The 5 Cs of Leadership: Choosing Courage Over Fear

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Courage: the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear; bravery. 

The “ESPYS” which is a sports award show hosted by ESPN to highlight significant achievements in sports during the past year. There were several remarkable stories that were highlighted during the award show that were meant noting but few personified the definition of courage, as did the story of Pat Summitt. There is no coincidence that she actually was awarded the Arthur Ashe Courage Award. Coach Summitt’s story is actually a remarkable one, she looked fear, disappointment, and embarrassment in the face with an exemplary confidence and unwavering faith that they would be defeated.  Pat Summitt has recently retired from coaching but before she made this bold move she made an even bolder one. Pat Summitt was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s disease and despite this condition she continued coaching despite how people would perceive her. She knew that people would think that her condition would not allow her to coach at the level she had been accustomed to and would suffer a great deal of humiliation for putting herself and the team she loved in such a position. Despite what the critics had to say she still went on to lead her team to another SEC championship. Pat Summitt personified courage throughout her career and the award she won was well deserved. My challenge is to get the kids I work with to face adversity on their level with this type of courage. Far too many times I have witnessed talented and gifted kids throw in the towel on situations I had confidence they were able to be successful but that same confidence was lacking in the kids. It takes courage to stand out and take pride in yourself and your education while not bending to the social pressures of being cool over being educated. It takes courage to fight for the things you believe at the risk of being alienated from your peers. I want to be able to empower the kids I work with to not be afraid to try and have the courage to reach for their dreams.

 

For more information on Coach Summitt and her appearance at the ESPYs click here

 

 

 

We Salute You

Reaching Out 2 U supports the Armed Forces of America

Happy 4th of July!!!!

Competence a building block of success: A continuation of the 5C's of Leadership

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Competent: having suitable or sufficient skill, knowledge, experience, etc., for some purpose; properly qualified.

 

Developing competency in any subject matter is easier than one may assume. I don’t think people give themselves enough credit for the amount of information and knowledge they already possess. Many people forsake awesome opportunities because they falsely attribute inadequacy to themselves. You may not be an expert in any particular subject matter but most possess a level of competence that is adequate for getting a job done. You never know, you may end up surprising yourself if you don’t quit before you try. A friend of mine shared these pearls of wisdom at a banquet for a few recent high school graduates a few months ago and I thought it was fitting for this blog topic.

 

ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN

(a guide for Global Leadership)

By: Robert Fulghum

 

All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sand pile at school.

 These are the things I learned: 

• Share everything.
• Play fair.
• Don't hit people.
• Put things back where you found them.
• Clean up your own mess.
• Don't take things that aren't yours.
• Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
• Wash your hands before you eat.
• Flush.
• Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
• Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
• Take a nap every afternoon.
• When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.
• Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: the roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
• Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we.
• And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned - the biggest word of all - LOOK.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and equality and sane living. Take any one of those items and extrapolate it into sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your family life or your work or government or your world and it holds true and clear and firm. Think what a better world it would be if we all - the whole world - had cookies and milk at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a nap. Or if all governments had as a basic policy to always put things back where they found them and to clean up their own mess.

And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out in the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.

 

 

 

Confidence

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Confidence: full trust; belief in the powers, trustworthiness, or reliability of a person or thing

You look good, you feel good. When you feel good, you play good. When you play good, the pay is good – Deion Sanders

Prime time was one of the most confident players I have ever seen on the football field. Some would say he was borderline cocky. Some would say it he was arrogant. I’m not going to go there because I am a Deion fan but the qualities and characteristics he possessed is what made him a Hall of Fame player. I think his example of confidence is one that I believe is transferable to any arena in life. If you don’t believe in your own abilities no one else will.

What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail? That’s kind of a deep question. I wonder how far would we push the limits of our own imaginations if this were true. I believe we can be our own worst enemy when it comes to this. We allow our previous failures to dictate how we behave in the future which hinders us from being successful in the future. So what you failed at doing something. Perhaps you made a simple mistake in planning and preparing that can easily be fixed with a little tweaking. Each victory in life is one step away but you’ll never get there if you never make a move. I worked with a lot of teens and what seems to hinder most of them from excelling and getting to the next level is a lack of confidence. They could be on the brink of a breakthrough but the cloud of defeat, disappointment and failure looms over their every movement. The fear of failure sometimes is too much to overcome and they end up retreating instead of being confident in their abilities. 

