ready to take on another
great year. After we completed the in-service I had the
opportunity to speak to the youth group at the First Baptist
Church in Madill. It was a great evening with a great bunch of
students. I left with a full heart and a refreshed faith!
Bills Blog 8.9.06 - The University of Kansas Volleyball Team
Dinner
Well it is official, I now have a daughter at the University of
Kansas, I feel old and excited for her. During the KYLS
conference I drove over to Lawrence for a few hours to visit her
apartment, and attend the Volleyball Dinner. Josha is the team
manager for the team and is ready to take on the challenge. I
wish her all the best and know that she and the team will have a
great year! After the dinner I had the opportunity to address
the team and parents. It was a short talk but was honored to get
to do it. Big Thank-you to Ray Bechard...I was so happy to do
it! Go Jayhawks!
www.kansasathletics.com
Bills Blog 8.8.06 - KYLS - Rock Springs Kansas
If you attended the Kansas Youth Leadership Summit...you probably
have some songs stuck in your head like "Life is a Highway" or "R.E.S.P.
E.C.T" just like I do most every day of my life...not that it's
a bad thing just and excellent "anchor" into your memory about
some great experiences and a great adventure in meeting people.
For those who did not attend the conference it was an amazing
adventure. Several things happened this year that made it an
unique and interesting conference. First of all it was much
bigger, with over 200 particiants, youth and adult staff the
energy was over the top. The participation was at 100% from the
time the participants came in until the moment they left. It was
amazing. The days were filled with activity, learning and most
importantly Home Teams completing action plans about what they
were going to do to make a difference in their communities. Here
is the basic framework of the conference: Adult and Youth team
leaders get trained ahead of time to lead "Home Teams" through a
community action planning process over the course of the three
day event. (See Bills Blog 7.22.06) This of course is all made
possible through the hard work of Maria Torres Anderson and
staff of Kansas Family Partnership
www.kansasfamily.com
who have a passionate desire to support teams of students all
over the state of Kansas to create quality programming in their
communities. Action plans are centered around the notion that we
need to support teens in making healthy choices and making a
difference in "underage drinking" in the state of Kansas. To do
this teens take a look at data that has been collected over the
years in their communities dealing with substance abuse.
Remember when you take those surveys in school that asks
questions like: "Have you had a drink of alcohol within the past
30 days?" see:
http://beta.ctcdata.org/ This is one of the many ways the
data is used. In their "Home Teams" teens sit down and look at
the data through a "Data Interaction Process" that encourages
discussion and interaction about their communities. In three
days and 5 meetings the teens create and develop a plan designed
to target specific problem areas in their communities. Sounds
like tedious hard work doesn't it! WRONG! It is actually a very
engaging and fun process because the conference is filled with a
lot of pump up sessions, some great speakers like Pete Bodyk,
Chief Kansas Department of Transportation Bureau of Traffic
Safety, (Pete is passionate about seatbelt use and delivered a
program that made students think about how they can save lives)
JL Reidel Kansas Highway Patrol Trooper who also delivered a
powerful program about seatbelt use and drinking and driving.
Teens also got to meet Heather Shelly
www.heathershelley.com
who is an up and coming country star from Scott City Kansas, and
recently received the title "Best New Act in Country Music"
Heather worked with KDOT and recently released a song to support
our mission in reducing underage drinking. Thanks Heather it was
great to meet you and thanks for hanging out with all the
conference participants. During the three days we
addressed problems and challenges as well as a lot of the stuff
teens like to do such as group activities, dancing, times to
interact and grow. The end result is teens leave the program
charged up and ready to make a difference. It was a great three
days and I was sad to see it all end. Also, if you left your
cell phone at the conference, email me through the site, I have
it and would love to get it back to you!
Bills Blog 8.2.06 - Oklahoma Farmers Union Leadership
Summit
Just returned from the Oklahoma Farmers Union Leadership
Summit which was located this year at Quartz Mountain Resort
near Hobart, Oklahoma. It was a great reunion of Oklahoma
Leaders. We had about 55 students and about 10 staff members in
attendance. I have worked with many of these students through
other Oklahoma programs so it was a real treat to be a part of
this. Shelly and Liz the program coordinators did a great job of
recreating this program to improve it and give it more of a
leadership focus. A special thanks also goes out to Dallas
Kraut, former FFA state officer and soon to be Ag Teacher, and
Jarred Johnson, former FFA State Officer and current Oklahoma
FFA National Officer Candidate, for assisting in the program
facilitation. They were a huge hit and a great addition to the
programming! I spent four days at this program so we covered a
lot of material, we did a ropes course, an in depth goal setting
session, and the days were filled with activities and learning.
