Winning Futures – Inspiring and preparing youth to succeed through mentoring.

Posts Tagged ‘life skills’

To help your kids or students realize the importance of continuing education, try providing them with the information below.

Studies indicate that the more education one has the larger the paycheck. So, the more you learn the more you earn. Listed below, are the average salaries American workers earn based on an education they have attained:

If you work for forty years, additional earnings can really add- up, just by staying in school and graduating high school.  Individual workers earn an average of $6,000 more per year – or $240,000 – more in their lifetimes. That is a quarter-million dollars just by finishing high school!

Add a two-year Associate Degree and the lifetime earnings jump to $480,000. Think about it: That’s a cool half-million dollars just for finishing high school and going to college for two years.  As you can see, it is more than a high school dropout can earn in a lifetime.

Play it smart!   Do what you need to do to finish high school.  Dropping out is not an option… and going to college definitely should be on the table.

Mentor Pam Kellet and mentee Hanna.

Winning Futures has been coaching students on the “dos and don’ts” of job interviewing now that the school-year is ending and many students are starting down their chosen career paths or looking for summer work. To help your kids find the perfect summer job, try this exercise with them:  First, write a 30-second interview pitch, a technique useful to “sell” the job applicant to their potential employer by highlighting applicable skills and attributes in a succinct and confident manner. Essential elements of this pitch are:

• Appropriate attire
• Proper handshake
• Good posture and eye contact
• Good voice tone and speed of speech
• Enthusiastic attitude
• Examples to back up strengths
• Avoiding negative comments
• Using Winning Futures in the pitch
• Using interviewer name and company name
• Thanking the interviewer

Next, take part in a mock interview where you are the interviewer and your kids are the interviewee.  Give them feedback. This enables your kids to hone their pitches.

This process helps children get comfortable speaking about themselves and delivering their interview pitches in a natural and fluid manner. Many lessons like these that you can implement in your own classrooms and youth programs are also outlined in Winning Futures’ “Achieving Success” workbook. Click on the “Purchase Books” button at left to learn more.

A student works on her Identity Box.

This activity is used to reinforce that values play a role in the make-up of a person’s personal identity.

First, have the students identify several unique character and personal values.  Examples of character values would be accountability, honesty, compassion, etc.  Personal values would be things like family, friendship and health.   Based upon their answers, have the students think of available items they can place in their boxes to represent their values, qualities, and interests/abilities.  Encourage the students to be creative and imaginative when using the materials available.

After the students decide on the items they would like to use in their boxes, give each a shoe box to decorate.  The end product will be an “identity box” that reflects the student’s values, interests, and qualities.  An additional option for this activity is to have participants write a paper describing their identity boxes.

At the end of the session, ask students to share their boxes with the group.  After a few have shared with the group, explain to the group that just like each person’s identity box represents only that person, everyone is unique and special.  Tell students that knowing their values and staying true to those is one of the most important decisions they can make: a decision that will build pride and confidence in their personal identity for a lifetime.

Macomb County Sheriff Anthony Wickersham and one of his mentor team members show off the bird feeders they made for their community service project.

Winning Futures’ students began exploring the benefits of participating in community service this week. Working alongside their mentors, students undertook a variety of projects such as:

• Creating custom flower pots for donation to American House senior living center.
• Making teddy bears and pillows for distribution to the Walton Wood Senior Living Center.
• Crafting pillows for various homeless shelters.
• Making Fleece Blankets for Day House, a Detroit-based homeless shelter.
• Building bird feeders for area environmental groups.
• Making “friendship bracelet” craft kids for patients at Children’s Hospital.

“We want to teach students that volunteerism and helping out in your community is a win-win situation,” said Winning Futures’ Vice President and Program Director Laurie Tarter. “It demonstrates to schools and employers the individual’s strength of character and willingness to ‘give back,’ while making the volunteer feel good about making a positive difference in somebody else’s life.”

After the lesson and activities were completed, students were encouraged to continue seeking out community service and volunteer opportunities on their own.

A mentor describes to students her career as a photographer.

As students enter the 11^th and 12^th grades, they begin to think about the path they will take in life, especially in regards to continuing education and careers.  Mentors are especially helpful in encouraging students to explore their options and pursue their goals in this regard.  One way in which mentors can assist students in determining their objectives is to share with them about their own careers and the steps they took to get where they are today. 

For this activity, mentors should come to their group prepared to share how they chose their career path and what “roads” they had to take to get to their current career.  Discuss what positive choices they made as well as what they might have differently if they had to do it all over again. 

Mentors should include what work values they looked for when choosing their career path as well as examples representative of or objects that reflect their work.  These visual aids will help students understand more fully what their mentors do professionally and the pride they have in their academic and career achievements, thereby encouraging students to fully develop and pursue their dreams.

A paper chain with acts of kindness written on the links.

We all know the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you’d have done to you. We also all know that actions speak louder than words, and this activity encourages students to live out the golden rule and to perform kind, positive actions. This activity is also a great way for students to learn positive things about one another.

To begin, place a “Kindness Box” in the room (this can be a decorated old shoe box or a tissue box). Above the box, place a sign that says “Write down an anonymous act of kindness you have done or have seen someone else do this week.” Place 1-inch by 12-inch strips of construction paper and a marker beside the box. Tell students that each week you will take the papers out of the box at the end of the session and display them in a chain on the wall.

