Tennessee Teen Institute 2018
For something that has been such an integral part of my life for the past nineteen years, I have blogged a surprisingly low number of times about my experiences with Teen Institutes. I honestly have no idea why this is.
My first Teen Institute was in Illinois in 1999. I attended as a youth participant. I don't remember much of what I learned that year, although I do recall listening to Mike Bruni give a keynote address outside because the building we were using at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, lost power. I recall working with a group of teens from my community to come up with a plan of promoting a youth recreation program in the summer that never took off. And I remember having to be taken to the hospital to be treated for poison ivy exposure. (The staff member who took me was a giant of a man who advocated for me at the hospital when the nurse told me that there was no shot that could be given to me when he and I both knew there was.) I am sure I have other memories of this event, but those are the ones that stand out in mind.
The other thing you need to know is that that experience was impactful enough that I went back the next year, and the year after that. Here's a rundown on the many roles I have filled as a Teen Institute volunteer:
1999 - First year attending the Illinois Teen Institute as a participant when I was offered a scholarship through my high school's Operation Snowball program.
2000 - Attended ITI as a member of the Administrative Team (aka the A-Team). Was frequently mistaken for an adult staff member. (I was 17). I quickly became known as "The A-Team Guy" because the only other two people were the coordinators.
2001 - Returned to the A-Team.
2002-2004 - Missed ITI due to serving a full-time mission for the LDS church in California.
2005 - Had planned on doing A-Team again but, due to shifts in policy, came as a new staff member and served as a Co-Facilitator (Co-Fac), per the director's request. Still remember my interview with a member of the Leadership Team: "Why should we accept you as a new staff member?" "Um... Because the director says so?" (Okay, so I gave a lot of other answers, too).
2006 - Second year as a Co-Fac. Also traveled to the West Tennessee Teen Institute to help implement some ideas they learned from us the previous year. Was the self-proclaimed Assistant to the Director.
2007 - Was asked to be advisor to teens in their first year of the Peers with Advanced Leadership Skills (PALS) program.
2008 - Had applied as PALS 1 Advisor again but never got a response. Got married about a month before the Institute. The day of staff training, I got a call from a member of the Leadership Team asking where I was. It turned out my acceptance letter was emailed to an old address that I only used for junk mail. Oops. Was scheduled to work that whole week so couldn't make it.
2009 - PALS 1 Advisor with two others. We had a HUGE group of amazing teen leaders, many of whom are regular staffers. Gretchen came for her first year at ITI and was a Co-Fac.
2010 - PALS 1 Advisor again with two others (one from the last year, one who had come back after a brief hiatus). Gretchen came for her second year as a Co-Fac, too.
2011 - Headquarters Staff (what used to be known as the A-Team) with four others, experiencing what we called "the Tower of Terror" (the university had given the Teen Institute one large tower building for the entire program: general sessions, dorms, discussion groups, CAT groups, etc. It was crazy. Gretch was unable to attend due to health issues; she has not returned.
2012 - The Illinois Teen Institute received a very generous funding grant from the Larry and Lillian Goodman Foundation and became the Cebrin Goodman Teen Institute. I served as a Community Action Team (CAT) advisor. When not working with my CAT, I helped Headquarters a lot.
2013 - Became an advisor for the Middle School program, which consisted of about 50 middle schoolers who were staying for the entire week working with three others. Also worked with the CAT from Champaign's SYEP program.
2014 - Missed CGTI because of grad school.
2015 - Youth Staff Advisor with two others. Mentored a phenomenal group of youth leaders. Also helped the CAT from Jefferson Middle School.
2016 - Middle School Co-Fac (only my third time as a Co-Fac). Also CAT mentor for a group of six Edison Middle School 7th grade girls (and one boy who just graduated).
2017 - Middle School Co-Fac again. Also mentored the same CAT of now-8th grade girls from 2016.
And now we are to this year. I am a part of the Leadership Team for CGTI again, returning to Headquarters. But I had the opportunity to go with several others to Tennessee to visit their program for a weekend in June. One of the members of the CGTI team had gone before when she lived in Tennessee; I had gone twelve years ago when it was a regional teen institute; this was my first time visiting when they were holding a statewide institute. As with every other experience with a teen institute, I had an amazing four days!
We arrived on Saturday afternoon and got to acquaint ourselves with the staff and get settled in. Sunday morning was the last day of staff training and was primarily a time for the group leaders to make final preparations for the rest of the week. One unique feature of their Sunday morning was that there was a special speaker, Jamie Adams, who invited to come in and talk to the staff. Because it was a Sunday morning and the speaker was a newly ordained minister, she had a spiritual take on her message, which she based on Psalm 139. I thought that was pretty cool. It made me want to restart Sunrise Sharing at our teen institute.
On Sunday evening we had our first keynote speaker, Kevin Wanzer, whom I have seen in Illinois a few times. He shares a fairly similar message, but I love how he adapts it to his own environment. I am not going to share the key points of his message, as that is literally what he does to make a living, but I wanted to take time to observe that my key takeaway was his message of finding joy in what happens, rather than disappointment in what doesn't happen.