It was an outstanding camp and it was tough to say goodbye to
all of my Oklahoma friends. Also special thanks to the former
council members who did a great job of working with the
participants and put on a great banquet as well. I was
also pleased to work with the Womack brothers who were there to
assist with the program. Thanks Womacks! All in all it was an
intense four days but was a lot of fun. To all those who
attended and will be present at Oklahoma ALD, I am looking
forward to our next gathering!
Bills Blog 7.28.06 - Kansas Board of Regents - Adult
Educators: Kansas State University
As a Big 12 sports fan, it is cool for me to say that I spoke
on three Big 12 campuses in 2 days! Not that this has a lot to
do with anything....but it is cool for me. After I finished up
at the University of Kansas I drove to Manhattan, got in late,
slept fast and was on campus at Kansas State University by 7:30
am to set up for the Kansas Board of Regents conference for
Adult Educators. This is a great organization whose focus is to
give Educators who work primarily with adult students skills and
tools to be more effective with their unique population. Go to
www.thekaea.org or
www.kansasregents.org
to learn a little more about these organizations. I got to do a
session on Effective Communication and the conference closing
keynote. It was a great opportunity for me to shift gears and
work with some adult educators. They were quick to be involved
and were excited to gain some tools and strategies to support
them in having a great school year. This is a great population
of educators whose work makes a huge difference in people who
desire a second chance in life. They are people who have a
desire to really support people and their work has a huge impact
on the audiences they serve.
Bills Blog 7.27.06 - Get a Grip - Iowa State University
- University of Kansas Team Volleyball Camp
Get a Grip finished great and Thursday was a full day of
programming! Our task on Thursday was to complete the "Personal
Leadership" curriculum, and then give them some additional
skills and tools they could use when implementing their
"Community Action Plan" when they returned to their community.
All of that was completed by early am, then we went into the
final "Home Team Meeting" where all the teams completed and
reported on their community action plans. A wide variety of
action plans were proposed and all were focused on actions that
could make a difference by saving lives within their respective
communities. After lunch we worked on team and service
leadership and went through a powerful service leadership
activity designed to support teens in empathy building so they
would see their ability to have an impact once they went home.
Our final activity is a Get a Grip annual event, designed to
give them a call to action and a passionate desire to reach and
succeed in their personal and community goals. I will not go
into detail about what we did because you really need to be
there to understand, but it was powerful, emotional and
participants left ready to take on their community action plans
and personal goals. Following Get a Grip I had to hustle out to
Lawrence, Kansas where I got to work with Ray Bechards Team
Volleyball Camp at the University of Kansas. It was an awesome
group of volleyball players who were there to develop team
skills to be successful in the fall volleyball season. The
session was short, fun and filled with a lot of humorous
moments. However, they learned some skills that dealt with the
importance of failure on the path to success, a little YOGOWYPI
Philosophy, team communication strategies, and the importance of
knowing your roles on a team.
Bills Blog 7.26.06 - Get a Grip -Ames, Iowa
Get a Grip
ww.dps.iastate.edu/getagrip got off to a great start
yesterday, thanks to a great staff, and a lot of organizational
logistics that were taken care of by Laurinda, and Lisa with the
Get a Grip staff. But the most amazing part of the program is
how energized the college and high school staff were from the
start. It is incredible to see the amount of energy they
generate at the beginning of the program. From the time the
students arrive on campus, the staff members were doing
activities, and talking with the participants. By the time
students came in for the first session, participants knew they
were in for something special. We started by the staff doing
their opening energizers, introductions and then I spent about 2
hours with the students setting the tone for what turned out to
be a high energy day. Through stories and activities we outlined
the entire conference, laid out the expectations, and the
participants jumped in and got involved. The opening session is
about two-hours of pure participation, excitement building, and
then after that we break-out into work groups led by the high
school peer facilitators. Their session was a question and
answer session that dealt with leadership in their community.
After checking in with participants I discovered the sessions
went great and our peer advisors did a great job of facilitating
some lively and entertaining discussions. All of this will
assist the teens in putting together their action plan later in
the program. The evening program consisted of teens
participating in some fun activities at the ISU rec center then
it was back to work. Linda Wright, and the Get a Grip team from
Sumner-Fredricksburg spoke about their past year and all that
they had completed on their action plan, then the groups were
broke up into their home teams, led by the advisors that came
with the groups to do some initial brainstorming about what they
are going to do this year to have an impact on their school.
