Breakfast Club Blog

The BOOST Breakfast Club Blog is a curated space where bloggers from around the world contribute content on a continual basis about a variety of topics relevant to in and out-of-school time. The BOOST Breakfast Club blog is at the heart of an ongoing dialogue where expanded learning and education professionals share their personal thoughts and stories from the in and out-of-school time field. They also tell us what they ate for breakfast!

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer, or company. Enjoy the brain food.

The BOOST Breakfast Club Blog is Brain Food for In and Out-of-School Time Leaders!

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What Kind Of Mark Did You Make Today?

Checking in with your kids each day is a great way to help them remember their values and to focus on the type of person that they want to be. And a great question to ask each day is – “What mark did you make today?” You see, every time we are with someone we leave a “mark” – either a “gold heart” or a “grungy mark” depending on how we treated them. When I was a young girl, my Dad loved to talk about the Golden Rule – “to treat others as I would want to be treated.” The Golden Rule was rea...Read More

A New Year’s Resolution

Today is the last day of 2017. It’s been a strange year. I feel like we’re living in some Bizarro World version of America. It’s as if one day we will wake up and realize this was all just a bad dream. A year ago I thought, “Well, I lived through eight years of W, I’ll get through this.” I didn’t think it would affect me personally, but it has. It does, every day. I live in Irvine, a diverse suburban community in which less than half of the population is white. A multitude of languages can be he...Read More

Bringing in 2018 with Full-On Gratitude

This blog discusses a topic that I found really useful in 2017, almost life-changing. And now that I am aware of how powerful gratitude is, I use gratitude as a practice for healing and finding calm in my crazy days! Whether it is professional or personal, when I use gratitude as a tool for establishing a healthy mindset, life just gets better. Let’s make the shift in 2018… WHAT: Bringing in the New Year with gratitude can be refreshing, soothing and a hopeful way to start anew! WHY: Findi...Read More

Santa Baby! Crafts, Resources, Volunteerism and Hugs!

It’s that time of year again… the last of the pumpkin spice lattes are being served and the air is filled with peppermint everything at the local coffee shops. There’s an added pep in every step, smiles are shared amongst strangers, and you are determined to sing “Santa Baby” better than ever. It’s my favorite part of the year! Creativity at school sites is at an all-time high and program coordinators are excited about the different activities that will surely outshine everyone else’s. Ser...Read More

A Holiday Invitation, Highs and Lows: What Will You Choose?

Happy December! It’s the season of holidays for many of us, though I know not all.   I embrace the holiday season, and Christmas is my holiday. I love it all—the lights, the trees, the presents, the magic. I love that the first snowfall usually comes during this season. I love the opportunity for gathering with people to enjoy eating, drinking, and merriment. I love that I have a fireplace and can light a cozy fire during this season. I love the Christmas music playing in the background (fo...Read More

The Flawed Leader… Follow Up 6 Months Later

Social Power is defined as the degree of influence that an individual or organization has among their peers and within their society as a whole. 6 months ago, I shared in this blog my challenges with my own leadership and that of the organization I started and grew over the past 15 years. I poured out on the table the comments my staff made in relation to my leadership flaws, and the ways I needed to be better for my team. Since then I have openly spoken in three different states in front of lar...Read More

Right Nows: How Are You Coping In The Face Of Tragedy?

Last month was the anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks. I’ve been thinking about it, obviously, and my experience living in New York City during that time.  In the last two months, Floridians have been recovering from Hurricane Irma, Puerto Rico is completely devastated from Irma, and Texans are trying to recover from Hurricane Harvey. Mexico is trying to deal with the aftermath of the strongest earthquake to hit that country in a century, as well as their own Hurricane Kat...Read More

GIRLS: A Sneak Peek Into Their World of Aggression

In the past couple of years there has been much talk about females becoming more aggressive and violent. More aggressive? Many people would say that’s an understatement. More violent? Now, that’s not such a clear answer. According to the latest research conducted by the Girls Study Group for the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, “available evidence based on arrest, victimization, and self-report data suggests that although girls are currently arrested more for simple assault...Read More

3 Great Opportunities to Blast off the New School Year

It’s that time again! All across the country, youth are getting ready to embrace the new school year and after-school programs are transitioning from summer learning to fall programming. I have found that a new school year is like a blank journal just waiting for an author’s special touch. It is an opportunity to expand upon an existing story, transform the direction of the story, or create something totally new. I wanted to share three thoughts to consider as you begin the new school year: 1. W...Read More

The Music of Life:  An Ode to the World

I was thinking recently about how two of my favorite sounds in the world are completely different. The first is the sound of birds singing and chirping—particularly the spring birds in the early morning. The second is the sound of an Indy race car as it speeds around the track. I love both of these sounds so much. Yet one is so gentle and the other is so strong. It seems like they should be in opposition to each other. But in reality I think they are examples of the stunning beauty of this world...Read More

People Aren’t Flies: How Youth Can Listen Without Needing to Be Heard

We have all experienced a time when we believed we had a genuine connection with a person, only to find out that they had a specific agenda in mind. We have all experienced someone that has tried to proselytize or preach at us, to use us to get ahead, or to gain access to our friends or family members. For many people, what starts out as a genuine connection dissolves almost instantly as soon as the sirens of topics such as politics or religion are sounded. We know how difficult it can be to hav...Read More

Commencement

On behalf of the BOOST Breakfast Club, congratulations to all the graduates across the nation in 2017! This post from @erikap is so beautiful and well written, we wanted to #repost this heartfelt message. We believe the message is universal. Enjoy! As spring has officially given way to summer and academics have been replaced by pools and bike rides, I’ve been thinking about commencement speeches. Students across the country have been hearing them, whether graduating from high school or col...Read More