When I was a teenager, we didn’t have a term for service-learning. There were opportunities to volunteer in our communities but not many people thought about the lifelong value of such experiences. As I reflect on my early volunteer experiences, I know for certain that my life was changed as […]
Empathy
Positive youth development is the practice of nurturing core internal strengths and abilities in children and teens. It is about providing opportunities for youth to believe in themselves and their abilities to influence their lives and the world around them. As families, schools, and communities, we share one goal. We want […]
Compass-Inspired
America Rice, age 11, recently expressed her views about hard work and perseverance: “If you want something,” she said, “you have to earn it. Everything is not going to come to you just when you want it.” How do children grow up to think and feel like America Rice? How […]
Resilience
One of the first things you might associate with teenagers is their risk-taking behavior. And most of the time, those associations are negative. Right? That’s because we are deluged with stories of troubled youth whose risk-taking actions got out of hand —sometimes with tragic results. But what if there was […]
Resilience
Lifelong learning is a buzzword in 21st century education. And for good reason. Becoming a seeker of lifelong learning is critical in today’s fast-changing world. Learning is not only a matter of absorbing information but a process of developing many other internal skills, like curiosity, perseverance, and the ability to […]
Curiosity
Jake Bernstein, age 17, is a great example of how service-learning changes lives. In fact, in one of President Obama’s annual “Back-to-School” addresses, he praised three extraordinary high school students for giving back to their communities. One was Jake Bernstein. Jake volunteers with Autism Speaks and co-launched StLouisVolunteen.com with his […]
Empathy
How do children learn to care? How do they feel connected to their communities and know they can make a difference in the world? The answer isn’t as complex as it might seem. Like many college students who became committed to social and environmental causes, Danielle talked about developing compassion at a […]
Empathy
When it comes to youth leadership, Eden Eskaros is learning about social innovation at a young age. On a recent trip to Mexico, Eden, age 10, was horrified to learn that children lived in dismal situations, using cardboard boxes as beds. She also noticed they had no shoes. Eden […]
Empathy