On Monday morning we had our second keynote speaker, Joe Beckman, who was going to be attending CGTI in July. I very much appreciated his message of being present in the moment. After listening to him, I've recommitted myself to taking time to look up, look around, and find ways to serve others. Later in the day we heard a second keynote speaker, Harriet Turk, whom I seen in Illinois. (We had a great encounter when she saw me but couldn't figure out what I was doing in Tennessee because she knew that I was in Illinois.) Harriet's message is one of loving yourself and being proud of being you.
We left on Tuesday morning, but I enjoyed our few days with our friends in Tennessee. I admire how involved their adult mentors are in the programming offered by TTI and hope that we can bring some of their strategies to Illinois. I hope that we will get to see each other again and more often than every decade or so!
2000 - Attended ITI as a member of the Administrative Team (aka the A-Team). Was frequently mistaken for an adult staff member. (I was 17). I quickly became known as "The A-Team Guy" because the only other two people were the coordinators.
2001 - Returned to the A-Team.
2002-2004 - Missed ITI due to serving a full-time mission for the LDS church in California.
2005 - Had planned on doing A-Team again but, due to shifts in policy, came as a new staff member and served as a Co-Facilitator (Co-Fac), per the director's request. Still remember my interview with a member of the Leadership Team: "Why should we accept you as a new staff member?" "Um... Because the director says so?" (Okay, so I gave a lot of other answers, too).
2006 - Second year as a Co-Fac. Also traveled to the West Tennessee Teen Institute to help implement some ideas they learned from us the previous year. Was the self-proclaimed Assistant to the Director.
2007 - Was asked to be advisor to teens in their first year of the Peers with Advanced Leadership Skills (PALS) program.
2008 - Had applied as PALS 1 Advisor again but never got a response. Got married about a month before the Institute. The day of staff training, I got a call from a member of the Leadership Team asking where I was. It turned out my acceptance letter was emailed to an old address that I only used for junk mail. Oops. Was scheduled to work that whole week so couldn't make it.
2009 - PALS 1 Advisor with two others. We had a HUGE group of amazing teen leaders, many of whom are regular staffers. Gretchen came for her first year at ITI and was a Co-Fac.
2010 - PALS 1 Advisor again with two others (one from the last year, one who had come back after a brief hiatus). Gretchen came for her second year as a Co-Fac, too.
2011 - Headquarters Staff (what used to be known as the A-Team) with four others, experiencing what we called "the Tower of Terror" (the university had given the Teen Institute one large tower building for the entire program: general sessions, dorms, discussion groups, CAT groups, etc. It was crazy. Gretch was unable to attend due to health issues; she has not returned.
2012 - The Illinois Teen Institute received a very generous funding grant from the Larry and Lillian Goodman Foundation and became the Cebrin Goodman Teen Institute. I served as a Community Action Team (CAT) advisor. When not working with my CAT, I helped Headquarters a lot.
2013 - Became an advisor for the Middle School program, which consisted of about 50 middle schoolers who were staying for the entire week working with three others. Also worked with the CAT from Champaign's SYEP program.
2014 - Missed CGTI because of grad school.
2015 - Youth Staff Advisor with two others. Mentored a phenomenal group of youth leaders. Also helped the CAT from Jefferson Middle School.
2016 - Middle School Co-Fac (only my third time as a Co-Fac). Also CAT mentor for a group of six Edison Middle School 7th grade girls (and one boy who just graduated).
2017 - Middle School Co-Fac again. Also mentored the same CAT of now-8th grade girls from 2016.
And now we are to this year. I am a part of the Leadership Team for CGTI again, returning to Headquarters. But I had the opportunity to go with several others to Tennessee to visit their program for a weekend in June. One of the members of the CGTI team had gone before when she lived in Tennessee; I had gone twelve years ago when it was a regional teen institute; this was my first time visiting when they were holding a statewide institute. As with every other experience with a teen institute, I had an amazing four days!
We arrived on Saturday afternoon and got to acquaint ourselves with the staff and get settled in. Sunday morning was the last day of staff training and was primarily a time for the group leaders to make final preparations for the rest of the week. One unique feature of their Sunday morning was that there was a special speaker, Jamie Adams, who invited to come in and talk to the staff. Because it was a Sunday morning and the speaker was a newly ordained minister, she had a spiritual take on her message, which she based on Psalm 139. I thought that was pretty cool. It made me want to restart Sunrise Sharing at our teen institute.
On Sunday evening we had our first keynote speaker, Kevin Wanzer, whom I have seen in Illinois a few times. He shares a fairly similar message, but I love how he adapts it to his own environment. I am not going to share the key points of his message, as that is literally what he does to make a living, but I wanted to take time to observe that my key takeaway was his message of finding joy in what happens, rather than disappointment in what doesn't happen.
On Monday morning we had our second keynote speaker, Joe Beckman, who was going to be attending CGTI in July. I very much appreciated his message of being present in the moment. After listening to him, I've recommitted myself to taking time to look up, look around, and find ways to serve others. Later in the day we heard a second keynote speaker, Harriet Turk, whom I seen in Illinois. (We had a great encounter when she saw me but couldn't figure out what I was doing in Tennessee because she knew that I was in Illinois.) Harriet's message is one of loving yourself and being proud of being you.
We left on Tuesday morning, but I enjoyed our few days with our friends in Tennessee. I admire how involved their adult mentors are in the programming offered by TTI and hope that we can bring some of their strategies to Illinois. I hope that we will get to see each other again and more often than every decade or so!
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