Resilience Skills: To set students up for success, especially as future leaders and changemakers, we need to arm them with not just classic academic and leadership skills, but evidence-based resilience skills to combat the pressures and challenges they will face. Our workshop introduces essential concepts from neuroscience to explore how the brain deals with perceived threats, and then trains students in evidence-based resilience skills such as grounding and developing an “inner champion.”

 Public Speaking is critical for success in school, in careers, and in leadership. Yet it’s something that causes most people great anxiety, and can be especially daunting for those who have voices not traditionally associated with power or success. Our Public Speaking workshop explores how each student can learn to value their authentic voice and use it to educate, advocate and inspire. Critically, the workshop also provides evidence-based resilience skills students can draw on to combat nerves and speak with confidence.

So many of the issues that affect our lives are decided at the local level, yet the majority of Americans, and especially of young people, don’t make their voices heard in their cities, states and communities. Our Local Action workshop focuses on what kind of change can be made at the local level, and how young people can use their voices to advocate for issues, make positive change in their communities and beyond, and on the evidence-based practices to support them in the hard but valuable work of making change.