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Mile 13:
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Many of you I am sure are saying to yourself "well I am just 12, 13, 14 years old what can I do at this age." My answer? A lot! You are just getting started! You are what I call in the middle of the pack! You are old enough to start making decisions on your own but you are young enough to still depend on your family to help you with a lot. Before we dig deeper let's look into these videos!
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Maya Penn: 13 year old designer (7:15)
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Thomas Suarez: 12 year old App developer (4:39)
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Richard Turere: 13 year old inventor (7:19)
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Mile 14:
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After watching the videos telling me about them. What did see that all three of these middle school students have in common?
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Many kids such as the one's you just watched are having a great influence in their homes, schools, communities across the globe!
What makes them any different than you? I will tell you, nothing! If you have the opportunity to dream and have visions you too can do as Maya, Thomas, and Richard. Many of you have million dollar ideas as you ride the bus, walk or get dropped off by a parent. Imagine if you took curiosity and got involved with it. The world is at your hands, you are the future, some of you will be creating the jobs that will help keep this country running full steam ahead. Some of you will be innovators on a small scale (at your job, home, church, etc.) and some of you will be innovators on a wide scale too. Either scale is not important, what is important is you can influence many people with your ideas. Do you have any ideas? Why don't you tell me about them! In your canvas journal, tell me about your ideas or visions you think could serve the greater good of people? But what if I don't have any ideas or visions right now??? That is just fine! If that is the case, then you get to tell me what you think are problems and issues that you think are happening in your school, community. And how you think you would handle it. |
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Mile 15:
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do what you like! |
Jeff Brenzel, Dean of Undergraduate Admissions, Yall University
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Jeff Brenzel is the Dean of Undergraduate Admissions for Yale University. What does that mean? It is a fancy way to say he helps look over how students can go to school at Yale and the qualifications needed for them to get in. Now if you do not know much about Yale University it is one of the top Ivy League schools in the country.
What is Ivy League? These schools are all very selective private colleges in the Northeastern United States. These schools include: University of Pennsylvania Dartmouth College Brown University Columbia University Cornell University Harvard University Princeton University Yale University. |
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Mr. Brenzel was quoted saying "My usual advice in this area is simply do things that you truly enjoy in high school. . . Why? Because what you truly enjoy, you're probably going to be good at, and you're probably going to get better at—whether it's one activity, two activities, three activities—don't obsess on whether it's an activity that everyone else in the world is doing, and therefore, one that's not going to distinguish you; or an activity that no one's doing and colleges are going to think is bizarre." - Big Future, The College Board
As a middle school student it is never too late to start learning who you are and what you are good at. What you will find out about yourself will surprise, more importantly what you are good at you most likely will be even greater at the more you keep doing it. Do not be scared to stand out, do something different, or try out a different path from everyone else. Doing things different does not mean you cannot be friends with others. What it means is you are willing to do more than what is EXPECTED of you. Are you willing??? Those of you who are willing and wanting to do more than expected, let's go back to our mentors and go talk to them. Ask them what ways you too can get more involved in your visions, ideas, or concerns. |
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Whether you have ideas or concerns that you really want to get more involved in or you do not have any ideas or concerns, I want you to watch this video before we go to task, because regardless how young or old, wealthy or not, you can always give a helping hand!
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Mile 16:
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Now that you have watched these three young students, you can see now that you too can take an idea, even at your age, and stretch it as far as you want to. These three students took simple ideas and dug deeper into them and now have wonderful products to show. What separates you from these three examples? Let's make a video! Answer the following questions:
1. How do you think these three students stayed focused on finishing their products? 2. Why do you think these students did not give up on their ideas? 3. Do you think they had any difficulties working on their products? Why or Why not? |
Proceed to the next mile |
