Transcript Winning Futures

Our Mission
To be an exemplary organization that inspires and prepares
young people to succeed through life skills programs and
mentoring relationships that focus on character value
identification, goal setting, and strategic planning.
To collaborate with the community to make a greater impact
on youth.
Life Skills and Career Exploration
Activities for Teens
Presented By
Kristina Marshall, President & CEO, Winning Futures
[email protected], (586) 698-4417
Who we are
 Founded in 1994
 In honor of a
 Teacher
 Counselor
 Businessman
 Create opportunities
for youth
 Mentors
 Strategic plans
 Scholarships
The programs
 School-based mentoring
 Mainly focused in Metro Detroit
 Expansion programs in Michigan
 National sales of our mentoring
workbooks & training manuals
 52% of our mentors are
MEN!!
The impact
 Over 16,000 students since 1994
 $1.5M in scholarships awarded
 Over 90% of students continued their
education
 500 students mentored each year
 1,700 youth annually
Awards and Honors
 Charter One and WXTZ-Channel 7 “Champion in Action” 2008
 The Governor's Service Award "Innovative Mentoring
Program" Award Winner - 2007
 The Governor's Excellence In Practice Award for Career
Education - 2005
 Considered a mentoring expert in Michigan
 Founded and lead the Metro
Detroit Mentor Collaboration
 Serve on the Mentor Michigan
Providers Council
Student Outcomes
 83% of students increased an academic grade
 Over 90 percent of students plan to continue their education at
a higher level at the end of the program
 90% of students continued their education after high school
 Nearly 100 percent believe they can accomplish their career
goals
 All participants believe they can set realistic, detailed goals
 Teachers and mentors report improvements in attitudes,
focus, teamwork skills, goal setting, and confidence.
Today’s Agenda
 Ways to implement activities
 Overview of life skills and career
exploration activities
 “Practice” a few of the activities
 Begin creating an outline of activities
for your program
Implementing the Activities
 During a school class or student’s lunch
• Adopt an entire class or students are pulled
 After school or weekends
 Teacher or Counselor as mentor
 Adult or Peer Mentors
 One-to-one or small group
 Staff or mentor led
 Monthly or bi-weekly
workshops for matches
Activities
See handouts for detailed
descriptions and samples
Jenga
 Fun game for any age
 Create question or information cards
 Each time a block is taken, students must take a
card, read it, and answer the question
 Each student takes a turn
 Topics: study skills, career
exploration, team building, etc.
Coat of Arms
 To give students the opportunity to describe
qualities about themselves and explore their
strengths
 Draw something that characterizes a talent they
posses. If working on a group coat of arms, each
person will include their own symbol in space 1.
 Sketch out a something they are really good at.
 Draw a symbol of how they like to spend their spare
time (an interest).
 Write something that reflects their personal motto.
Values Scenario Cards
 Put values into action and see how your
decisions match your values
 Give each team a stack of Values Scenario Cards.
 One person will grab a card and read the question
out loud.
 Each person will answer the question and then the
adult should lead a discussion about what value(s) is
portrayed in that scenario.
 Then, the next person will grab a card.
Lend a Caring Hand
The Berenstain Bears
 Read Lend a Helping Hand together
 Discuss questions
 Create a “Lend a Caring Hand” book
Change Exercise
 Please stand and get a partner…
5 Year Vision
 For students to have a clear picture of what they want in
life
 Close your eyes. I want to you to picture what your life looks like in
5 years. (you can also do 10 years)
 How old will you be? What do you look like? What are you
wearing? Where do you live? Who do you live with? Where do you
work? What is your job? Are you in a relationship? Do you have
children? What are you driving? What do you like to do? What
type of person are you?
 Now, open your eyes.
 The reason I asked you to do this is so you can see what you want
your life to look like in 5 years. You can start working today to make
that happen! To keep that picture clear in your mind every day, you
are going to make a 5-Year Vision plaque.
Transferable Skills Invention
 School matters!
 Create an invention
from a bag of junk
 Use talents and skills to
 Design
 Market
 Sell
Stand Up or Sit Down
Career Survey
 This activity will help stimulate a discussion on
determining what you want in your career.
Would you rather…
 Have the same two or three tasks everyday (stand up) or
have different tasks everyday (sit down)?
 Work inside an office or work outside at a job site?
 Manage a group of people or only be responsible for
yourself?
 Work with a large group of people or work by yourself?
 Start your own business or work for someone else?
Career Path Interviews
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More in-depth and less work than a career fair!
Recruit 10 people with different professions
Place one adult with up to 6 students at a table
Ask the adult to give a 5 minute overview about
their job in simple terms
 Each student has cards with questions and they
should put them in order of what they want to
know most about it being first
 Students go around the table asking the questions
 Then, the adult rotates to the next table
Career Path Interviews
Career Exploration
 Elementary or Middle School
 www.careerkids.com
 Careers for Me
 Levels for different grades
 Assessments on skills with
matching careers
Career Cruising or
Career Assessment
 Even if a student “knows” what they want to do,
they still need time to explore!
 Keep it simple
 Career Cruising: start with Career Matchmaker
 Complete a simple paper and pencil survey
 Pick top two or three
 Discuss what they like or dislike
 Fill out a Career Plan
Personal Information Card
 Helpful “cheat sheet” for students to use when
filling out job applications and making a resume
 Make this two-sided on card stock
Would You Hire You?
 To have students truly understand their work ethic
 Have each student privately take the quiz
 Now, think to yourself about how many times you answered
yes on the quiz.
 If you owned a business, would you hire you to be an
employee?
 Would you want your employees to
have the same answers you gave?
 If you would not want to hire you,
the good news is you can change
your work ethic today!
Networking Script
My name is _______________________________
(always use your first and last name). I am interested in
finding a job in __________________________ (list
a job you want today). I graduated from
_____________________________ in _______.
During high school, I was involved in
______________________________________
(sports, activities, academic clubs, etc). I will be a value to a
company because___________________________
(strengths and talents).
Overcoming Obstacles
Puzzle Race
 This activity demonstrates the difficulty of overcoming
obstacles if you do not plan for them
 Have each teams work together. If you have two people,
blindfold one. If you four, blindfold two. Students should be
blindfolded BEFORE they see the puzzle.
 Give one or two wooden “toddler” puzzles to each team.
 In each team, the people who are NOT blindfolded will give
instructions on how to put each piece in the puzzle. They will
only verbally help the mentees. After three minutes, have the
mentees take of the blindfold so they can see the puzzle.
 Blindfold them again and repeat the exercise.
Attitude or Leadership Rap

You and your mentors are going to write a rap about
your positive attitude! Everyone must help write it and
have a part in the performance. Our goal is to have
the raps written and ready to perform by the last 20
minutes of our session. You must work together!
Creating Your Program
 Who are the target students?
 What are their needs?
 What are the goals of the program?
 Logistically, how will you work with them?
 Will you buy a curriculum or create your
own?
Sample Syllabus
 See handouts
www.WinningFutures.org
(586) 294-8449
See me at our exhibit booth