I was chatting with someone recently about my new professional endeavor, and in an almost disgusted manner, this person said, "There is no solution to school shootings." I was sort of taken back and pretended I didn't hear what they just said. This got me thinking about the many different worldly/societal issues that didn't have solutions...until they did. A few that came to mind... Measles - I'm sure before the early 1960s, if someone said to another person in conversatio

Some people are born with the ability to "feel" people. I don't mean "feel" in the sense of feeling them in a physical way, but the ability to feel their presence, feel their energy, their moods, their thoughts. It's an incredible gift to be born with, but a daunting one at that. I have been educating kids age 12 to 18 since 2006. My passion in working with these amazing young people is getting to KNOW them, and I mean REALLY know them. There are many teachers who show u

i've never wanted to shoot up a school (or any public place large or small for that matter). i don't own a gun, i've never shot a gun, and i don't know how to shoot a gun. but i DO know how the many school shooters have felt in the moments leading up to the school shootings. the FBI did a study on school shooters and found several personality traits, characteristics, motives that were prevalent in the school shooters minds prior to the horrific acts they carried out. a few

we've all heard the term, "head versus heart." but what does it actually mean? as human beings, we make decisions for a variety of reasons. sometimes we use our head, or logic, cognitive-based decision making, and other times we use our heart, or emotionally-based decision making given how we are feeling. decisions can be made in a proactive way or a reactive way. let's get the definitions of each: proactive [pro- + reactive]: acting in anticipation of future problems, n

i recently encountered a situation in my life that has forced me to change direction. again. two years ago i was thriving in the school i was working in; i created a beautiful program where STUDENTS were thriving and changing to be leaders. then it all shifted in a matter of seconds. i was in a place where i had to give up the program, the relationships, the beautiful changes i built and start over. it was an incredibly difficult time. now two years later i find myself

when i was growing up, i had no idea what i wanted to do. when i was a kid, i loved playing tetherball with my sisters. i loved drawing, particularly drawing people and families and faces. i did well in school (not "straight A student" well, but good enough to get into a good college out of high school). i played sports, did volunteer work, loved hanging with my friends, but ultimately i had no idea what i wanted to do with my life or where i was going. at the beginning

my entire life i've been enamored with beautiful people. not really sure what that's about, but i'm rolling with it. the thing that is bizarre about it is that while there is definitely something to be said for external beauty, but realistically surface, external beauty really makes no difference. i've met hundreds of externally beautiful people in my life, and when it comes right down to it, it's just a facade. what REALLY makes a difference is what's going on underneath

Welcome to With Heart Project! My name is Kristen, and I am SO excited to be able to share this project with you. Having worked with adolescents for the past 12 years in middle and high school, I have seen a HUGE need for positive, productive, constructive interactions for youth outside of school. We are amidst MAJOR changes in the landscape of growing up (mostly with technology, and 24/7 access to each other), and with that comes a host of complication. Kids can't escape