Professional Development

America, The Beautiful (by Katharine Lee Bates – 1913)   *Today we honor the victims and families of the September 11th attacks.*   O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain, For purple mountain majesties Above the fruited plain! America! America! God shed His grace on thee, And crown thy good with brotherhood From […]

While eating fruit with my lunch today I realized that my dream home includes an apple tree and a grape vine.  My apple tree insight brought to mind one of my favorite movies of all time – Baby Boom.   In 1987, Diane Keaton played a driven career woman working in a Manhattan marketing/advertising agency.  She

THE TEEN TOOLBOX promotes youth portfolio development, academic enrichment, and civic engagement to help youth set goals for life after high school and develop a plan to reach those goals.   PORTFOLIO DEVELOPMENT Packaged For Success™ Portfolio Development Program helps youth put their best foot forward. During our one day professional portfolio development seminar, young people

Every Mom’s Test © Nandita Shailesh Shanbhag (Permission to reprint requested from Family Friendly Poems) You are special; you mean the world to me You are my daughter, a reflection of my entity Every year, as I watch you grow by my side No matter what you do, you are my source of pride The

Live Life As The Winner That You Are “Winners have simply formed the habit of doing things that losers don’t do.”  -Albert Gray 10 Ways To Win   1. Create realistic goals 2. Develop a written plan to reach your goals 3. Take one action daily that moves you closer to your goals 4. Develop an

The London 2012 Olympic Games end this Sunday.  Olympic fever has taken over the world and provided me yet another opportunity to highlight adoption and foster care – I’m so grateful.  After his win, thirty-four year old, shot put bronze medal winner, Reese Hoffa, used his achievement to raise awareness about the numbers of children

Years ago I worked in a transitional living program for young adults 18-21 years old. The “residents” included teen mothers and a few young people who were in the foster care system.  The teen moms shared a room with their children and all other residents shared one bedroom apartments.  Each person was required to seek

WATCH (poem) By Frank Outlaw   Watch your thoughts, for they become words.   Watch your words, for they become actions.   Watch your actions, for they become habits.   Watch your habits, for they become character.   Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.  

What is Mandela Day? – Following the success of Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday celebrations in London’s Hyde Park in June 2008, a decision was made to celebrate Mr. Mandela’s birthday each year with a day dedicated to his life’s work and that of his charitable organizations, and to ensure his legacy continues forever.    The

WINNER’S BLUEPRINT FOR ACHIEVEMENT By William Arthur Ward BELIEVE while others are doubting. PLAN while others are playing. STUDY while others are sleeping. DECIDE while others are delaying. PREPARE while others are daydreaming. BEGIN while others are procrastinating. WORK while others are wishing. SAVE while others are wasting. LISTEN while others are talking. SMILE while