Teens, Become Who You Are!

 by Katherine O'Brien, Foundress, Celtic College Consultants

The holidays are approaching! The dreaded, "So what are your plans for when you finish high school?" question will be heard by teens everywhere.

What do you want to do when you grow up?

How am I supposed to know?

For over 20 years, I've helped teens explore options, come to know themselves, set goals, and take steps toward accomplishing those goals. Sometimes, however, a teen genuinely doesn't know. Then, there's a shift...

Knowing one's skill set and interests is enough to get started. This year, for example, I am working with a gifted story teller/writer/strategist. That skill set can be used in a number of fields and endeavors. At this point in her life, she really has no idea what direction to focus her skills. In her case, then, her initial college goals are a program where she can hone her skills and continue to develop as a young woman in an environment that shares her values and offers her numerous and varied beneficial growth opportunities.

Late blooming is okay!!!

 Today is my 60th birthday. As I write this blog, I am ensconced in a study room at a university library. I will spend most of my day researching and writing my doctoral dissertation. In some very real ways, I am only now beginning to bloom as a person. The experiences I have had so far have, in a very real sense, been a practicum composed of periods of various on the job training of sorts. All those experiences are being drawn upon in my doctoral work and the ministry that is beginning to be formed based on my thesis.

Some would call me a late bloomer. Those familiar with the work I'm doing recognize that a long period of preparation is necessary to handle the topic I'm working in, both to provide necessary insights as well as to allow healing and maturity to inform those insights and the delivery of them in my talks and writing. There simply is no substitute, in some cases, for life experience.

BE WHO YOU ARE!

You were created on purpose, for a purpose. Be not afraid to be yourself, and bloom, just be you!!!

Katherine can be reached by email: KOB@CelticCollegeConsultants.com

How to Choose what to do after high school…

 

by Katherine O'Brien, ThD candidate, Certified College Planning Specialist kob@CelticCollegeConsultants.com

 

 

Again and again teens report feeling overwhelmed about choosing a college major. Many also are stressed out about deciding whether or not to even go to college.

This is exactly what I do in the early phase of my College Success Program. I use a data driven, step by step process to help teens determine which career aligns with who they are, with their individual gifts, talents, strengths, weaknesses, personality, values, etc. Once that is identified, we proceed to explore  programs, majors, and schools (or other paths) to get them to their goal.

 

Here are a few of the key questions

 

Who are you?

What are your strengths?

What are your weaknesses?

What are your interests?

What are your values (moral, social, ecological, etc.)

What are your dreams?

How do you best learn? – What method(s)? What setting(s)?

 

Where do you want to go in life?

What kind of work?

What kind of Peers?

What kind of person do you want to become?

What kind of person do you want to marry?

Where do you want to live? (What kind of locale? Where in the country?)

 

What are the paths to get from where you are to there?

What are the requirements? Degrees, certifications, internships, etc.

What kind of professional network do you need to build?

What kinds of friends do you need to cultivate?

What sort of lifestyle will help you get there?

Which of your weaknesses do you need to overcome in order to be successful?

How can you leverage your strengths to do that?

 

Which of those is the best way for you to get there?

What environment do you need in order to thrive? – living circumstances, learning circumstances, social environment…

 

What do you need to do to get from here to there?

College?

Apprenticeship?

Trade School?

Certificate program?

On the job training?

 

So, how is a 17 year old supposed to decide? Is it even possible?

 

To be honest, most don’t do very well at this. The introspection required is difficult. Having a mentor and accountability partner to lead you through this exploration is essential to this process. Most never do it… and fumble around in college, changing majors, dropping out, or working various jobs after high school, sort of figuring things out by a somewhat random process of elimination. Both of those are inefficient and painful. Learning by discovering what makes you miserable is pretty brutal. Some of us can project, can imagine a future in a certain circumstance and decide whether heading that direction would be good for us. Most of us can’t do that. We have no idea how to imagine something we have not experienced.

 

ALL of my College Success Program students start with this process. Only after we have these answers, do  I guide them to programs, majors, and colleges (or trade schools!) that offer what they are looking for. Email me to set up an initial meeting to discuss your situation and how the College Success Program can help your teen on his or her journey to college. KOB@CelticCollegeConsultants.com

Why Go to College?

by Katherine O'Brien, MA CCPS, Founder of Celtic College Consultants

Colleges offer an amazing array of opportunities from design your own courses to design your  major, to interdisciplinary approaches to a topic to double majors to various experiential learning offerings, and on and on and on. With such a dizzying array of choices, it is all too easy to get lost in the maze from the first day to the graduation stage. In fact, many students do just that, as they mosey from one semester to the next without any clear, well considered goal in mind.