Day Two began with AM Boogie, to get the blood flowing in
preparation for a full-day of training. I spent most of the
morning giving the teens tools for dealing with the success and
failures that go along with the action planning process so that
they will learn how to deal with the challenges and obstacles
they will encounter when they go back into their schools and
start implementing their action plans. It was a morning filled
with laughter, energy and participants received content that
would assist them in the action planning process. In the morning
we got to hear two speakers from the ISU Police Department. The
first was Dwight Hinson, a DPS officer and former All-American
Collegiate wrestler. Dwight did a great job of communicating the
dangers of alcohol and athletics as well as giving the students
a "game plan" for living a productive life great job Dwight.
Next, Sergeant Aaron Delashmutt did a great job in talking about
the dangers of the internet and how not being aware of how your
content on the internet can lead to dangerous situations. He
talked about Facebook, My Space, and Xanga, Chat Rooms etc.. He
was very prolific in his teaching and stressed that we can never
be too careful when it comes to internet safety. Another great
session. Congratulations to long time Get a Grip Advisor and
Superintendent, Doug Miller on receiving the Get a Grip "Advisor
of the Year Award". He is a long time GAG advisor and has
brought students to this conference as a teacher, principal and
superintendent. The award is well deserved for his continued
commitment. After lunch, we did some energizers and got into
some great content by Jerry Stewart of the ISU DPS who talked
about pedestrian safety and things they could do in their
communities to make the roads safer for pedestrians. Jerry and
Liz both did a great job of creating a lot of energy and
generating some great ideas. They recorded all of the ideas
generated, and on Thursday prior to the final action planning
process all teams will get a final copy of the 100 ideas they
generated to assist them in putting together a comprehensive
action plan. We also got to hear from Linde Hobbs, Tom Neuerberg
and TJ Warren, all three long time Get a Grippers and current
members of our college staff. All three did great presentations
about how they are using the "Tools" from Get a Grip to maximize
their life opportunities. Linde, talked about her internship
with Disney, Tom talked about his trip to China with the ISU
singers and TJ talked about his trip to Europe with the
University of Northern Iowa Mens Glee Club. The message I got
from all three speakers was that there is no end to the amount
of opportunities you can create if you apply the tools
consistently in your life. Great Job on three terrific programs.
We ended the day with a Goal Setting session to clarify the
importance of having a clear strategy for making an impact when
you leave. I was so impressed by the staff and the participants
we did a full 8.5 hours of training before 5:30 pm and I never
saw one tired face. All of the participants were excited coming
in and were more excited when they left. However, their day was
not completed. After dinner participants prepared for a talent
show and dance Get a Grip style. This in not your typical
social, but a teaching tool about how to have fun, put together
a drug free event and how to successfully plan and execute
creative, interactive school functions. It was a great day and
day three promises to be an even more impactful day!
Bills Blog 7.24.06 - Get a Grip - Ames, Iowa
I have been blogging about the Get a Grip program for
sometime now, and I am happy the program is finally here so I
can tell you all about it. Get a Grip started in 1991, as a
program to support teens in making good choices regarding
traffic safety, teen choices. Lisa Safaenili, who is no longer
with the program had an incredible vision, and now Laurinda
Smith, the program director has taken the program to new
heights. I started as the facilitator for the program in 1992,
and have done it every year since then. The program still has a
traffic safety focus, and the core values of the program consist
of Community, Choices, Respect and Accountability, all of which
gets covered in detail throughout the course of the program.
Teams of teens come to the program from all over the state of
Iowa, to be a part of massive energy generated around the topic
of "Making a Difference" in Iowa communities. Each team leaves
the program with a comprehensive action plan that they will
implement in their community. Also, when the teams return many
will report on the success of their action plan, and what they
are going to do this year to make a bigger impact. The result is
that we have many well established "Get a Grip" clubs all over
Iowa in the schools and community centers. It is an awesome
family of friends who are brought together with the common goal
of making Iowa better and safer for teens. Also each year many
of the same staff return to be a part of the program. It is
really hard to put into words the amount of respect, and
admiration I have for this group of young leaders. Some are in
college, and have been coming since they were in high school. It
is an incredible reunion! When I got in this evening it was so
great to see all the smiling faces who were ready to get to the
work of preparing for the nearly 100 teens who are arriving in
the morning. We spent some time working of facilitation
skills, and getting in the right heart space to have an impact
on the incoming participants. I will write more about "Get a
Grip in the following days so stay tuned!
