End of the tour for 2007

I reconsidered traveling this week. Weather was still not as cooperative as I'd like it to be and I also felt that the time could be better spent reaching out to schools one more time by mail before the year was up.

I did a mailing to all the schools I had visited offering the remaining copies of the introductory copies of my program at a much discounted rate. I felt this would benefit those schools who perhaps didn't purchase the program because of financial difficulties. And it allows me to have some money coming in to order the newest edition that is ready to go to print.

I also sent a letter to the principal of the high school in my town which has had o cope with the lose of several students over the past few years due to teen drinking. I'm happy to say that they want to discuss having my program in my school. We've scheduled a meeting for early January.

I also got a phone call from a school in San Antonio Texas. The woman I spoke with told me that they had been researching leadership programs for their school and that mine was by far the most promising one out there.

So time has been well spent this week. Next week schools are on vacation so it will give me a chance to stock up on supplies and organize the next phases of this ultimate school trip!

"Oh the weather outside is frightful...

let is snow, let it snow, let it snow."

That holiday song is right! The weather sure is frightful and it's causing a change in direction for this school trip! I'm hoping for two days this week to visit Rhode Island schools but I think that's going to be it for this calendar year because the weather has been horrendous here in the Northeast.

Still plenty to do to get the word out. This week an article came out in my college alumni newsletter describing this journey. Rhode Island College is well-known for its teacher training program. Many of the country's finest teachers have trained there. I know people are busy this time of year but hopefully readers will put their issue aside and will take a few minutes to read the article and find a way to make this program part of the school in their community.

This time of year is all about marketing. The weather might not be cooperating but I certainly can get mail out which I did today to all the schools that I've already visited this year reminding them one more time that this program exists and in fact is available at a special price as I clear out the rest of the introductory packages to make room for the recently updated second edition which is due in in early 2008. Check that out at http://www.strategiesofsuccess.com/specialpricing.htm

That's it for now... Sure hope the weather holds for my RI visits!

Raising money for the journey

This week was all about stocking up for the next week of visits and for preparing a book that I've written that will help me raise money to pay for the gas, the occasional overnight expenses and the supplies that I'm this journey costs.

The book is called "Secrets of Success: 36 Surprisingly Simple Lessons for Creating a More Stress-Free Life." This is a collection of newsletters that I've been writing for years for my email list of former students, teachers, and subscribers who are looking for a weekly lift to their week.

Care to help fund this ultimate school trip? Check out the book at http://www.horizon4success.com/successbook.htm.

Some good news. Rhode Island College is doing a story on me for their alumni magazine which will share the story of how the program was created. Hope that helps convince a few more principals that this might be exactly what they need, especially in Massachusetts right now where the schools may extand their day!

Sure hope the weather warms up here for this week's adventures!

Taking a week off from the road

Not on the road right now but still working on getting to schools. Last week was Thanksgiving week where the days I normally spent on the road were spent working my part time job (going around to schools needs to be funded somehow!) and of course celebrating with my family.

This week is all about stocking up on supplies for next week and getting some time at home to catch up on other facets of my business and getting my home life in order for the final December stretch visiting schools.

Most schools will be making their decisions on the courses they're offering for the following year by late January so the more schools I can reach, the better.

Ok..off to the post office to get a price on maililng out my new book "Secrets of Success - 36 Surprisingly Simple Lessons for Creating a More Stress-Free Life" based on the newsletter I began at my high school to help provide the faculty with some positive support as they took on one of the most challenging and important jobs we have in this country.

Some disturbing observations

Today is Sunday so it's not a travel day. But I felt the need to log in. I read a very disturbing article today titled "American kids, dumber than dirt/Warning: The next generation might just be the biggest pile of idiots in U.S. history." It was by By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist. You can read it here.

It's a sad look at how teens our leaving our educational systems today. Looking at it from my vantage point of teaching for many years and visiting so many schools, I know many of the basic components needed to turn things around are either in place or in need of some basic tweaking. We have beautiful schools in many places, teachers who I know from experience give up so much of their lives for kids, innovative programs that have the ability to inspire kids.