It’s one thing to be confident in another person or thing but to be confident in oneself is an entirely different animal. What I want to improve upon as I continue to work on with the people in my leadership program is instilling self-confidence in them. There is much to be learned from victories but much more can be learned in defeat. In victory you can learn that you are capable of completing tasks and goals but there are times when you may not know exactly how you got there. Sometimes you kind of just fall into a win. In a defeat you are able to identify weaknesses in yourself and strategies you previously implemented and work on improving them so that the next time you can be successful. Bill Belichick coach of the NFL New England Patriots has a saying “victories don’t reveal character but character is revealed in defeat.” How a person handles a defeat tells a lot about a person. It can reveal how much mental toughness and resiliency a person has. I’m challenging myself to be that example of resilience because I don’t want to expect anything them to do something I am not willing to do myself.

Philly kids have Q&A with astronauts

For 250 of Philadelphia's young people, 20 questions wasn't a guessing game but the number of chances to hear firsthand from astronauts on the International Space Station.

NASA astronauts Joe Acaba and Don Pettit and European Space Agency astronaut Andre Kuipers spoke via a satellite video to 250 Philadelphia Destination Imagination participants visiting the Philadelphia University campus Tuesday morning. The questions may have sounded mundane to many on Earth, but the answers from space elicited laughs and cheers from the audience.

For the rest of the article click here

 

 

End of the year: The 5 C's of Leadership

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The 5 C’s

Confidence – belief in oneself and one’s powers or abilities; self-confidence; self-reliance; assurance

Competence – having suitable or sufficient skill, knowledge, experience, etc., for some purpose; properly qualified

Courage – the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear; bravery

Character – qualities of honesty, courage, or the like; integrity 

Consistency – steadfast adherence to the same principles, course, form, etc.

These are some of the basic principles that are infused in the various lessons that I teach in my leadership academy. The program is designed to build confidence in the students’ abilities through reinforcement of the things they are currently learning in their classrooms. I believe that it takes courage and character to face the challenges of today’s urban high school student. There are various cultural and societal pressures that in many ways go against the philosophies and principles of academic institutions today. I am hoping that my involvement with these kids helps assist them as they progress towards their destiny. If at the end of the day these kids are not better off after being a part of this program I will have to investigate why we were not successful in what we were doing and call into question whether or not I did all I could to help these kids be successful.

I am glad to say that this was not the case for me. There were significant improvements in the academic achievements and behavioral expectations of the students I was directly involved with. I must also add there is plenty of room for improvement in the way I engage students and challenge them to do better. I did not meet all the goals I set for myself but that shortcoming makes me strive all the more harder to be better the next time around. I believe in my abilities to motivate and draw out the best in people. This confidence leads me to be optimistic about the next school year. This summer I will be working with the leadership team of KDCA during the summer as they conduct their character development course for kids that are at-risk of allowing their behavior tendencies to impact their academic achievement. I’m hoping that me working alongside some more experienced professionals will help me improve my skills in this area.

 

This Is Just The Beginning

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With things coming to a close this school year my thoughts are directed towards the next phase of this leadership program. I believe that in order for me to take this program to the next level and realize the full potential of this program additional resources must be deployed. The type of resource I am referring to is an individual that has a mind and heart to serve youth in the urban community. These individuals will share the wealth of knowledge they received throughout their academic career as well as life experiences. My goal is to have a team of mentors that can work alongside me with the youth that Reaching Out 2 U serves in the community. The direct impact they will have will be identifiable in the classroom. I have learned from my initial experience working with the kids at KDCA that I was not able to justly serve them all because I was spreading myself too thin. With so many teens competing for my time and attention it was hard to make sure I was being utilized to my full capacity. If I could just focus on a few kids at a time then I can be more involved in their day-to-day activities. When there are twenty kids all asking if you will be able to spend some time with them that day it makes it hard to meet all of those commitments. The wonderful thing is that I have a plan to eliminate these bottlenecks. If this plan works out as I intend is another story. With that being said I fully intend that this plan is going to work.