Bills Blog 7.24.06 - The Leadership Program - Cedar Rapids,
Iowa
Today I am in Iowa! Earlier this summer I got a call from
former "Get a Grip" participants, Jordan Goetsche who is now a
college student at the University of Iowa and Chris Stumpf-who
is now a student a Kirkland College, they both are working a
summer leadership program that they went through when they were
young and now are facilitators for the program. Jordan and Chris
worked their tails off getting me to Cedar Rapids so I could
work with their students. The program is called The Leadership
Program and it targets middle school students who have
leadership potential. Their purpose is to prepare the students
to be leaders in middle school/high school and beyond. The
program has been in existence for about 12 summers and this is
the first summer I had the opportunity to work with the
students. The day was great because the students were great to
work with, but also because of all of the college facilitators.
They all had incredible energy! There were a lot of University
of Iowa cross country runners, track athletes, and football
players. All with a sincere desire to be role models for Cedar
Rapids students. I had the students from 9-2 and together we
trained, worked on communication skills, laughed, worked on
relationship issues, leadership skills and through in some
student success skills. All in all it was a day filled with
content, humor and a lot of energy. The day went by fast because
of all the support from the college leaders and many thanks to
Chris, and Jordan for working so hard to make this day a
reality. When I completed in Cedar Rapids I said good-byes and
headed off to Ames for an evening training to prepare for this
weeks Get a Grip Program.
Bills Blog 7.22.06: Kansas Family Partnership-KS Youth
Leadership Summit Pre-conference Training-Topeka, Kansas
It was a long trip from Washington DC to Topeka Kansas! It
really didn't help much that my flight out of DC was
delayed/missed my connection into Wichita. Luckily Karla, my
wife, program director and right arm...was able to schedule me
on a flight into Tulsa, where I rented a car, drove to Wichita,
picked up my vehicle and got into Topeka at 5:30am just in time
for a 9:00am start with Kansas Family Partnership.
www.kansasfamily.com
It was a short night, I slept really fast and was in the
conference room ready to go with a "smile on my face and love in
my heart!" How could I not have a great approach to this
program? Kansas Family Partnership/ Maria Torres-Anderson,
Michelle Voth and staff have been so great to work with over the
years and I was excited to see the new group of trainers I had
on staff to support them in putting on our summer leadership
program. This program is an annual program (I believe this is
our 5th year) that I get to do with KFP that focuses on
eliminating underage drinking in the state of Kansas. Our
conference mission model is to use data collected from schools
to support teens in understanding the challenges within their
specific communities. To do this we train a group of trainers
both teen and adults to lead community teams through a process
of team-building, communication, data discovery so they can
create a customized action plan based upon the needs of their
counties. Today we had 45 trainers show up to get prepared to
lead 215 Kansas teens from all over the state when we do the
Kansas Youth Leadership Summit in August. In August we take them
through a 3 day intensive training that supports teens in
creating a plan through three phases.#1) Large group general
sessions designed to motivate, enthuse and train, #2) The Home
Team Action Planning Process-This is led by the facilitators I
trained today one youth and one adult facilitator/team.
Facilitators take the teams through a 5 step action planning
process over the course of the three days in which they look at
the data collected from communities regarding underage drinking,
community resources, challenges and opportunities, and then
develop a specific customized action plan that they will
implement in their community over the next year. #3) Teens get
to work in "Away Teams" these are groups of teens randomly
created so that they are representative of the state of Kansas.
In this process the teen and adult facilitators guide the "Away
Teams" through a process of getting to know challenges teens are
having in other communities regarding underage drinking. This
insight will ultimately support the "Home Teams" in creating a
more comprehensive action plan. This model is a similar model to
the one we developed for the Get A Grip program
www.dps.iastate.edu/getagrip/ I do in Iowa each year. I am
on my way there so I will write about that in my Blog later this
week. Special thanks to Sharolyn Dugger for all the support in
working the teens on the night before I arrived and for her
specific insight that supports us in putting together a great
training model. Also, thank-you Kelsey, Andrea, and Natasha who
came as youth trainers, and are now adult trainers, your energy
is amazing! All in all the day was a fun and emotional one
because we quickly got to the heart of the matter which is
saving lives and getting in touch with why we are here and the
impact alcohol can have on a community. The day ended with
strong emotion which fueled our "heart space" and prepared us
for the challenges that we are about to undergo when the 215
Kansas teens arrive at Rock Spings for our three day leadership
summit.
