Posts Tagged by Youth
6 Tips to being a Good Role Model for our Youth
| February 1, 2012 | Posted by Angela under Community Involvement |
Role models play an important part in determining the paths our youth go down. Carnegie’s report (A Matter of Time: Risk and Opportunity in the Nonschool Hours, 1992) states that:
Young adolescents do not want to be left to their own devices. In national surveys and focus groups, America’s youth have given voice to a serious longing. They want more regular contact with adults who care about them and respect them, more opportunities to contribute to their communities, protection from the hazards of drugs, violence, and gangs, and greater access to constructive and attractive alternatives to the loneliness that so many now experience.
If you can think back to when you were a kid, you can probably remember some of the questions you had like, “what do I want to be when I grow up?” I think the biggest impact role models can have on our youth is helping them identify questions they didn’t originally have. Our youth some times can’t see further than their circle of friends and it’s the job of the role model to give them a glimpse of what the world has to offer.
Today, as I look back, I can identify people I looked up to as a kid and it’s why I coach youth volleyball and am a Junior Achievement volunteer. I want to have a positive impact on someone’s life but it’s not always easy. There is a lot that can get in the way and as I thought about this, I thought it would only be appropriate to identify what advice I would give to someone asking themselves the question: “Am I being a good role model?”
Here are 6 tips I would give to anyone:
1) Realize you’re a role model
Before you can follow any of these tips, you have to realize you’re a role model. We are all role models at some capacity but we have a choice on whether or not we want to make a positive or negative impact on the lives of our youth. 24% of the US population is under the age of 18; a simple interaction can have an impact. Unfortunately, a good percentage of these kids are probably following reality TV celebrities and pop singers that promote sex, drugs and violence. I really like Reese Witherspoon’s interview about her comment, “it’s possible to make it in Hollywood without a reality TV show.”
2) Listen, Listen, Listen
It’s easy to talk about yourself and difficult to listen. I love Mark Twain’s quote, “If God would have wanted us to talk more than listen, he would have given us 2 mouths and 1 ear.” Sometimes we’re so eager to provide advice before we even know the person’s situation and that person might only need to be heard. When the time is right, you’re opportunity to provide advice will come.
3) Respect their privacy
With the growth of free, online publishing (like my blog here), it’s easy to post about everything you do, including your discussions with those you’re mentoring. This is a bad idea. Everything you write online is there permanently and you can risk losing the trust of not only the person you’re working with but may have lost the respect of being a positive role model for anyone else in the future. I have heard so many stories of teachers, coaches and mentors losing their jobs as a consequence of negative comments they made about kids they’ve worked with on their social profiles.
4) Don’t think you always have the answer
I think the best quality a role model can have is the ability to swallow their pride. Yes, we may have a lot of answers but we have to admit when we don’t. I think we put a lot of pressure on ourselves with trying to have the right answer all the time and it’s not necessary. The best thing you can do is be honest and let them know that you will find someone that does have the answer.
5) Put politics aside
I have spoken to many teachers that have left their profession or are considering leaving because of the politics they have to deal with. It can certainly be challenging to deal with parents, administration and other views from the community but you have to remember why you’re there. At the end of the day, it’s about the kids and as long as you’re doing your part to help them better their lives, you have to let the other stuff go. (Of course, I am not a teacher and don’t mentor full time so I can imagine getting burnt out is common.)
6) Never stop looking for your role model
Until the day we die, we’re always learning something new. It’s silly to think we’ve experienced and learned everything under the moon. It’s true that we may have met a lot of our goals in life but that just means you need to set new goals. The world is full of endless opportunities and it’s our responsibility to make it a better place by making ourselves better and that starts with finding the right role model.
Be Aware of what your Kids are doing on the Internet and on their Cell Phones
| October 15, 2010 | Posted by Angela under Business & Technology, Community Involvement |
I am hearing more and more cases of young kids committing suicide as a result of being cyberbullied. I recently read “8 Ways To Protect Kids from Cyber Bullying and Stalking” by Kathy Kristof and I think she provides an excellent foundation on what parents could be doing to protect their children from being cyberbullied. She quotes:
Bullies, of course, are nothing new. But parents need to understand that cyberbullies — like cyberstalkers — are potentially more dangerous than the physical bullies and stalkers. That’s because they can follow you home and infiltrate areas that otherwise appear safe.
