Excellence Effect Movement Visits New Orleans

The Excellence Effect Movement recently took their mission of reaching 50 million kids to two New Orleans schools, Schwarz Alternative School and Dr. Martin Luther King High School, which is located in the lower ninth ward.

“Your outstanding presentation, enthusiasm, selfless commitment, and sheer love permeated into our hearts, and showed students that there are persons that dedicate their time, love and efforts into making the lives of children more fulfilling,” School Administrator Mr. Lockett said.

As students suffer from a cultural Excellence Deficit and teachers struggle with lack of programs due to education budget cuts, the aim of the Excellence Effect Movement is to reverse this trend by offering a meaningful character education curriculum at no cost to families and students with a goal of reaching 50 million kids by 2015.

“The Excellence Effect is a program that guides young people toward a positive future full of confidence, motivation, creativity, teamwork, leadership and valuable life principles,” said Bobbi DePorter, President of the non-profit that created the Excellence Effect Movement, Learning Forum International.

At both school assemblies, members of the Transformational Leadership Council, an elite group of many of the world’s greatest transformational leaders, led talks on the 8 Keys of Excellence and interacted in small groups with the students.

The no-cost school program provides K-12 teachers with a full year of character education lesson plans, online resources, training and support.

Bobbi DePorter is the founder and president of Learning Forum International. Bobbi developed the 8 Keys of Excellence 30 years ago as an education tool for students attending her SuperCamp summer enrichment programs. She is the author of The 8 Keys of Excellence – Principles to Live By and has written over a dozen books on teaching and learning, which have been translated into seven languages. Ms. DePorter is also the founder and president of Quantum Learning Network, which offers training to youth, educators and businesses throughout the U.S. and in over 12 other countries. She attended the University of Washington and University of Southern California Graduate School of Business CME program.

“Our kids are at risk – it’s our responsibility to do something” she said.

9 Ways to Connect with Your Teen

For many years at SuperCamp, parents would ask us if we could start a program for them, to help them learn what their kids were learning at SuperCamp. Ask and you shall receive. A few years ago we started Parent Weekend, an intensive three-day parent support program that coincides with the final three days of a 7-day Junior Forum or a 10-day Senior Forum at the same location. The parents who attend love it, including graduating with their kids on the final day.

In addition to exposing parents to many of the learning and life skills their sons and daughters discover at SuperCamp, we also talk with parents about how they can support their children at home. Here are nine great tips we share specifically with parents of Senior Forum students, also known as “teens”:

1. Really listen. Don’t try to listen while doing something else. Put your chores aside so your teen knows you are paying attention.

2. Take the long view. Remember, minor mishaps aren’t major catastrophes. All incidents provide opportunities to practice good communication. Often, categorizing incidents according to their importance will help keep responses and consequences appropriate.  Choose only the most important issues to evoke the strongest consequences.

3. Make time for being together. Find activities you enjoy doing together and pursue them. If your invitation gets turned down, keep trying!

4. Tolerate differences. View your teenager as an individual distinct from you. However, this doesn’t mean you can’t state your opinion if you disagree.

5. Respect your teen’s privacy. Just because he/she wants to keep their door locked, doesn’t mean he/she is doing anything you wouldn’t approve of. But if a behavior is worrying you, speak up!

6. State facts instead of opinions when you praise or discuss problems. Ask your teen to demonstrate “Open the Front Door” – a communication tool we use at SuperCamp.

• O – is an objective observation about the situation.

• T – is a thought or opinion about what you observed.

• F – is a feeling you had about what you observed.

• D – is what you want, your desire or outcome of the situation.

7. Ask your teen about his/her learning style. Knowing there are differences goes a long way toward explaining why we have problems understanding and communicating with some people and not with others.  When you know what cues he/she picks up on most easily (visual, auditory or kinesthetic), you can take steps to help him/her learn faster and more easily.

8. Support a positive attitude about learning. Create a positive study environment that includes appropriate reference materials, music and reminders that he/she is intelligent (like old report cards, awards, notes from teachers). It is also helpful to demonstrate your own positive feelings about learning.

9. Celebrate success! Positive feedback goes a long way to encourage repeat behavior.  Each accomplishment by a family member deserves acknowledgment, whether verbal or by means of a special treat, like a trip to the movies, a special dessert, or posting on the bulletin board.

Parent Weekend is available at three sessions this summer:

• July 3-5 at Stanford University
• July 16-18 at Colorado College
• August 13-15 at Brown University

For more info, visit SuperCamp.com.

New SuperCamp Video!

This very exciting news for the SuperCamp world. First of all, because the old one was getting a tad outdated and it’s important for us to be able to show potential campers and their parents an accurate depiction of our summer camp experience. And secondly, because we love every opportunity we can get to show the world what SuperCamp is all about!

We captured over 30 hours of footage from SuperCamp programs at Cal State San Marcos and Stanford University in 2008, and through the magic of editing, came up with 6 1/2 minutes packed with action, emotion, education, and fun, just like SuperCamp itself. We also have a 17-minute “full version” of our summer camp video that you can request at SuperCamp.com.

Check out the video  below and let us know what you think. And if you or your kids attended a California summer camp at San Marcos or Stanford in 2008, there’s a good chance things will look quite familiar, and you may even be in it!

Congratulations Chicka!

Chicka facilitating at Stanford SuperCamp 2008

On day 7 of our final SuperCamp of the summer at Stanford, our Programs Manager, Chicka Elloy, got word that his wife had been rushed to the hospital in Atlanta to deliver their second child, beautiful baby Sierra. So Chicka hopped on a plane, flew to Atlanta, spent a little over 24 hours with his family, and flew back to Stanford for days 9 and 10 of Senior Forum. Way to practice This Is It! Chicka – and congratulations to you and Jenny on your new arrival!!

How to Build Solid Parent-Teen Relationships

Throughout the twenty-seven years that SuperCamp has operated academic summer camps for teens and youth, the program has endeavored to give parents tools they can use to support the continued personal growth of their children after their return from the summer camp.

SuperCamp’s facilitators have found the following advice to be useful in helping parents build rapport with teens and pre-teens:

• Know what they like, how they think, and how they feel about what’s happening in their lives.
• Imagine what they say to themselves, about themselves.
• Know what keeps them from getting what they truly want. If you don’t know, ask.
• Speak the truth to them in a way they can hear it, clearly and gently.
• Have fun with them
• Treat them as equals.

Many of the beliefs taught and practiced at SuperCamp are valuable to any family seeking to enhance their parent-teen relationship. Four of the core fundamental beliefs of SuperCamp are:

1. Respect and caring – for ourselves and for others – is vitally important.

2. Every person is gifted and capable of learning.

3. There are no failures, only learning experiences through which we gain greater self-understanding.

4. Positive support, a nurturing environment, and good communication are essential – for learning and for life.

Parents who make an effort to build their relationships with their children will also build their feelings of acceptance and trust – which will in turn build their self confidence. Self-confidence is a vital ingredient in the happiness and academic success of our children.