What we lack is additional teacher training to help teachers connect with students so that they want to learn, want to go to school, want to succeed. I was lucky enough to train with some of the most successful busines people in the world and I was able to test out their strategies first hand in my own classroom over 25 in over 25 different classes. The difference in traditional training vs. these methods was stunnning.

We also lack a place in each school for teens to turn to for a positive compass, one that teaches them the common sense strategies that they often now miss from busy parents and the omnipresent media. I saw the advantage of this first hand as well when I taught my Strategies of Success program.

I had a conversation this past weekend with a twenty something. I told him about my program and he said that even though he felt he went to a good high school, young adults and teens his age were lost souls with no compass, two parents working, no positive guidance. His eyes lit up with the idea of what it would have been like to have been in a class such as mine.

If you've read any of the comments on this blog, you know that my journey is to place this program in every high school in th US. I will train the teachers, create a positive website for the teens to communicate with me for guidance, whatever it takes to turn the message of the article in the beginning of this blog around.

If you're a parent, a principal, a teacher, a teen, a media source....won't you help me make this a reality?

Massachusetts on a fall day

I planned to stay home today to catch up because I'm a bit behind but the weather looked bad for tomorrow so I headed out even if it was later than I'd like to leave.

What another great day! I'm in mid Massachusetts now - Oxford High School (would you believe they were paving the entrance so I had to go over someone's lawn - with their permission), Blackstone High School (loved the parking space for the Teacher of the Month), Sutton, Northboro and Shrewsbury. What a school that was! It had about a one mile entrance blasted out of rock. The schools was at the top of a high hill and was so impressive.

I'm very impressed with the schools in Massachusetts. Many are really spectacular. It sure does help to have schools that are new and inviting. Life is tough for teens today and having beautiful schools certainly doesn't hurt.

I really enjoy talking to the secretaries and the students that I run in to. Teens are so great! Miss working with them daily but hopefully taking on this mission of sharing this program will ultimately make their lives better.

Two more days

I forgot to journal my school visits last Thursday. It was a short day - only got to Wrentham (they were having a police/fire incident and the secretaries seemed glad for the positive boost), Mansfield and Brockton. As usual, things take longer than I expect but I also learned some things that made today go much smoother.

I hadn't been able to maximize how to do this procedure. I have no office help at this time because all my money is going into supplies, training and gas to get the word out so for now, I do all the steps. But what I decided after last week's trip was to print out the envelopes and have enough materials for the entire state of Massachusetts (quite a pretty state by the way!). That way I can pick a main road and grab all the envelopes of towns along the way. If I see a sign for a town that I might have missed on the map, then I can just grab that envelope and visit that school too.

With that new strategy, I made it to 7 schools today - my best record yet! And I was done by 1:00, in time to make it home for a meeting I had for the web design part of my life (something has to pay the bills until schools realize that what I have really does work).

So today was Foxborough (I forgot to drop off the principal's letter), Walpole, Sharon, Dedham, Norwood (great pathway to the front entrance with commemorative bricks and seats), Canton, and Stoughton. I'm learning quite a bit about schools and their websites. In fact, I don't know if anyone's interested, but I'm going to start a page on my website where I offer suggestions to schools from the visitor's standpoint. There most likely aren't too many people who have my educational background, my web design knowledge and the chance to visit so many sites. I won't mention negatively any schools but I will commend some of the positive things that really helped me find what I needed. Look for that page in the next entry.

Off to line up tomorrow's day...I'm excited now that I can do so many in one day. Got to get as many in as possible before the weather gets nasty!

Back on the road

I finally got back on the road today after a week layoff. I got back to an area where I missed a few schools - Hingham, Scituate, Fairhaven, Carver and Middleborough - all in Massachusetts. Another beautiful day on the road, another day of smiling faces in the offices I visited. I'm getting more comfortable with my visits which is making it easier. I do enjoy the surprised looks and the appreciation. Who could't use a nice surprise in a busy day?

The GPS is working great. It's taking me places I've never been before. It cuts me through neighborhoods but not for long because it's finding me the direct routes to the nearest highway. New England certainly is beautiful even in the late fall with many of the leaves off the trees.

