Well, holiday time has set in and staging has slowed down a bit. I imagine that it will pick up again just like it did last year, but in the meantime I need something to do. I always have projects, but I actually launched a new division of my company last month: Staging Our Youth For Success. So far so good!
Education is very important to me and so is preparing our youth for success. When I was a teacher I realized that our students today are lacking valuable skills to succeed in school. Once they start doing poorly because they lack these important skills, their self esteem drops and then performance at school gets worse. Mom and Dad get down on the student, then the teachers and then the kids at school start to realize there might be something wrong. It is a vicious cycle that most kids never break out of.
I want to help them.
I have started a program called Achieving and Believing 
for middle school students. They get a healthy snack as we discuss the importance of nutrition, exercise and plenty of rest. I give them self esteem and motivation exercises to do so that they can see that there can be more for them. Then we do study skills that will help them achieve better in the classroom. Once they start achieving, they start believing that they are actually worth something. It is a truly beautiful thing!
Most kids want to do well in school, but they are not taught based on the way they learn. I give them a learning styles survey so that we can figure out how best they learn. After they discover how they learn, a whole new world opens up for them. Two weeks ago, I gave the students the survey and then we discussed different strategies to help them study according to their learning style. I challenged them to try one technique to see if there was a difference. This week when I polled the students ( I have twenty-three total) those that tried the challenge said it helped. I heard one story after another of students saying that they tried __________ and got a hundred for the first time on their spelling test. It really does work and the look of accomplishment on their faces was worth more than anything in the world. What a gift for all of us there.
Thursday is the last session for this group and I will miss them. I have another session starting the second week in January. I can't wait. I love being with the kids and helping them see how awesome they are. I am so lucky to have this also be a part of my life and my business. I am pretty grateful right now that there are slower times in the Staging Business. I would never have gotten to make this program happen otherwise.
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Awesome idea Sheila! You're a real gift to your community. All that giving is going to come back home to roost. Get ready!