 

 

So you may be asking yourself now what does all of this mean and if you have been keeping a close eye on how things have been progressing through this blog you may be wondering what does the next step look like. First, any plans I have currently that I look forward to implementing into this program are going to be delayed until at least fall of 2013. The reason for the delay is that my unit will be preparing to deploy this upcoming fall (I am in the PA Army National Guard if you didn’t know). I will be using this time to refine this plan so that when I return the project should be ready to be implemented in the day-to-day activities of this organization. Second, I still want to focus on KDCA (KIPP DuBois Collegiate Academy) and the investment I have already made with the students. So, with that being said I do not plan on branching out to multiple schools until I solidify the program at this school first. Finally, It is going to be important for me to continue to build relationships with various organizations, colleges and universities that can help provide me with resources that are necessary in expanding this project. The more I think about this the more excited I get and if you were me you would be excited too.

 

Please remember that I am always soliciting your opinions, advice, suggestions and criticism. If you have any leads or references that I can use that would help expand this program please let me know. All you have to do is visit the contact us link on this blog and shoot me an email or simply comment on this post and I will most definitely get back to you. I appreciate any help you can give.

 

BE BLESSED!!!

Can you hear me now? Good!

The ability to communicate effectively and efficiently is a skill that not many people have and I know for myself that I struggle with that at times. There may be some close friends of mine that may be quick to attest to this struggle of mine. Some people may think they are good communicators because they are good at talking a lot. What is important to understand is that one must not confuse quantity of speech with quality of speech and even that is half the equation. The other half of the equation embodies a person’s ability to perceive through visual and auditory receptors how a person is receiving the message you sent. In my opinion some people are either good talkers or good listeners, few are a combination of both and then there are those that are just horrible at them all.

What I want to do is just take a step back for a moment because what I really wanted to talk about is the importance of communicating our goals so that we are clear as to how we go about achieving those desired results.  I thought it was worth taking the time to divulge into the in workings of communication so that we better understand how to begin communicating our goals to others and ourselves.  The crux of the matter is many times we find ourselves disappointed, letdown and frustrated because the results we were looking for were not achieved. What can be most frustrating is that when we are clear and concise in our delivery and we take the time to listen intently we still not get the results we were looking for.

What you want to remember is that no matter what you are doing you are always communicating whether it is verbal or non-verbal. When the communication event is intentional there is typically a purpose behind it. Whatever that purpose is be clear as to what your goals are and communicates those in a way that best represents the outcome you are looking for. Now that we are coming to the close of the school year I am faced with the challenge of preparing some of the kids I work with to go before a committee of administrators at the school. The students will have to articulate their goals as it pertains to the high school career and future. I am learning a lot about myself as I go through this process with these kids. I hope that we all get the results we are looking for.

 

Finish Strong

re·sil·ience:  ability to recover readily from illness, depression, adversity,or the like; buoyancy.

Things are winding down for me here at KIPP and it has been a really enjoyable time.  I appreciate the leadership staff here giving me the opportunity to work with the students and implement my leadership program.  My involvement in being a part of the enrichment and discipline committee has been quite a rewarding one.  My focus for the home stretch with my students is to prepare and train them on how to finish strong.  Resiliency is a characteristic that not only these students need strengthening but people in general.   Many times our own lack of confidence as well as not having a resilient attitude can be debilitating and hinder us from reaching our goals.  I feel as though I am able to relate to the kids in reference to this because I have struggled with this in the past and have discovered some really positive ways to deal with these issues.  There is no doubt in my mind that all of my kids will successfully transition out of this program on to the next level.  With only a few weeks left in the school year there is going to be a lot I have to cram in the schedule but we will and must get it done. 

Where am I going wrong?

Effort ↑ + Expectation ↑ = Excellence

Effort ↓ + Expectations ↓ = Failure

Effort ↓ + Expectations ↑ or Effort ↑ + Expectations ↓ = Mediocrity

This week in my leadership group we will only be meeting once because of the school schedule but our discussion on Monday brought out some really good things.  The most insightful in my opinion was the diagram of equations I displayed above.  This was actually something that came to me in the class based on what we were talking about.  This unplanned occurrence was birthed out of discussion based on the students’ definition of excellence.  I asked what keeps them from doing consistent excellent work in their classes. The responses kept circling around feeling defeated before starting the task, low expectations, giving up, and not working hard enough.  Based on what they told me I designed this diagram.  It may not tell the whole story because there are other variables involved but it was the best way in that moment to show them possible reasons for them coming up short so many times.  The purpose of these equations are to show that ultimately when you give your best effort and combine that with high expectations the typical outcome will be an excellent finished product.  The converse is also true when poor effort is put out with low expectations or a combination of low and high inputs the results will be average or below average results.  I’m hoping that these students will begin to recognize that they have the opportunity to control how the story ends.  It may not have started well for them but it’s definitely going to end well if I have anything to say about it.