According to the great philosopher, Socrates, the unexamined life is not worth living. Therefore, let us take a few moments while we are in high school to examine our lives in order to begin to formulate a goal. Once a goal exists, the possibility of creating a plan to achieve becomes a reality.

How does a teen profitably examine him- or her-self?

The teen years are fraught with difficulties. Bodies and brains are developing, maturation is beginning to manifest, one's horizon decidedly expands beyond the family; it's a time of massive transition. With all of those changes, many fall prey to anxiety, insecurity creeps in as they seem to not be as wonderful as other kids, and paralysis regarding the future can set in.

It is precisely into this quandary that I intrepidly enter. As a trusted mentor who is a parent but not their parent, is a counselor yet independent of the school, I am able to enter with a gravitas which is real but not stifling. 

I help teens come to know their core personalities. I affirm their core strengths, academic, leadership, social, etc. I identify possibilities for them. I guide them through exploration and evaluation of possible careers and majors and programs. I help them see for themselves, recognize what resonates within their hearts, and let go of what doesn't. I add the practical (what needs to happen to get from HS to that career, can you earn a living doing that?, is the field viable/will anyone be hiring in that field?, etc.) as well.

Working with a professional like myself, teens grow in confidence, clarity, and conviction about who they are and why they want to go to college. That completely shifts the criteria for college selection from random guesswork to focused benchmarks.

Let's collaborate. The national average time to earn a bachelor's degree does not need to continue to be 6+ years. With clear goals, some won't go to college, because it's not the right path for them. Those who do go, will go to schools that have the programs they need to both thrive as individuals as well as become equipped to succeed in their chosen fields.

Summer time travels - College Prep on the go!

 by Katherine O'Brien, MA CCPS, Founder of Celtic College Consultants

Summer trips are wonderful opportunities to deepen and refine your students' interests. Experiential learning has been shown to significantly improve college outcomes. Your student(s) will also be able to refine his/her/their ideas about what they want to study at university. This clarity gets them on track to complete their degree in four years, rather than six (the US average!) and to be more articulate during campus visits and "Why do you want to study your major?" admissions application essay questions. For all these reasons, and more!, incorporating your teens' interests into your travel plans is beneficial! Don't forget to plan some fun family activities (crafts, games, sports, etc.) into your trip to make it memorable and enjoyable for everyone!

Here are a few ideas to get you started...

Do you have a budding history buff? Visit battlegrounds, monuments, museums, and other places of historical interests. Attend (participate, if you can!) re-enactments and other events. Need some sun? Visit the place of the first Catholic Mass in North America. The first Mass for which a record exists took place during the second voyage of Christopher Columbus, on the feast of the Epiphany, January 6, 1494, at the temporary shelter that would serve as a church at La Isabela, 30 miles west of Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic. If you'd rather stay in the US, the Mass offered by Fr. Francisco Lopez de Mendoza Grajales on September 8, 1565 was the first Mass in what would become the United State. It was conducted when Spanish Admiral Don Pedro Menendez de Aviles came ashore to establish the city of St. Augustine in what is now Florida. Or, visit the Alamo, the California Missions, the Shrine of St. Joseph in Montréal, Canada, or.... (you get the idea)

Is someone in your home interested in space, astrophysics, planetary geology, astronomy, or a related field? Houston might right for your trip. Visit NASA's Johnson Space Center's Visitor Center and the George Observatory (be sure to purchase your tickets online ahead of time!) The Houston Museum of Natural Science also awaits your exploration. Of course, Cape Canaveral and environs in Florida is another good place to explore. Did you know that the Northern Lights were recently seen in Wisconsin? Have your teen do some research into his or her interests and help you plan a trip that will be interesting for your whole family.

Language immersion is integral to developing proficiency. French speaking opportunities abound in Montréal. Spanish speaking opportunities exist in many places. Conradh na Gaeilge groups exist in many places in the US and around the world, for those interested in learning the Irish language. If German is your passion, take a trip to Frankenmuth, Michigan, about 90 miles north of Detroit. Mandarin and Cantonese have communities in New York City and San Francisco. If Arabic is your language, find a Maronite community and reach out to the priest. There is a Maronite rite Catholic parish in San Diego (a great place to visit for many reasons!) as well as a number of parishes in New York (city and state) and in the Detroit area.

By now, I think you've gotten the idea. Take trips. Explore interests. Visit campuses. And make memories! The journey to college can include fun and adventure!