At the end of each session, read the papers out loud and encourage the students to continue their acts of kindness. This quick and easy activity requires just a tissue box or shoebox, paper and markers – as well as students’ acts of kindness!

Many more activities like these are outlined in Winning Futures’ “Road to Success” and “Achieving Success” workbooks. Click on the “Purchase Books” button at left to learn more.

A Winning Futures student at Jalen Rose Leadership Academy tries to hit her target.

Goal setting is important; it keeps us on track in regards to accomplishing daily and long-term tasks and motivates us to keep moving forward in our personal development. This activity can be used to demonstrate the importance of staying focused, aiming for goals, and persevering when times get tough.

Begin by giving each student a “paddle ball.” Have students draw or write a goal on the front of the paddle (the side the ball is not hit against).  On the back of the paddle where the ball will hit, have the students draw a target to aim for.

When the students complete their paddles, have a friendly competition to see who can hit the ball against the paddle the most. When finished, explain to the group that they are not always going to hit their target the first time. They should not be discouraged, but need to keep trying. Inform them goal setting is a skill that takes practice.  For example, if someone wants to play the piano, they have to practice in order to get better. Let them know that if they want to achieve their goals, they have to learn from their mistakes and persevere through difficulties.

Many more activities like these are outlined in Winning Futures’ “Road to Success” and “Achieving Success” workbooks. Click on the “Purchase Books” button at left to learn more.

A Winning Futures mentor works with her student team to identify career goals and the transferable skills needed to attain them.

How prepared are your students to climb the ladder to success? This activity enables students to stop and think about their skills and talents and what areas will need further development to achieve their goals. These are called transferable skills (strengths and talents), things that your students are already good at or that will help propel them to the top of that ladder.

Begin by assembling 12 envelopes, each containing a card or a piece of paper with a different career on it from the Most New Jobs list at http://www.bls.gov/ooh/most-new-jobs.htm. Careers should be ones the students will have as adults. Do not label the career on the outside of the envelope. Now you’re ready to begin the activity.

Step one: Give each team an envelope. Instruct the teams that they are not allowed to open the envelope until they are told to do so.

Step two: Now that each team has an envelope, have them open the envelope to see what career (occupation) they’ve chosen. The group will work together to discuss what transferable skills, strengths, and talents are needed to be successful in that career (occupation).

Step three: Have each team share with the group the occupation they chose and the transferable skills, strengths, and talents they feel are necessary to be successful in this occupation. Ask the group if there are any additional skills that can be added to the career being discussed.

After the presentations, ask your students to think about the careers that were discussed and the skills needed to do those jobs. How many of them feel they have some of those skills already? Each of these jobs discussed is projected to have the most growth over the next five to ten years. Your students’ “Winning Futures” are determined by them; their attitude, strengths, talents, and values are the foundation of their strategic plan. Learning what their strengths are and what they’re passionate about will help them to achieve their goals.

Many more activities like these are outlined in Winning Futures’ “Road to Success” and “Achieving Success” workbooks. Click on the “Purchase Books” button at left to learn more.

Despite differences in age, race, sex and million other things, there always strings that bind us together in the human experience.

We’re all bound together through the human experience. Regardless of race, age or gender, everyone – if they look hard enough – can find something they share in common with another. This activity demonstrates that fact in a fun and light-hearted manner. It can be used as an ice breaker, to introduce the topic tolerance for discussion and to allow students to share their personal strengths, talents, and interests.

Begin by asking: How are we all connected? Wait for several responses. Then have the group discuss their differences, strengths, talents and commonalities.

Next, have the participants stand in a circle. Give one person a ball of clothesline and tell them to wrap some of the clothesline around their hand. The person who starts will say their name and something unique about themselves including a strength or talent. That same person will hold the end of the clothesline and with the other hand throw the clothesline to anyone else. This will continue until everyone has been introduced.

At the end of the activity, a spider web will be formed in the middle of the circle from the clothesline. This visually demonstrates our interconnectedness and shows students that, despite our individual uniqueness, there are common threads that run between us all.

Many more activities like these are outlined in Winning Futures’ “Road to Success” and “Achieving Success” workbooks. Click on the “Purchase Books” button at left to learn more.

Winning Futures’ students play volleyball as part of an activity on positive attitudes.

This activity demonstrates how a positive attitude makes things that seem impossible to achieve, achievable. It also allows students to experience a great obstacle and what it takes to overcome it.

To Begin, share a true story about someone with a handicap to the participants. For example: Christopher Reeves, actor and Superman star, who was also known for his activism in spinal cord injury research or Jim Abbott, famous one handed major league baseball player, who overcame the birth defect of having only one hand and became a professional pitcher and baseball player.

After sharing the story, divide the group into two teams. Have each group sit on the floor. Explain to each team that they are going to play volleyball. Tell them they cannot use their legs and must stay sitting cross legged at all times; they can only use their hands to hit the ball.

After eight to ten minutes of play, have the teams graduate to their knees for an additional five minutes of play. Between each interval, ask the group questions about what it must be like to not have limbs or the full function of their bodies.

Finally, have each team return to their feet for a “normal” game of volleyball. This time, tell the group that this is not a competition. Have the group, as a whole, set a goal to see how many times they can volley the ball back and forth without it falling. Have each team member call out their name as they strike the ball.

Many more activities like these are outlined in Winning Futures’ “Road to Success” and “Achieving Success” workbooks. Click on the “Purchase Books” button at left to learn more.