Reaching Your Dreams

In the picture above is Sheila Fortson & Shay Walker who were guest speakers for our Friday group talk

 

By all accounts last week was really good.  I would like to attribute the success of last week to it being the first week after spring break and the kids were still in chill mode so the amount of disciplinary issues were down dramatically.  The highlight of the week as it concerns the Leadership Training Program is twofold.  First, we had some awesome discussions of what it means to be a mentor and a leader and we also touched on the responsibility of the mentee and followership.  Before you can lead you must first learn how to follow which is the point we tried to drive home as we head into our first week of defining leadership and most importantly self-leadership which is the essential theme of this program.  Second, I had two very lovely friends of mine come and speak to the girls in my group, Sheila Fortson and Shay Walker of the talk radio show “The Ladies Room” with Sheila & Shay on every Tuesday 10pm -11pm on 1460 WIFI AM Burlington, NJ or online at www.wifiam1460.com.  I suggest that you check them out and I am sure you will not be disappointed. They did an outstanding job and I appreciate them taking the time out of their busy schedules to help me out.  They have a passion for helping and giving back to the community and I look forward to working with them again in the future. 

The focus of their “girl talk” centered on developing a realistic strategy for reaching your dreams that is not only attainable but functional.  Some of the highlights of the discussion included asking the girls what they aspire to be in the future.  We had some outstanding responses like a pediatrician and not a typical pediatrician, but one that travels to impoverished places in the world helping children in need.  We also heard things like being a lawyer, judge, entrepreneur and even a fashion designer.  The last one that stuck out to me personally was a young lady that said she wanted to be in the Air Force.  With me being an enlisted soldier in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard I was proud to hear of her desire to serve this wonderful country.  There are two final points that I want to mention in regards to Sheila and Shay’s visit was that although I did brief them prior to their visit about what I have been teaching and the goals of the program they did an outstanding job of reinforcing the things I have been trying to instill in the students without me hitting on specific issues with them.  For instance, they touched on the importance of followership but more specifically shadowing someone that is currently doing something you aspire to do in the future.  The second thing was the importance of investing into your future.  It is good and admirable to desire to be a doctor or a lawyer but these things are not going to just fall into your lap.  You must be proactive about these things and I hope that the young ladies involved really took this discussion to heart and begin to seriously look at what they are doing and if it aligns with where they want to be.  If not, now is the time to start making those changes.

Spring Break

It’s spring break for the kids and I am so glad that I was able to get a break from it all. I have only been doing this for a few weeks now but the mental drain of trying to do everything from scratch has been great. The picture above really summarizes how I have been spending the bulk of my time. With that being said the past couple of days have not been all rest and relaxation. I have been using my time effectively to reorganize my thoughts and analyze the progress we have made thus far so that we can finish the 4^th quarter of this academic year on a high note. I am learning that this work is more like a marathon and not a sprint. There have been days where I feel like I am not getting through to them at all and then there are days when we have incredible breakthroughs and it further motivates me to continue to push on. Keeping my eyes on the end goal is the kind of focus I need at this stage in the game. In our leadership program we will begin to really start to dig into the meat of the program. We will start to define leadership and identify how we can make that definition applicable to our daily lives. Despite the grueling grind of dealing with the work that I do I am confident that we will be successful in getting these students to the next level in their academic career. When I see my students I see future fathers and mothers as well as future doctors and lawyers. In other words I see endless possibilities and what I desire most for them is that they see that in themselves as well. Families are the backbones of our society and building strong families begins by building strong individuals. We have a long way to go but I think we are definitely on the right track. 

