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Positive Educational Direction |
March 2009 Table of Contents | Next Article » Introduction: March 2009
Dear friends, Over the course of twenty five years of service to our students, we have often been asked to share in the planning of summer activities. Whether your summer involves academic opportunities or a chance to develop skills onstage or in a studio, whether your plans will include some meaningful community service (that doesn't come across as a great way to fit in some scuba diving on the side!) or an intensive sports camp to gain exposure to college coaches, what you do with your summer matters. And don't rule out the value of a good old-fashioned job beyond babysitting for family friends or working as a camp counselor! A colleague with whom I am in the process of writing a book, asked me to observe a person who is at the top of their profession or making an extraordinary contribution to society. He asked me to look for characteristics and patterns, and tell him what I saw. That was easy because I work with some extraordinary people, but it was even easier to observe my wife. I'm married to a Harvard-trained, deeply committed physician who is enormously sought after by breast and brain, cancer patients, and who has recently been made a professor at Yale. This is what hit me immediately: "She never does nothing." Whether in her office or at home, she is never idle; she is either reading or planning the day or the week, or actively carrying out her own orders with precision. With that model in mind, I say to college candidates: Don't ever show the colleges idle-ness during the summers. They are looking for active, caring, contributing people, even on vacation and that is exactly what they will look for when you describe your summers to them. So start thinking about what you might want to do with your summer and come in so we can share with you some of the resources we've used over the years. Cheers! Don Dunbar |
