Three age levels of focus:
Level 1 - 8th Graders
The Level 1 course lays the foundation for life skills development:
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- a keen sense of self-wiring through formal assessments and input from others
- developing empathy and an appreciation for various "world views"
- a methodology for strategic planning and accomplishing goals
These basics are complemented by sessions on communication skills, quality relationships, safety awareness, basic finances (generating income and managing expenses), health and wellness (physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual), and managing the challenges we all face (ex: family, peer, social/societal, academic, economic, political (in general, non-partisan), and spiritual.)
We look at all of these things against the backdrop of a 13-14 year old's world: ending your grade school/junior high career, preparing to start all over again (new high school), increasing pressure to perform, selecting the right high school, peer and social pressures, and potential parental relationship challenges.
Level 2 - Freshman and Sophomores
The Level 2 course revisits the foundational elements for life skills development:
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- a keen sense of self-wiring through formal assessments and input from others
- developing empathy and an appreciation for various "world views"
- a methodology for strategic planning and accomplishing goals
These basics are complemented by sessions on time management, communication skills, social skills, quality relationships, influencing others, intermediate finances (managing a budget), health and wellness, managing risks and threats, and handling the increasing challenges teens face.
We look at all of these things against the backdrop of a 15-16 year old's world: becoming legal working age, getting a driver's license, expanding independence, dating relationships, continued pressure to perform, and heightened peer and social pressures.
Level 3 - Juniors and Seniors
The Level 3 course revisits the foundational elements for life skills development:
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- a keen sense of self-wiring through self-assessments and input from others
- developing empathy and an appreciation of various "world views"
- a methodology for strategic planning and accomplishing goals
These basics are complemented by higher level sessions on communication skills, quality relationships, advanced finances (managing a budget and deeveloping credit), health and wellness (physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual), and managing more complex challenges.
We look at all of these things against the backdrop of a 17-18 year old's world: a more involved extracurricular life and/or work life, greater responsibilities and independence, dating relationships, evaluating post-high school options, continued pressure to perform, and heightened social pressures.
When to Start - Ideally, kids would begin the program in their 8th grade year. But realistically, kids can enter the program at any point. Freshmen through seniors who did not participate previously will gain the basics quickly and get caught up with everyone else in no time.
And with many things in life, the revisiting of the base concepts each year will greatly help the students who have completed previous levels. People (kids and adults) rarely "get it" after one exposure to these concepts. Each subsequent exposure helps solidify the concept and increases one's comfort and proficiency with the various skills and techniques.
Group Sessions - Groups meet once per month for 90 minutes. For the first part of the session, teens share their progress on their Dreams and help one another with creative suggestions. The remaining time is spent discussing the topic of the month.
One-on-One (1:1) Sessions - Teens meet at least one additional time each month with their "Teen Life Coach" (TLC). They discuss any challenges with their Dream plan and review the topic from the group session.