 

Teen Leadership Academy

Many of you may have been wondering what the heck is Marlon doing with this blog and what the heck is Reach Out Philly. Well, for starters the official name of my Non-Profit is Reaching Out 2 U and what I have done was design a leadership program centered around cultivating skills in Leadership, Professionalism, Strategic Thinking and Academic Achievement. We accomplish this through a variety of activities and discussions that hopefully provoke a shift in thinking that will inspire a change for the better. From week to week I will be posting some of the things we have been discussing in thus far. I am definitely looking for intuitive ways to continue to inspire these kids so, if you have any ideas or would like to come and join us for one of our sessions and talk to our group feel free to contact me and we will try to find a way to make this happen.

Leadership Academy Program Goals

• To Encourage Philanthropic leadership and community service

• To identify and build confidence in personal leadership skills

• To develop and reinforce self-esteem

• To prevent juvenile delinquency

• To encourage participants to set and achieve clear goals

• To develop public speaking skills

• To instill workplace ethics, etiquette, and teamwork.
• To promote community and cultural awareness
• To increase academic achievement

 

Week 2 - You are stronger than you think

This week I showed a video from the movie "Facing The Giants" becuase I wanted to inspire my group not to give up so easily. Many times in life we all are faced with challenges that are bigger than ourselves but if we look within we will be able to find the strength to overcome the most difficult of tasks. The scene I chose is featured below. I feel encouraged through our discussion that they got the point. I'm hoping through my observations for the remainder of the week that I will be able to identify in them growth in this area.  Lastly, we were able to reflect on what happened during our community circle discussion on the students thoughts and feelings about the Trayvon Martin case.  We stressed the importance of conquering fear, hatred, ignorance and prejudice with love, education and accountability.  I feel really good about what we accomplished this week and look forward to another great week before the spring break.

 

Keeping Track

Last week was the first time I was able to begin to share with the students in my program any of the leadership content I designed to help develop their leadership abilities. Our main focus for the week was “character”. We shared with one another its importance as well as its benefits. The main idea I wanted to get across was that your talents, intelligence and charisma will provide you with access to many different opportunites but the key ingredient to maintaining that is character. What was most pleasing to me was not the interaction although that was encouraging it was the day after. During my observations I saw students being more attentive in class, respectful to peers and teachers and I saw them helping their peers being successful. The display of selflessness was an amazing sight to see. With all that being said therewere some setbacks later in the week which we hope to correct in the future. I understand that this is not going to be an overnight thing which is why I am in it for the long haul.

Enter A Learner : Exit A Leader

The title of this post is inspired by the slogan of the brand new charter school opened by former NBA star Jalen Rose. You may know him primarily from his time at the University of Michigan with the famous "Fab 5" and his fierce competitive spirit that followed in the NBA but he know is making treads in the academic arena. This charter school is hoped to be a beacon of light in an impoverished community to which he is all too familiar with. The Jalen Rose Leadership Academy is located in Detroit, MI in an area of town where inner city youth do not typically have access a quality education.  Jalen Rose also grew up in Detroit, MI and because of his talent he made a way for him to get out of a bad situation and go to college so that he could get an education.  This was not the case for many of the other youth he grew up with. I saw Jalen Rose on CNN this morning talking about the school and I thought I would share how his is trying to improve the area he grew up in. I am not sure if I eventually want to go the route of opening a charter school but you never know. This was just something that inspired me this morning so I thought I would share.

Jalen Rose Leadership Academy

 

Lisa Leslie opens basketball academy

On March 31st Lisa Leslie will be opening her own basketball academy but the interesting part is that the bulk of the program is not founded on hoops but leadership development. I hope this program goes well and that the kids that participate in the program take advantage of this awesome opportunity.

For more information on the program click on the link below.

https://lisaleslie9.com/basketball-academy

Why we need more black male teachers

In this Sept. 2, 2010 photo, Martin Andrews teaches a History class at Duquesne City School in Pittsburgh.

 

"It is imperative that more of our successful black men, more of our Luqmans, make the challenging and courageous choice to enter the classroom and provide our boys with examples of what is possible." Kwame Griffith of The Grio

 

Thus far may experience at the school has been a mixture of ups and downs. I am excited that I am in a position to positively affect the lives of these children but while I have this awesome opportunity there are still a myriad amount of challenges that these kids have to face in order to be successful. With this disparaging information being at the forefront it becomes increasingly important that I really commit myself to this work in order for my efforts to be at all effective. Take a look at this post below by Kwame Griffith of The Grio.

