Lowell's Experience at the National Dropout Prevention Center Conference #1
November 18, 2008
Hi all. It was 34 degrees here in ATL when I left for the hotel. I came up early to see my daughter and 2 of my four grandkids….and grand they are!
Left to Right - Paul (son-in-law), Traci (daughter), Jena (age 8) and Nick (Age 13). I had lunch today with some local folks. It seems they have a bit of a controversy here in Ga. They added “Graduation Coaches” at every high school. These were supposed to be Guidance Counselors but the state only funded them at the Bachelors level. Since GC’s have Masters the districts were expected to make up the difference in salary. These folks help kids who have gotten off track for graduation. I attended an interesting workshop on Service Learning lead by Dr. Jean Strait from Hamlin University in St. Paul Mn. She took kids from St. Paul and lead them in a service project for Kids in New Orleans while teaching them hard academic skills in math, social studies and English. Service Learning may be something the counselors want to explore at FLVS….like we need something else to do. While I’m on the subject of “hard skills” there has been a lot of talk today about “soft skills”. This is the same stuff we talk about at FLVS: soft skills like collaboration, teamwork, time management, and initiative. I attended a workshop by Dr. Ridge Hammonds on a career exploration program he is running in Texas. He was also talking about soft skills. He sets kids up with mentors to explore different careers. With our new Career webinars I had a natural curiosity and offered our resources to him. He believes that too many students graduate from high school with no idea of what they want to do afterward. The also believes, ” There are great jobs available, they just don’t know about them.” His premise is that when kids don’t have a career goal in mind they see school as meaningless and are at a higher risk to drop out.
By far the highlight of my day was my bar/dinner companion George Scott. George formerly worked for IBM and then became a consultant. But he’s not your average consultant. He teaches ”The simple art of business and social manners”. He calls it “Just Plain Etiquette”. Well this guy certainly has it down, because he was a very interesting dinner companion. He is an educator but was not here for the conference. He was passing through, headed to Tuskegee University to give a workshop on etiquette. He’s into helping large corporations learn the etiquette of foreign cultures. I can’t remember when I’ve enjoyed a stranger’s company so much. There must be something to the etiquette stuff. My mother sent me to etiquette classes when I was nine. I don’t know how much of it took. Well that’s my day. I’m looking forward to my presentation tomorrow. I’m excited about what FLVS has to offer. Whenever I get discouraged about my job I remember why I’m here. I really do believe in what we are doing.