Bills Blog 7.21.06: American Institute of Architecture
Students-National Convention, Washington DC.
I was in Washington DC today speaking at the American
Institute of Architectural Student (AIAS).
www.aia.org/ev_c_aias_jul06_conf What a cool audience. The
program consisted of students from 85 different colleges across
the country. It was very cool to see all of the representation,
and was even cooler to see how committed these students were to
their profession and to their communities they serve. They
really understand the connection between designing buildings and
designing a life. You know Buckminster Fuller, innovator,
futurist was also an architect. I have a special affinity for
Bucky and his teaching because of his passion for making a
difference in the world, doing more with less, maximizing the
planets resources and because he taught the importance of coming
from abundance rather than scarcity. If you want to become a fan
go to: www.bfi.org The students
I got to work with, about 160 of them, are a group of
incredibly intelligent students who are not just willing to go
the extra mile when it comes to learning about design but who
also want to understand how to be at the top of their profession
in terms of leadership, communication and teamwork. One of the
topics that came up today was the frustration that comes with
having a great idea, but not being able to communicate the
idea...which of course illustrated the point that you could have
the greatest ideas in the world, but if you can't communicate
that vision than that vision is really useless. The power of the
training was getting them to invest time and energy into
developing communication, leadership and teamwork skills so they
can better serve their clients, profession and community. I got
to work with the students from about 9:00 am to 3:00pm as part
of their conference kickoff. The program I did was a custom
program that incorporated "grassroots leadership",
communication, team work, leadership, and responsibility. The
program came about as the result of "Get a Grip" a program I do
in Iowa each year through Iowa State University and the
Department of Public Safety, and the Governors Traffic Safety
Bureau, in Des Moines Iowa.
www.dps.iastate.edu/getagrip/ Jonathan Bahe, a college
students who goes to college at the University of Minnesota,
came to Get a Grip back in the summer of 2000. Jonathan went to
high school at Sumner High School, which is now Sumner-Fredricksburg,
(one of the most active Get a Grip programs in the state because
of their incredibly committed advisor - Linda Wright). So
Jonathan became the President of the AIAS, a one year term,
called me up a few months ago and asked if we could bring some "YOGOWYPI"
energy to the AIAS. To recap, Jonathan came to Get a Grip, who
became the AIAS President and brought me to Washington DC. How
about that for the power of networking!!! It turned out to be a
great fit, for me and for them! I feel richer because of the
opportunity and I am confident that the AIAS students got a
great program as well. It was an honor to work with these
students and put together a custom program that fit the needs of
their organization and conference. A special thanks to Michael
Geary the AIAS Executive Director for his initiative and willing
to try out something new. Thanks again AIAS for a great day in
Washington DC!
Bills Blog 7.20.06: Kansas Farm Credit Services
I am at the beginning of quite a stretch of programming and
fortunately for my this stretch began at home in Great Bend KS.
The group was Kansas Farm Credit Services,
www.fcskansas.com
and their mission goes much bigger than banking but they
are all about creating situations for service and opportunities
within their communities. The group was about 200 strong, and I
got to do the keynote that closed the conference. Before I
started however, I had the chance to listen to local speaker and
friend Donna Staab. It was great to hear her program she talked
about laughter and living and her talk was a great lead into my
program. My talk focused mainly on business leadership,
maximizing opportunities, responsibility, and of course YOGOWYPI!
I am now off to Washington DC where I will be speaking to the
American Institute of Architecture Students.
Bills Blog 7.17.06 - Operation Military Kid
Saturday was another amazing day for me because I was in
Wichita Kansas speaking to a group of teens and pre-teens for the
Kansas Air National Guard as part of a program to support the
families of all the soldiers being deployed overseas. Our soldiers
are giving all they have to support others in securing their
freedom and it was truly an honor to be a part of it. Adrian
Dickey who serves as the coordinator for Operation Military Kid,
Teen Camp and who wears a ton of hats has been great to work with
because she has a huge heart and loves all the kids she serves. It
was an emotional day for the teens as they went through a "Mock
Deployment" in the afternoon so the families would have a chance
to understand a little about all the steps there parents go
through as they prepare to go to Iraq. We had a great morning with
them before the mock deployment as we focused on communication
skills, and leadership to support them in dealing with the
changing roles that will take place in their family when they have
a parent who is serving so far away. All my best to those who are
serving and the families who are keeping things together on the
homefront!