Time is passing quickly. I'm planning to go out again tomorrow but didn't want to stay overnight anywhere tonight because it's Halloween. Last week was productive even though I wasn't on the road (too many nights staying up late watching my Boston Red Sox win the World Series - why don't they have earlier games so kids can watch them??). I got a lot more supplies lined up. Everything takes longer than I think so between printing out the Stress Reduction strategies for the high school secretaries, finding the names of the high school principals, charting out a course, filling the little candy bags with 5 candies and a smile eraser, it's good in a way that I have some non driving days.

Time for some late lunch and then can get ready for tomorrow's destinations, make the changes I needed today (keeping a notebook for mileage, schools visited and reminder postcards to be mailed out in 2 weeks).

Hope all the educators survived Halloween in school today which is always challenging to be sure and of course, I hope they have a fun night!

Rainy Day Travels

I decided to put a day between travel days when possible to catch up on other business items, to drink lots of water (tough to do when you're on the road especially in some of the more rural areas) and to create more of a sense of balance.

So I worked in my home office on Thursday catching up on my other business - web design and internet marketing. Thankfully the web design is bringing in income because to date, the school curriculum has not for the most part. I learned (and am still learning internet marketing) to help schools find my website and it's a fascinating addition to my business which hopefully will help support me and pay for these trips to visit schools.

Today I took my Mom with me on the road and I went back to catch some of the schools I missed two days ago. This time I started on the Cape at Sandwich High School followed by an attempt to get into Bourne High School (front door locked, rang the doorbell 3 times - must mean no one was in the office), Wareham and then up the east coast of Massachusetts to Kingston, Norwell and of course whichever one I forgot. I never made it to Scituate and Hingham for despite being on the road at 9:30, I ran out of time to catch the last two.

The biggest dilemna today was the rain. The forcast said cloudy with occassional showers. I know when the showers happened...every time I pulled up to a school! I was like a drowned rat by the end of the day! My Mom couldn't believe that the hardest rain fell every time I got out of the car. Don't know if I'm being tested to give up...but it's only a little water...and I'm not done yet!

Anyway...five more schools know more about this program than they did this morning...a good day all things considered especially when the secretary smiles and says, "You're thanking us? No one every thanks us!"

Thank you...to all the people who make a high school run! Our teens (and often their parents) may not say thank you...but know that your work matters!

Eastern Massachusetts

Another spectacular day! Got on the road early and headed to Hull Massachusetts, a penisula that faces north with the city of Boston across the water. The high school there was at the tip of the peninsula with jets flying overhead on approach to Logan Airport, the sun shining on the water...a view out of every window I'm sure. Wonder if they need help...No! I'm not taking a teaching job 90 minutes from my house. I'll have to get my water view on the road!

And I did...along the whole coast south of Boston and north of Cape Cod. Cohasset, Marshfield, Duxbury, Plymouth. Oh yeah, Plymouth. I had the GPS today which made life a lot easier. But only when you program in the right address. I dropped my goody bag at North Plymouth High School and then programmed in Plymouth High School South. Off I went along the coast, up by Jordan Hospital and into the parking lot of the school. I couldn't find the front entrance but finally decided that I could probably drive around the other side. I looked at the building and thought to myself how interesting it was that both schools had the same design. In I went...and found the same lady sitting there. Thought she had traveled to the other school. I had gone in a huge circle and come back to the same school!! Yikes!

Guess I'd better bring all the addresses with me! As usual, things to learn...but this sure is fun! The look of surprise on the secretaries/teachers faces when I thank them for all they do is priceless!

Not sure where I'm going tomorrow...more east coast Mass or maybe the Berkshires...depends on weather...but now after all these miles...some sleep.

The Ultimate School Trip: Maine - Part 1

Maine is a beautiful state...great coastline, wonderful people...but compared to Rhode Island, it's HUGE!

I have to get a new mindset in my travels. It takes a lot longer between schools that I thought...especially in a state like Maine. I drove Thursday to Belfast Maine, a town on the coast about 5 hours north. I chose to go to schools in that area first for two reason - better to get the colder and more distant schools before winter and I knew tha area because my best friend who passed away last year had a house there. So I was familiar with the area which I thought would be advantageous.

