Since it’s back-to-school season, I wanted to share a fun workshop I did last spring with a local Fort Worth charter school!
At this IDEA Rise school, a group of 7th-grade girls were a part of a club called Leading Ladies run by two teachers. Every Wednesday, they met after school to learn how to better themselves and their public speaking skills.
They used my book, It’s the Depression for Me, as their guidebook. Each week they read through a chapter and discussed what they learned. It gave the girls a space to be open with one another and feel comfortable asking for life advice and guidance.
I was so honored when they asked me to be the guest for one of their club meetings!
What a fun experience it was to spend time with girls who had already read my book and connected with it on such a personal level. I got to learn more about the girls as they introduced themselves and practiced their public speaking skills. They were full of questions to ask and even wanted me to sign their books.
The BEST part!? We made vision boards! Earlier in the year, they did the exercise in It’s the Depression for Me about brainstorming who you want to become in 10 years. With the vision boards, we brought those hopes and dreams to life by cutting out images and text from magazines. At the end of the workshop, they had a poster to take home and hang in their room to keep them inspired every single day.
The group is expanding this year, and the girls moving up to the 8th-grade club will be working through my second book, It’s the Awkwardness for Me. How exciting!
If you are an educator looking to provide more social-emotional learning and self-development resources for your students, the books in the Teen Think Series are a great place to start. Both books are split into easily digestible chapters and foster opportunities to ask questions and dive deeper into essential life topics.
If you’re interested in starting your own teen leadership club at your school, or would like to do a success workshop for your students, you can contact Maeve Ronan here.
Thank you to the Leading Ladies for being such a respectful and welcoming group! Wishing you the best of luck this school year. You’ve got this, and I hope to see you soon!
