Have you ever made a formative mistake? One that felt really big in the moment, maybe even disastrous, but ultimately catalyzed a learning experience for you that shaped who you have become?
For me, it was in 10th grade when I made my English teacher cry. I was always a strong student, Straight A's all through Middle School and High School at Cary Academy. However, as I teenager I liked to push the boundaries in a class setting to earn my peer's approval. My English teacher liked to make jokes with me, so I thought at the time, but now I recognize it was a strategy to keep me engaged and on task. Unfortunately, one day I took the jokes too far, and I brought her to tears with a comment I made. As we reflected during my detention with her I was devastated. I had been so inconsiderate, so careless with my words, and it had really wounded someone who I appreciated as an educator.
That moment marked a shift for me as a young adult, I continued to be silly and fun-loving, but I had a better awareness of where the boundaries were and more importantly the power that my words had to harm others or lift them up.
At Appointed to Lead, we are grateful for our partners who allow us to support student-leaders in alternative settings. New Directions, a program of Durham Public Schools, provides an alternative to suspension by giving students a place to receive academic and emotional support when they've received a short term suspension. For the last year and a half, we've had a chance to provide weekly Leadership Seminars in this setting. We've been so impressed with the young leaders we have met in this setting. All of them have made mistakes, some as simple as the story I mentioned above, and they are committed to learning from those mistakes. New Directions staff help them process the social-emotional challenges of being suspended and support them to keep up with the coursework. Then, we come in to inspire them to see themselves as leaders.
I am grateful that Durham Public Schools recognizes the value of reaching students in this critical moment by supporting them through their formative mistakes. We have met some impressive young leaders in this setting and along with my colleague Mr. Anthony Fitzpatrick we strive to rebuild their confidence in themselves as leaders through the communication, collaboration, and self-efficacy skills we work on in our Seminars.
We've been so impressed with the young people we've met in this setting, that each year we have partner with a local non-profit, to send some of the student-leaders we meet at New Directions to the Shelton Leadership Challenge Camp at NCSU each summer.
-Stuart Gordon, Founder, Appointed to Lead