Throughout history, black men have played pivotal roles in the development of this nation. Despite the legacies of these giants, according to "A Call For Change," a 2010 study released by Council of Great City Schools, only 12 percent of black male students are proficient in reading by fourth grade, and by the eighth grade, their proficiency rate drops to nine percent. Black men make up only five percent of our nation's college students, while they represent 36 percent of our prison population. We must change this grim reality -- the stakes are too high and the consequences too dire.

Although many teachers across our country are working hard to ensure their students receive the academic tools necessary to reach their full potential we still need more talented educators doing this vital work. In particular, in our low-income communities where a majority of students are African-American or Latino, we need more outstanding teachers from diverse backgrounds to serve as role models and classroom leaders. This is especially true when it comes to our black boys. Today, only two percent of teachers in this country are black men. 

As an African-American male working at Teach For America and committed to ensuring educational excellence for our kids growing up in poverty, I frequently think back on my classroom experience. It was during my time as a teacher in Houston's fifth ward that I first understood the scope of the educational inequity that exists between black boys and their wealthier white peers. From the moment I stepped in front of my kids, it was obvious-the gap had nothing to do with their ability or desire to learn. Instead, it was rooted in the extra challenges poverty was throwing in their path, coupled by a tragic lack of educational opportunity...

to continue reading click on the link

Moving Forward

Well, I have survived two days at KIPP DuBois Collegiate Academy and thus far I believe that my mission to help get these kids to the next level is definitely attainable. Before I go any further I will like to clarify that "survived" is a bit of an over exaggeration because it definitely wasn't bad at all. Although, I did meet some interesting characters for the most part I think all they need is a push and a little direction.  In some cases some kids may need a little stronger push than others but, that is nothing outside of my scope of practice.  For those of you interested in what I have been doing in these two days, let me explain.  I have been shadowing the Assistant Principal in her work as the head of discipline.  By doing this I am able to observe how the school handles children that have discipline issues.  I am trying to use this week to help shape my leadership program based on where the kids are academically, intellectually, and emotionally while also incorporating their maturity level.  The focus of the program is to help these students take personal responsibility for the education and futures.  I would like your input as to what you think would be helpful and influential in accomplishing these tasks.  For example what topics should be discussed or what activities can be done to help drive home the importance of self-leadership and accountability in teens. Seriously, I really would like your feedback so shoot me an email, comment on Facebook, tweet me, or call me. I desperately would like to know what you think and if there has something you've done in the past that has worked because I know I don't have all the answers. I appreciate all of your support in this new endeavor. Don't forget to subscribe to my blog, follow us on twitter and like us on Facebook so that you can be updated on the progress we are making.

#BeTheChangeYouWantToSee

Leadership in small doses

Everyone can be a leader just take the time to recognize the small moments.

 

It takes all of us

President Obama put out the challenge to each and everyone of us to support our children and fight for the future of Amercica by supporting our youth in their academics. Graduation rates in our urban communities are too low and we have the opportunity to reduce that number by simply taking the initiative to play an active role in the lives of these kids.  You can help this cause through supporting a local mentoring or tutoring program like "Reaching Out 2 U" (shameless plug) or helping a child with their homework. What I am simply say is that every little bit helps. So....DO SOMETHING!

 

We are in business

I would like to first thank all those who have silently and vocally supported me in seeing the mission of Reaching Out 2 U come to fruition. Beginning February 27, 2012 I will begin my mentoring and tutoring program at KIPP Dubois Collegiate Academy located on 1209 Vine St. in Center City Philadelphia. KIPP Dubois has opened up their doors to me and I am so grateful for the opportunity to make an impact in the lives of these students. This is just the beginning and we are looking and expecting greater things in the future. I look forward to keeping you updated on the progress we are making as the program continues to grow and flourish.

"It's Cool To Be A Leader"

Leadership is a skill that some would say is either innate or sometthing that can be developed over a time. I would say it is a bit of both. To fully realize this in our children it would be beneficial to identify the students that have this potential and show them how to develop this in them. What should not be done is dismiss a kid because he or she may exhibit behavior that does not scream leader. With some kids you may have to dig a little deeper. Take a look at the article below and see what one educator is doing to encourage kids to develop those leadership abilities.

http://www.philly.com/philly/insights/in_education/20111226_Empowering_students

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