Bills Blog 7.14.06 -Oklahoma FFA Camp 4/Operation Military
Kid
We completed the last of 4 Oklahoma FFA Alumni Camp sessions on
Wednesday. I enjoyed all four sessions, and got to re-connect with
some great people. We did stay for the vespers program put on by
the State Officers on Wednesday evening. It was very cool because
they shared the story of Pistol Pete the Oklahoma State University
Mascot. Then at the end Pistol Pete himself came out. It was a
great surprise and the campers loved it. Then Bernie Mcgee and I
got back on the road to head up to Kansas for my next program. We
drove until 4 am, got into Salina. I did a program there called
Operation Military Kids. This is a summer camp for students 9-12
years of age who have a parent serving in the military. It was an
honor to work with them, and they had tons of energy! After we got
settled in it was great to give them some tools that could support
them in being successful while there parents were away serving our
county. I focused on tools to support them in dealing with
failure, communication and relationship skills. We finished off
with Bernie Mcgee singing his rendition of "American Soldier". It
was appropriate, a little emotional but a great way to cap off a
great day. A big thanks to Bernie, for driving on this very long
trip and for singing!
Bills Blog 7.11.06-Oklahoma FFA Camp 3/ Western States Youth
2 Youth
The past three days have been a whirlwind of travel and getting
to meet some great students. Finished camp three of Oklahoma FFA
at Camp Tulakogee, walked off stage at about 10:30 pm (because I
do a keynote in the evening and then some large group energizers
with a message) then I drove to Wichita got in about 2:45 am,
slept fast, to catch a 6:00am flight to Ontario California
to speak at the Youth 2 Youth Western States Conference (
http://www.y2yint.com/ ) this
is a phenomenal program for teens that literally created the model
for successful drug free conferences. Jill Smock, Ty Sells (who by
the way is also an outstanding youth speaker) and staff do a great
job of delivering a great program to teens so they can go back
into their individual communities and implement a successful
action plan. Each year they do three summer programs, one in Rhode
Island called the Eastern States Conference, one in Ohio called
the International conference, and then one in California called
the Western States Conference. I have spoke a couple of times in
all locations throughout the years and this year I was excited to
get the call to do Western States again. Ty Sells and I got a
chance to hang out a bit, I love seeing him and regard him as a
good friend. A few highlights from this trip...Getting to spend
some time with some great staff members who have come up through
the "youth 2 youth" program and are now using the tools from
the program to live their dreams. Speaking at the conference was
great because the students energy was over the top, and it was fun
to spend sometime connecting, and getting to the heart of the
matter which is using all the tools once you return home.
Naturally we laughed a lot, some students experienced some intense
emotion, and I spent time interweaving quality tools that they can
use for re-entry back into their community. The time went by too
quickly and then I got to spend a little time with Harriet Turk (
www.harrietturk.com ) a
long time friend and speaking associate. Harriet was in to do the
keynote on the July 12th. We spent some time talking about our
business, and how we can improve the quality of our message. If
you have not heard Harriet speak, make sure you visit her site.
She is a speaker with a great message, some great humor and will
touch your heart at the same time. Then I got up early this
morning, flew in just in time to coach my sons final baseball game
of the season, and then I am back down to Oklahoma in the morning
to do the final FFA Alumni Camp for 2006!
Bills Blog 7.7.06- Oklahoma FFA Camp 2
Camp two was every bit as fun as camp one, and the numbers were
up again. This week Oklahoma Alumni Camp made history with record
numbers, with over 430 participants present the energy was
incredible. Still in spite of the large numbers camp flows just as
well as it did back in the days when we only had 100 per camp. The
numbers still are mind-boggling back when I did my first camp in
1994 we had about 100/camp and now we are doing over 400. I made
some minor changes to my program for camp two, and the evening
mixer was filled with tons of fun, lots of movement and finished
off well. Got a chance to connect with Kelly Barnes (
www.yournextspeaker.com
) the Alumni Camp Curriculum Director, and we talked about
strategies to improve the quality of the small group sessions. He
is doing well, and everyone likes the adjustment that was made in
having someone there full-time overseeing the success of the small
groups. We also discussed changes that will be made in the small
group curriculums so that they will have an even bigger impact for
camp two. Most of the feedback about the sessions I got was
positive, and we put in a few corrections. This session Bernie
Mcgee, ( www.berniemcgee.com
) my summer intern rode along with me, you may remember that name
because Bernie is from Indiana, and was also at the session we did
in Indiana for The Student Leadership Academy. I met Bernie when I
was doing an all school assembly at Woodrow Wilson Middle School
in Terre Haute Indiana when he was in the sixth grade, now he has
just completed his freshman year at Indiana State University.
