“We recently had Latara Shanae Griffin come in and complete a work session with our scholars about setting goals and how to think through proactively targeting the right goals,” Middle School Dean Jamila Bowser said. “After the session, the scholars completed a guided goal sheet and a vision board.”
Griffin wrote a book titled “Strongholds.” She serves as a motivational speaker, youth mentor, and advocate.
Some of the goals included earning straight A’s in school, receiving sports scholarships to colleges, being drafted into professional sports teams, and getting married. Students added positive vibes to their boards such as “Happiness Matters,” “Believe in Yourself,” and “Dream.”
The approach started with action plans to help make the goals a reality.
“They also participated in a simulation where some of the kids had real life obstacles presented to them because they had not set a goal,” Bowser said. “The demo also showed how it impacted their progress to not have a plan. It was very visual and a neat way to demonstrate why setting goals are important.”
Students could easily see the correlation between the hard work they would need to do in school or sports to meet their future goals.
Research Triangle Charter Academy is a tuition-free, public charter school in Durham, North Carolina, serving students in kindergarten through eighth grade. It is part of the National Heritage Academies network, which includes more than 100 tuition-free, public charter schools serving more than 65,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grade across nine states. For more information, visit nhaschools.com.
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