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 BOOST Breakfast Club Blog is Brain Food for In and Out-of-School Time Leaders!
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From the Field: We Asked Educators What They’d Tell Themselves at 15
As we celebrated the 15th anniversary of the BOOST Conference this year, we are still reeling from our inspiring and impactful event. We welcomed over 3,000 attendees to our conference in sunny Palm Springs and offered 200+ workshops, 4 Pre-Conference Academies, Master Classes, Town Hall and Panel Sessions, a Film Festival, 125+ exhibitors, networking events, and so much more. What I’d tell my younger self at 15 years old We asked educators to share what advice they would give to themselve...Read More
Holiday Time!
“It’s the most wonderful time of the year…” Each time I hear that Christmas song, I wonder, “Is it really?” Nearly half of Americans sometimes or always feel alone. For some of us, the holiday season is a bittersweet mix of joy and grief. Maybe life didn’t go the way we expected because of disappointment, death, or divorce. I walked through a heart-wrenching divorce, and the effects of that split are felt by me and my kids every holiday. They share their time between me and their dad. For days,...Read More
Are We There Yet?
This is the question I get from the backseat on nearly every drive with my five and seven-year-old daughters. This is also the question I’ve found myself asking over and over for the last 19+ months, as I’ve tried to hold it all together. My kids have needed me more than ever, to comfort and care for them through the added challenges of the pandemic. We are privileged to be able to shield them from the harshest effects of the pandemic. Yet, I’ve struggled to give them the time and patience that ...Read More
Managing Our Moves: Reflections on Phases of Discovery and Recommitment
On a hot day this summer I visited an outdoor swimming spot and after dangling my toes off the pier for a bit was inspired to challenge myself. It felt like decades since I last dove into the water headfirst, but as I curled my toes over the edge, extended my arms in front of me with one hand piled atop the other, the familiarity of that posture felt reassuring and exhilarating from the inside out. A moment later my ears were tucked into upper arms upside down, and I spotted my feet suspended f...Read More
Catching Grit
Grit is defined on paper as “courage and resolve; strength of character.” My son, Oliver, turned 13 a few months ago and recently received an opportunity to demonstrate what it means in practice. He has played Irvine Pony League baseball since he was seven. I never asked him if he wanted to play. I signed him up because I wanted to share the experience with him. I threw him a thousand pitches in the park before he ever played his first game. He started in 2016, playing at the “Pinto Machine Pitc...Read More
5 Simple Ways Youth Can Inspire Change
This blog was originally published on August 27, 2019. Youth voice in the advocacy space is still timely and relevant so we wanted to share it again. Enjoy! I believe in the power of youth voice because youth can inspire change. Young people are experts on their own lives, and their lived experiences should be heard and used to advocate for change. We live in a time where advocacy and grassroots movements have been instrumental in highlighting social issues and bringing about positive change. W...Read More
Libraries Rock!
Let me preface this by saying I do NOT work for a library. I did however have a Work-Study job at Tufts University in the microfiche and periodicals area – yes, yes, I am dating myself – severely dating myself! That said, I loved that job – it was so fun, it brought together all of my favorite interests – learning new things and then organizing said things. Did you know that there is a magazine for everything?? I mean EVERYTHING – Emu Today – that’s EMUsing &#...Read More
Why Every Student Needs Entrepreneurship
Photo by Clark Tibbs on Unsplash “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” -Peter Drucker Ever since high school, I knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur. But traditional education rewards a college degree into a stable job. If you want to be an entrepreneur, you do it on your own time and take a huge risk to start a company. So that’s what I did. I completed the traditional core high school curriculum, got a finance degree and became an analyst in commercial banking. After three years...Read More
Should Everyone Get a Trophy?
When I was a kid, the winning team took home the trophy, and the MVP got the medal. That was that. When my kids were growing up, everyone got a trophy. There was no MVP because they all succeeded and did their best. I see the value of both, especially when you’re talking about young children. There should never be losers when you work in the nonprofit sector, especially with kids, because all kids win when everyone gets the trophy. Here’s why. This past summer, our organization formed a strate...Read More
From a Learning Disability to a Ph.D.: A Life-Changing Journey
As I opened an email titled “Congratulations! Your dissertation is approved.” I felt tears of happiness slowly running down my cheeks. I smiled, closed my eyes, and took a long, deep breath. It had been a long and difficult journey, but somehow, I felt that it was only a beginning – of a new era, the one where I officially had no reason to doubt myself. “I am a doctor now,” I thought to myself. “I did it, I proved them all wrong.” For as long as I can remember I was told that I wasn’t good enoug...Read More
Are You Listening? Leading with Care
They’re not listening to me! It’s a common complaint, especially when working with kids (though it’s said about adults, too!). I’m always fascinated by it. When the person is asking for help with the “problem,” I first ask, “Are you telling them what to do?” The response varies from “Well, yeah!” to “What do you mean by that?” What do I mean? I recently had the opportunity to return to a site for a few weeks—from beginning to end of the school day—and it has me thinking about what it means to le...Read More
Let’s GROW! Tips for Program Replication and Expansion
Expanded learning programs have gotten a lot of attention in the first part of 2021 – and we deserve it! Funding from federal, state, and local governments is flowing to summer and out-of-school time providers, many of which are poised for large scale growth in the coming year. Thoughtful, intentional expansion is critical for our field to make the most of this opportunity. So, what should providers keep in mind as they ramp up? Our team at Public Profit helps mission-driven organizations take t...Read More