It was great to have him along and it is great that I get the
whole month of July to work with him. His role with me was support
and to provide feedback and to be a sponge to learn as much as he
can about camps, speaking and developing his own speaking
material. It was fun because some campers remembered him from last
year. Also heard that Sam Glenn, the other keynoter for camp (day
three of all sessions) had a great program. If you are not
aware of Sam, he is a chalk artist that incorporates an incredible
message into his art. I run into him on the road from time to time
and his message is always powerful and profound. Check him out at
( www.samglenn.com ). Dr.
Snyder,
www.hypnotism.com/AlSnyder.htm was also there for camp one and
his session was a great hit as well. Looking forward to Sunday
when we get to go back and do it all over again!
Bills Blog 7.3.06 - Oklahoma FFA Camp 1
WOW! Just got back visiting my friends at Oklahoma FFA! (
www.okffa.org ) This will
complete my 13th summer of doing the opening keynote of four
different camps, so if you are doing the math when this summer is
completed it will be 52 sessions of alumni camp that I have had
the opportunity to be the kick-off speaker. I have learned tons
and it continues to be one of the most incredible programs with
which I have been associated. Let me give you a little background
on the program. This program is sponsored by the Oklahoma FFA
Alumni, so we call it Alumni Camp. Kent Boggs the executive
secretary for Oklahoma FFA is totally committed to bringing a
great program to FFA members so they are constantly working to
improve the program from year to year. There are four camps total,
with over 400 participants attending each session. Session
one runs from Sunday to Wednesday, then session two goes from
Wednesday-Saturday, Session Three from Sunday-Wednesday on the
next week, then camp four goes from Wednesday-Saturday. The State
Officers are present all four sessions working small groups,
running sessions, speaking facilitating and working with FFA
Campers from all over the state of Oklahoma. It is an awesome
leadership experience! For the 9th year this year I had the
opportunity to train the state officers to support them in
preparing the curriculum for camp and this year was great for me
because I had a larger role in that I designed the small group
curriculum. Which really consisted of 8 small group sessions about
one hour each. Kelly Barnes,
www.yournextspeaker.com,
and I trained the state officers in this curriculum in June and
then Kelly trained the small group leaders prior to camp. Over 400
students attend each camp, each small group has about 12-14
members so there are a lot of small group leaders to train. Kelly
also has a large role this year because he stays on site as the
curriculum director insuring that all the sessions are done at the
premier leadership level. The small group leaders are quality
college students who have an in-depth understanding of camp and a
huge desire to have an impact on the campers. This year has also
been great because Kent Boggs, Dallas Kraut, Mr. Murray and others
have totally redesigned the flow of camp. Last year Mr. Boggs
brought my good friend Phil Boyte (www.philboyte.com)
to find ways to improve camp. Camp was already a well-oiled
machine, but Mr. Boggs is committed to making it better. So this
year a ton of changes have been made and I am excited to return on
Wednesday to see how everything worked out for camp one. While I
was there on Sunday evening for the kick-off I was pleased about
all that I had seen so far, and I am interested to hear how the
rest of camp went. As for my session, it all went great, all 400
FFA members were cranked up and ready, then in the evening after
my keynote I did a mixer with the whole camp, and that session was
filled with lots of energy, a little message and was a great way
to finish the day. I will blog some more about how the other
sessions turned out so stay tuned.
Bills Blog 6.24.06... The Student Leadership Academy -
Indiana
The Hoosier State was great because of my time with the folks
at West Central Indiana Educational Service Center
www.wciesc.k12.in.us .
They are one of my longest running clients (since 1992) and in
1995 we started a program there for teens called TSLA (The Student
Leadership Academy) It is a year long program designed to empower
high school leaders to take leadership back into their school and
community. The one year program begins with a three day summer
intensive in June each year. This year was "unique" because it was
the first time we ventured outside of Greencastle Indiana for the
program. We were near the small community of Spencer Indiana
at a state park called, Mccormicks State Park.
www.in.gov/dnr/parklake/properties/park_mccormick.html It is
an amazing facility with a great friendly hotel and staff, amazing
food, tons of nature trails and lots of great scenery. However,
our schedule in the program was so filled with training that we
really only got outside to see the facilities on the ropes day.
