Today is Day 19 out of 31 days of posts dedicated to Disney Youth Programs and how they're awesome for gifted students.
If you have not read the rest of this series, or if you happened to have missed a post, here is the link to the kick-off post. The kick-off post has hyperlinks to every other post in this month-long #DisneyYouth #Gifted #Write31Days series.
***Please Note: Day 18's post is actually going to be out of order, as I had to switch posts and will post Day 18's post within the next few days.***
Why I really want to highlight Disney Leadership Strategies (grades 9-12) and other Disney
Youth classes for you is actually personal.
Back in the day, worked at a private
boarding school.
One of the boarding students, whom I shall call John for this
post, was a profoundly gifted high school student. John was very soft spoken,
kind, respectful, funny, exceptionally neat, multi-lingual, and phenomenal as
far as his eloquence with his writing, his understanding of higher level math, science,
and his love for art and music. He struggled with relating to his peers and usually kept to himself, although he occasionally would have conversations with adults. This wasn't because he did not want to have conversations with his chronological aged peers...he just did not share much in common with them as far as their interests.
John was very socially awkward because for the most part, he lacked intellectual peers.
In the course of living on campus,
one of my duties was to check in on the students. During these check-ups, John would
step out of his shyness long enough to share something that had intrigued him
on that particular day, whether it was a poem, a math problem, or a piece of
artwork.
He passions included classical music, Asian sculptures and paintings, and irrational numbers.
When it came time to apply to
schools, John chose to only apply to one Ivy League school, as that was what
his parents wanted for him.
I had moved and left by the time
that John was a Junior in high school, but heard through the grapevine about him not getting into the Ivy League School of his parents’ dreams. Despite his
amazing intellectual ability, John was not accepted by this elite school. Here was a
kid who would have been an asset to ANY school in the world and yet, they did
not accept him. He was basically told that they felt that he was not well
rounded. But here is the thing: John actually was amazingly well rounded in
every academic discipline. I have never seen such a student who is a prodigy in
math and science and yet, amazing in literature, art, music, and multiple
languages.
What John lacked was a way for the
world to get to see that he had the ability to be a fine leader who worked well with others. He lacked confidence and struggled to relate his interests to most others his age.
When I read the description of Disney Leadership Strategies, as well as the other Disney Youth program descriptions,
I immediately thought of John. If only he would have had an opportunity to
experience being with a cohort of his intellectual peers in an environment that
would have supported him in a way that Disney Youth Programs are able to do for
students.
In a short window of time, students
who attend Disney Youth programs begin to feel very comfortable and feel like
they are free to ask questions, to share their thoughts, and to take on a
leadership role in a way that is not always possible for students to do in a
traditional classroom setting. They are not in a traditional classroom. Movement is involved throughout the day. Being unique is appreciated. The Disney Youth educators are very passionate about what they do (as was evidenced in the programs I got to have a behind-the-scenes-look at).
Many gifted students are asynchronous in their development, whereby they excel in the academic arena, but might be awkward in their social and emotional interactions.
John's story is one of the reasons why I feel the need to get the word out about what Disney Youth
Programs have to offer gifted
students.
As funding has become scarce and more gifted programs are being
eliminated, there are going to be more students like John who are getting
little to no quality classroom time devoted to anything that helps them to
develop their ability to lead, to create, or to invent. So much time is being
spent on trying to get everyone up to speed with standardized tests that gifted
students have largely been pushed to the sidelines.
In the current school environment where high stakes testing is taking priority, many gifted students are not given
the chance to explore their passions, to take on a leadership role, to collaborate,
to develop confidence, or to network with other highly able students. These students are just there to take the tests and bump the school's scores. It is even worse in many cases for Twice Exceptional students.
If John would have had the
opportunity to attend a Disney Y.E.S. Program with other gifted students from
his school, he would have graduated with something on his application that
would not just make him more interesting, but it would have made him feel more
confident when someone interviewed him. Maybe he would have even gotten into
his parents' choice of Ivy League school...or
maybe John would have become confident enough to stand up to his parents to
tell them that he wanted to explore another school that he wanted to attend.
It is only speculation at this point
what would have happened, but somehow, in my mind, it just seems like the end
result would have been an amazingly brilliant student would have come into his own if he
had the chance to build his confidence through a Disney Youth Program.
Here are some of the specifics about Disney Leadership Strategies (grades 9-12):
Students grades 9-12 will learn Disney management skills and business
strategies for becoming an effective leader. In this 3-hour academic
adventure specially designed activities help students explore their
entrepreneurial skills, practice communicating with and empowering
people and discover how to inspire team excellence.
Key Learning Points
During this interactive field study, students will:
- Be introduced to the concept that leadership affects every aspect of business
- Come to understand that everyone has the opportunity to exhibit leadership traits and behaviors.
- Consider the impact of effective recognition in the workplace
- Explore the value of training and empowerment in creating an environment that delivers business results
- Examine the role of service and quality standards within the Walt Disney World ® Resort
- Learn that effective leaders strive to overcome barriers and challenges that prevent the achievement of business results
- Explore the organizational value of possessing an entrepreneurial outlook and skills
- Uncover the barriers, challenges, and advantages of effective communication
- Find that the strength and success of any organization is the result of individuals working toward a common goal
- Discover the multiple layers of communication and its effect on teamwork
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| Photo used with permission. Photo property Walt Disney Company. |
You will need Adobe Flash to view this video. If you do not have Adobe Flash, here is the link to the class information from the Disney Youth website.
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| Logo used with permission. Logo property of Walt Disney Company. |
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| Logo used with permission. Logo property of Walt Disney Company. |
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