Being a bully using the technologies today is easy because it’s “virtual” making it easy for you to hide your face. This just allows bullies to get away with more then they would if they were in a school setting where a school official could step in and stop the bullying.
Kids are using cell phones and the Internet at such a young age now without any parental supervision. I personally believe parents should read their kids’ cell phone messages, Facebook messages and trace any history on the computer to see what their kids are doing on the Internet – and they shouldn’t feel guilty for doing so! Kids also need to be more educated on what they should or shouldn’t being doing.
Things like sexting might seem private but as soon as those photos are distributed to others, that person could be left feeling humiliated and it might affect them emotionally. Kids might also get involved in the wrong chat rooms and might be conversing with someone that is actually a child molester. Again, it’s easy to be someone you’re not on the Internet.
Parents need not to only look for signs of their child being cyberbullied but look to see if their child is actually being the bully. Kids get peer pressured into doing things they don’t necessarily agree with just to be “cool.” The consequences could result in someone’s death and the child could never have even imagined something like that happening.
Click here to read the full article that includes 8 ways you can protect your kids.
Talking to AVID Students
| October 11, 2010 | Posted by Angela under Community Involvement, Words of Inspiration & Motivation |
I had the opportunity to speak to students at Brennan High School last week. My uncle, a teacher of 20 years, teaches students that are part of the AVID program. I hadn’t heard of AVID prior to my visit. AVID, which stands for Advancement Via Individual Determination,
…is a college-readiness system designed to increase the number of students who enroll in four-year colleges, focusing on the least served students in the academic middle.
The purpose of my talk was to discuss my career experience and educational background in the hopes of bringing awareness about the opportunities that lie ahead for these students. I spoke to 4 classes, made mostly of sophomores and juniors with one freshmen class. I know the students won’t remember all the information I covered so I left them with 3 takeaways:
Things will not work out as planned. But that doesn’t mean you quit.
As a child growing up, my dream was to be an engineer and play college volleyball. Although those two didn’t happen, I managed to be very successful. I received my Bachelors in International Business, studied Spain and have had a very successful career working for Rackspace. I also now coach a youth volleyball team, which has allowed me to do 2 things I am passionate about. I plan to get my masters in mathematics so I can hopefully teach math in the future. People will tell you “no” and you may let some people down along the way, but if you keep your eyes open and keep moving forward, things will work out. I never thought I wanted to study abroad until I was actually in college and saw all the great opportunities I could take advantage of. I started at Rackspace when we were less than 100 employees, not knowing anything about the industry. 7 years and 3000 + employees later, my job requires me to be an industry expert!
Success doesn’t come to you. So get out of your comfort zone.
Once you get into high school, you are most likely hanging out with the same group of people and doing the same thing day in and day out. Teachers and parents can only help you so much to get good grades and go to college but if you don’t take the initiative to obtain success on you own, it won’t happen. Many times this means breaking away from your comfort zone. Many of my good friends I have today are not people I knew in high school and this is very hard to get high school students to imagine. The decisions you make should not be based on whether or not your friends are doing the same - you need to think about what you want for yourself and just do it. You never want to look back and say “what if” or “I wish I would have.” Your friends will be there when you get back, if they are in fact your friends.
Always assume people are watching you. Be on your best behavior.
Our youth today is part of the “social networking” age. It’s a time where it’s so easy to post content about yourself on the Internet – from photos to random thoughts. Many students think that what you post is only visible to your friends and don’t think about employers and even colleges finding your profiles. It is getting more competitive to get into elite college programs and get jobs at reputable companies so people are going out and researching their applicants online. I am sure they will think twice if they find content that doesn’t represent an applicant in the best manner. If what you post is something you wouldn’t want schools or employers to see, think twice before posting.
There are so many things I can tell high school students but I settled on these three takeaways and I hope it resonated with some.
My cousin Renee makes the front page of the San Antonio Express News Sports section
| November 16, 2009 | Posted by Angela under Family Stuff, Health & Fitness |
My cousin, Renee, a senior at O’Connor high school played for the varsity volleyball team this past season. They beat Reagan, making them number 1 in the city. They made it to the final four for the 5A State Championship, beating a team from the valley. They went up against Austin Westlakes, a team that had won the IV-5A title the past 2 years. This was new for O’Connor and I am so happy Renee had the opportunity to make it that far. It will be an experience she will never forget. She is #5 on the far right. Go Renee! Read the full article here.
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