OceansideOceanside — Dozens of high-profile motivational speakers — including businessman and Oprah Winfrey beau Stedman Graham and mental health expert Ken Druck — will visit Oceanside schools next week as part of Youth Success Week, a program aimed at helping students build the emotional and educational skills they need to become successful.
The program will have more than 200 assemblies and reach roughly 20,000 students at 23 schools in the Oceanside Unified School District. District officials say they want it to become an annual event that could inspire a generation of young people to pursue their dreams and reach their potential.
“This is not a one-shot deal,” said district Superintendent Duane Coleman. “We will start this year and build momentum in years to come.”
Coleman said officials plan to take a survey at the end of the week and then use the results when examining data on academic performance such as early literacy scores and graduation rates.
“It could springboard us to next year. We’ll learn what works and refine it and do it even better next year,” Coleman said. “I don’t want everyone to think we will do this one year and it goes away. That’s not our intent.”
The event kicks off Sunday with a VIP reception for the presenters, and continues through Jan. 17. During the week, students will participate in assemblies and training seminars focused on the building blocks to success, including promoting emotional well-being, acting with integrity, taking personal responsibility, treating others with respect and making good choices.
Outside leaders working on the all-volunteer event said they believe it has the potential to be expanded nationwide.
“We want other school districts to adapt the blueprint so that they can recreate the same thing,” said Bobbi DePorter, president of Quantum Learning Network, an Oceanside–based educational company producing programs for students, teachers, schools and organizations across the United States and internationally. “We want it to become a national event.”
DePorter and Graham co-founded a group called Community Alliance for Youth Success, which is sponsoring Youth Success Week.
Graham, a motivational speaker and author, is on the faculty at National University in San Diego, where he teaches classes in the university’s School of Business and Management and helps with curriculum development. He is the author of 11 self-empowerment books and is CEO of a Chicago-based education marketing and consulting firm. Since 1986, he has been the life partner of TV mogul Winfrey.
In addition to Graham, some of the motivational speakers at next week’s event include:
▪ Druck, a mental health expert and commentator who is often called on by national media to help people grapple with life-changing events like terrorist attacks, school shootings and natural disasters.
▪ Steve Farber, author of “The Radical Leap: A personal lesson in extreme leadership,” which discusses how leaders aren’t afraid to take risks, make mistakes in front of employees or solicit .
▪ Tia Ross, who formerly worked in the juvenile justice system in San Diego. She will facilitate workshops that focus on motivating the teen spirit, emotional health and personal ability.
The Youth Success Week is being held as part of an alliance with Oceanside Unified and the Oceanside Promise, a nonprofit foundation at the cornerstone of a broader program aimed at offering social services to nudge kids along through school, and even provide scholarships to attend college.
In addition to outside speakers, Coleman will deliver a short, prerecorded message that will be played in classrooms each morning on the “eight keys of excellence” — a character-building program developed by Quantum Learning Network.
For more information on Youth Success Week, visit youthsuccessweekoceanside.org.