Ways to Explore Academic Interests

 by Katherine O'Brien, MA CCPS, Founder of Celtic College Consultants

High school courses introduce students to a variety of topics. Learning more about those that interest you takes some effort but will be very helpful when comparing potential majors, majors at different colleges, as well as various concentrations within majors, not to mention potential research and internship opportunities.

In some cases, students can take a course at a local college or online in their area of interest. Many universities have numerous courses available through various online platforms like Coursera.

Another option is to attend undergraduate research presentations at colleges you are exploring. Watching student presentations will introduce high school students to the topics as well as expose them to the caliber of research and presentations being done by undergraduates.

A third option is to attend academic conferences. At these, students will be exposed to advanced research topics and techniques, have opportunities to learn from leading scholars and faculty in fields they are interested in, as well as possible networking opportunities. Hopefully, students will also be inspired and will be able to glean ideas for further study and/or activities in their community. Advice and/or exposure to well-done and effectively presented research will also provide valuable input for their own endeavors.

Attend a conference in your areas of interest this Spring! Typically high school students can register at the undergraduate rate. Here are a few; there are many more!

Upcoming Spring 2021 Academic Conferences (ALL Virtual)

1. American Chemical Society’s Annual Meeting: April 5-10, 2021This STEM conference separates out its “student-focused programming.” These include sessions such as “Enabling environmentally friendly plastics” and “Goals and activities of the Warriors Chemistry Club: COVID-19 edition.”  ($29 online registration fee for all 5 days, just attend the sessions you want to.)
2. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) International Conference on Soft Robotics hosted by Yale University: April 12-16, 2021  Presenters from Yale, Facebook, UC San Diego, Columbia, and more are planned. Includes optional workshops on topics such as material intelligence and interventional robotics, as well as a robotics competition you can observe and two informative “speed networking” sessions you can partake in. ($25 online registration fee)
3. Society for Affective Science Annual Conference (co-sponsored by Harvard, Tufts, and the Society for the Improvement for Psychological Science): April 13-16, 2021.Includes faculty presenters from UC Berkeley, Stanford, UC Davis, Harvard, U of Michigan, Vanderbilt, and more on topics on psychology, neuropsychology, family dynamics, and speech and brain patterns. ($50 online registration fee)
4. Society for Military History’s 87th Annual Meeting: May 20-23, 2021Online and in-person in Norfolk, VA. They have not yet posted the virtual registration rate, but will soon and should be similar to these other conferences.
5. Society for Freshwater Science Annual Meeting: May 23-27, 2021This is their first ever virtual conference. Session topics include: freshwater science ecological changes in arctic lakes and rivers, inequitable waterscapes, environmental justice, “herstory in freshwater sciences,” and more. Also includes e-workshops such as “writing for aquatic scientists”  and “Trash Talk,” on the ecology of trash in freshwater. ($30 online registration fee)

These are 5 low cost options that could make a BIG impact on your spring, and perhaps your summer and eventual college, graduate school and/or research pathway as well. If you've found particular professors interesting, see if any of them are speaking at conferences and see if you can attend. You may even get to do some Q&A with them!

Programs for Career Exploration

by Katherine O'Brien, MA CCPS

With half of college students changing their majors, many of them adding one or more years to their path to a bachelors degree and about $50,000 of dollars to the cost for each extra year it takes, it is very important that students take time during the high school years to explore possible careers.  Having clear goals enables teens to be able to identify and seek majors and programs that will prepare them for work in the field they have identified.

 

The Boy Scout program offers 137 merit badges, many of which are designed to allow Scouts to explore various careers.  Some examples are welding, landscape architecture, robotics, animal science, astronomy, automotive maintenance, engineering, entrepreneurship, soil and water conservation, game design, cooking, environmental science, sustainability, graphic arts, crime prevention and computing, medicine, moviemaking, nuclear science, oceanography, plumbing, public health, fish and wildlife management. Additionally, once the Scout has attained the Life rank he or she can organize and lead an Eagle project.

Some high schools have DECA groups.  The mission of DECA is to prepare emerging leaders and entrepreneurs in marketing, finance, hospitality, and management.  Some of the DECA program happens in the classroom, some happens in applied learning situations.  DECA hosts competitions in business administration, team decision making, personal finance literacy, business operations research, entrepreneurship, marketing, professional selling and consulting.

Girl Scouts also offers some career exploration opportunities in their badges: engineering, computer science, space science, robotics, mechanical engineering, financial literacy, healthy relationships, car care, textile arts, website designer, novel writing, business etiquette, programming and designing robots, ecology, government, cooking, jeweler, and photography.

Junior Achievement also offers Biztown experiences and classes which allow young people to explore various business roles including store owner, entrepreneur, and financial professional.