I work with kids all the time. Of all the things I say to youth, I have recently said one thing more than any other.  I tell them, “The one and only one thing in this world that you can control is yourself.”  You cannot control what happens to you, or what kind of house you were raised in, or what people say about you.  Kids today need to start taking responsibility for their own actions and situations.  I hate the word “empowerment.”  Kids have the power.  They can make changes, but they must change themselves first. 

In my workshops I want to take away excuses.  I give participants the responsibility for what they are doing—in a safe environment—and then we see how they do.  It does not always work out, but they cannot blame it on me or the game—I will not let them.  “You are responsible for what you do and say and also what you do not do and do not say,” I tell them. 

I am out to help youth make better decisions in their lives.  The have so much power and so much potential.  Often people that care like teachers and parents are so worried about kids messing up that they loose sight of a kid’s need to learn responsibility.  I love experiential education because kids can mess up, see that they mess up, and rather than being upset or in trouble, they can redeem themselves by changing their actions and behaviors for the next game. 

I have found experiential education to be a very powerful tool.  If I can help grow the youth you work with in any way, please let me know.

- Jordan Rimmer, Director of Leadership and Education Institute