Craig Hillier (
www.craighillier.com ) and I came in on Tuesday night before
the training began, and on Wednesday morning met up with the West
Central staff where we began the training at about 10am on
Wednesday morning. Craig and I spent the whole day with them
focusing on his Breakthrough Leadership Training and my Personal
Leadership skills training. We went until about 10:00pm that
evening. The day was long, but we laughed, learned and got off to
a great start. On Thursday morning Craig took the 50+ leadership
students through his "Team Dynamics" program which gave them
insight to learn how to deal with different personality styles as
a team. This is important because they applied all of those skills
on the ropes course the following afternoon. While Craig was
working with the teens I was outside in the park setting up and
designing the ropes course with the TSLA Staff. The staff
consisted of former TSLA graduates who come back and volunteer
their time because the see value in the program. They included,
Beth, Katie, Lindsey, Eric, Derrick, Chelsea, Cheryl, Drew, Bob,
Sara and Brittany. They were amazing because in a short period of
time we got the whole course set up and were ready for the
participants to come out on the course by noon. It was a perfect
ropes day except for a minor rain delay for about an hour and we
were back out on the course. The day was filled with tons of
support, breakthroughs, challenges, team hugs and great learning!
After dinner we debriefed the ropes day, and the shares were
amazing. It was great to hear the participants use the "language"
of the training and apply all that they had learned in the
previous day of training. By this time the group was in synch, we
had gone through some Forming, norming, storming and we were
performing on a whole new level! We had two very emotional events
that evening that I will not go into, because you "kinda gotta be
there" to get, but lets just say that it was "tranformational" in
the end and some great shifts were made by all the participants.
Bernie Mcgee, (
www.berniemcgee.com ) who came down to help out with
ropes day sang a song to cap off the evening "I Believe I Can Fly"
and it was the perfect end to a great day. Bernie will be
interning for us in July, he is incredibly talented and my history
with him goes back to when he was in the sixth grade at Woodrow
Wilson Middle School in Terre Haute, Indiana. Over the years we
have become great friends and I love him like a son.
The final day was filled with "re-entry" content and working with
"how are we going to apply all that we have learned" when we go
back. Then at about 5:00pm parents showed up, we had a short
graduation ceremony, and closed the program. All in all it was a
great TSLA experience. Many thanks goes out to all the TSLA
participants who worked hard through out the three days and all
the staff who returned to help out! A special thank-you to Dave
Archer the director of West Central Indiana Educational Service
Center, without his support there is no way this can happen for
the teens of Indiana, thanks to Bert, West Central staff member
who was a ton of fun to be around and made it all flow like
clockwork, Bob, a first year graduate of TSLA back in 95 who is
now a professional but gives his vacation time each year
because he sees the value of the program, Drew Brothers, who will
one day be working his own camps for special needs kids in
Wyoming...GO DREW!, Valerie Buchanan for always supporting and
helping out, and for doing so much over the years to support my
mission in working with teens, Jim Brothers who is the
demonstration of service and dedication to teens, all the advisors
who brought teens to the program and of course to Tammy Brothers
who has a heart bigger than Indiana, and who continues to push for
quality programming for Indiana Teens! It was a great week... "Now
I am gonna go fix me a Pepsi" (inside joke, I don't drink Pepsi).
Bills Blog 6.17.06 Nebraska State Officer Leadership Academy
Just returned from the Nebraska
State Officer Leadership Academy at Doane College in Nebraska.
This is the ninth consecutive year I have had the opportunity to
work with the newly elected state officers from all over the state
on Nebraska. This year we had state officer teams from FCCLA,
(Family, Career, Community Leaders of America Skills USA, DECA (marketing education), FBLA (Future Business Leaders of
America, BPA (Business Professionals of America), and HOSA (Health
Occupation Students of America). To learn more about these
organizations and the great work they do go to:
www.fccla.com,
www.skillsusa.org,
www.deca.org,
www.fbla.org,
www.fbla-pbl.org, and
www.hosa.org. This years programming involved
three days of True Leadership training in which we focused on
Personal Leadership, Team Leadership and Service Leadership. As
always the students were incredible, we laughed a lot, got
connected with our hearts and the reasons why we choose to "make a
difference", and did some great activities that brought forth some
powerful leadership skills. A special thanks goes out to all the
state advisors who make this possible every year and for your
continued desire to have an impact on the youth of America. Next
week I am off to Indiana to speak at The Student Leadership
Academy for the 12 consecutive year! I will be joined by good
friend Craig Hillier, and we are both excited to get to work
together again. If you have not been to Craigs' site please visit
him at www.craighillier.com
to learn about "Engaging Programs that Stretch your Mind, Body and
Imagination!"
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