The HOBY Spirit

Professionally, I had a fairly tough day at work today.  The reasons don't really matter.  What is relevant however in this case is about attitude. I'm the type of person who tries to give 100% and then some to everything I do.  I've never really figured out how to do less.  Why would you bother with something if you're going to give it anything less than your best? In my real job, this is sometimes difficult for me.  I am very committed to it, but I work with other professionals who I won't always feel are giving the same.  I don't question their commitment.  I don't question their heart.  I certainly don't question their character.  But I'd be lying if I told you I never questioned if they had the right attitude. Attitude is so crucial in...

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The Strength in Discord

Last Thursday, Maryland's Corporate Board met for one of our quarterly meetings to discuss where we were at and where we were going.  While the major event in Maryland is the seminar, the Board functions to oversee all events, that they are meeting their responsibilities fiscally, and that they represent HOBY well. While I don't want anyone to think that our meeting was filled with discord (it wasn't), what was perhaps most interesting to me is there were two disagreements during the evening that struck me in the same way that liberals and conservatives might argue in politics:  that there was discussion about what was in HOBY's best interest, a new approach, or a tried and true strategy.   In the simplest sense, what you know works is a good thing, but if you stick...

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Poise and Patience

In my professional life, I'm a special education teacher in a level 5 setting.  Without the lingo, it means I work in a  school exclusively for students with special needs.  My population happens to be emotionally disturbed students. When you tell people that, they have this immediate reaction of, "Wow.  That must be really tough.  You must have enormous patience."  I'm not going to disagree with them that it takes lots of patience, but in reality, I see my job as fairly easy in most regards.  I teach small classes and a subject I love.  I know my kids well, and they know and respect me because I give it to them straight.  There is a very special and important student-teacher relationship that is formed over time with every one of them. By contrast,...

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Application

With yesterday's release of Team Alumni applications, I thought I would make a comment or two about the process of becoming a TA and, perhaps even offer a few tips to the application. As I've mentioned before, the process to join TA really began this summer:  who showed to the Summer Reunion and NPR event?  Who has helped plan the Fall Reunion coming up next week, and who will be there?  Who came to our program year kick off meeting in October?  Who is now helping with recruitment?  You don't have to be able to say "yes" or "I did" to all of these questions -- they're just pieces of the puzzle.  And we want to be able to say we have the complete puzzle when we're done.  Let me state it now for the record, and this is incredibly true:  there is no "formula"...

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In the beginning, and in the end

As a minor preview for the handful of you who actually read this, we're about to release our Team Alumni applications for the year. We also happen to be exactly 200 days from the Maryland Leadership Seminar.  When you put it like that, it's kind of scary actually. Helping Tracy get the TA application ready though makes me reflect on my own journey to Seminar Chair, something I haven't yet talked much about here, and at this point, has been somewhat even lost in the time that has past.  I thought I might share with you all now. If you ask me about my own seminar year, 1996, I don't remember as much as you think I would.  Talking with fellow alumni, I actually think I remember my own less than most people do.  I used to say that my ambassador year was the best ever, but...

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Re: Recruitment

That title has fortunately been flooding my inbox all week. Admittedly, it was and is a bit of a gamble to try and put our alumni on the the task of recruitment for the seminar.  It has traditionally been a task handled by a recruitment director, and doled out to a team of volunteers.  However, the reality was that with no director, we couldn't just ignore the large task of recruitment, and we needed to find a way to make it possible. At the same time, this seminar off season we have done a very positive job of engaging our alumni.  Between a successful summer reunion, and a big opportunity to be on the radio at NPR, our alumni were wanting to be engaged, and have stayed involved as they truly want to return to the seminar to be on Team Alumni. Throw these factors together,...

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