I stay overnight of course because of the distance and got out early enough on Friday morning...but it took such a long time between schools that I only ended up visiting a fraction of the ones I had planned on. But the ones I visited were good visits as all my visits to date have been and I'm grateful for that.

I have to also remember to note the time frame of my visits. Friday was the beginning of the Columbus Day weekend, a big weekend for people visiting Northern New England. That meant extra construction work on Thursday, and heavy traffic coming home on Friday. It wasn't as bad as the traffic going north to be sure which was bumper to bumper for easily 40 miles but it was nothing like the trips I remember coming home from Maine all the years visiting with my best friend.

But I have to also give myself a bit of a break. I'm new to this. I'm not a seasoned sales person, not used to driving almost 1000 miles in 3 days, not used to this new kind of planning. But every trip teaches me something new, something that I need to modify. Every trip brings beautiful scenery at some point, a chance to see our amazing country and a chance that maybe one more school will be able to benefit from a program that can really help them.

This coming week has only 4 possible travel days with Monday being a holiday and Tuesday being a day filled with meetings. I see a bit more of Massachusetts on the horizon...and maybe back to Maine the following week...if I can see 10 schools a week, that's 500 schools a year...if I can double that...well, let me just make it to 10 schools a week for now...

The Rest of the Cape

Back on the road again but not as early as I would have liked. This is taking much longer than I thought...the searching for the schools and their principals, the directions, the actual travel between schools. I have to streamline this procedure. It's already a daunting task - to visit the high schools of America. But the more schools I see, the better the chance that I can help change the lives of teachers and teens for the better. I'm hoping the principals of the schools I do make it to tell their fellow principal friends...

So what changes do I need to make?
*I need to stop revising everything I'm giving out. I'm only going to revise if I learn something that tells me that what I have needs tweaking. I'm printing in relatively small quantities from home so I can make changes as needed.
*I need to get the candy bags together sooner and keep them in a big box in the trunk. Same with the outside of the bags. I can combine them with the letter to the principal last minute which makes storage much easier.
* I need to get a GPS. I'm good at directions...in fact, it's one of the things I'm best at. But I'm wasting valuable time looking up the directions to each school...time that could be spent on the rest of what I'm doing with my life...web design (which will pay the bills for now) and of course regular life.
* I need to leave much earlier. As much as I don't miss getting up early like I did when I was teaching, I either need to be on the road by 7 from home or stay overnight in the area i'm trying to reach so I can be on the road by 7 there.

So I'm done for the day because high schools close early but I did make it to Falmouth HS, Mashpee HS, Rochester Regional High School in Mattapoisett, Dartmouth High School and one other.

I haven't decided where I'll go tomorrow...it's either middle Maine (near where my friend Annie has a house) or western Mass. Better to do far away now while the weather is still good...and the foliage is beautiful!

Another day on the road

A beautiful day on Cape Cod!

Today I got to deliver all the packets that I had not given out last week. This time I had all the necessary parts and knowing exactly where the schools were really helped!

I have to admit I was nervous last week but this week was a lot easier. All of the office staff who greeted me were very pleased to be receiving something positive. I know many of the people who come visiting the front office are not there with good news!

I basically tell them I'm visiting high schools to "make their day" and that I want to thank them for all they do to educate our students. The office staff are pleased that I thought of them and most seem a bit amused when I turn the bag around and they see the little 'magic wand' attached to the bag.

Hopefully someone on the staff will take the time to check out the web site and take advantage of at least the free things I've offered - a newsletter for educators and free download of the book my students wrote. And ultimately, I hope they offer the Strategies of Success course I wrote next year.


All in all a good day! How could it not? Beautiful scenery, a gorgeous late summer day (although officially it's autumn), a chance to visit 5 high schools (Chatham, Harwich, Dennis-Yarmouth, Barnstable...and one more which I can't remember right now). I ran out of bags and time to visit the 3 I have left on the Cape proper - Falmouth, Bourne and Mashpee. I'll catch them on the next visit which will take in Plymouth and whatever other schools I can put together in Eastern Massachusetts!

This sure is fun! Good Fairy...over and out!

Day one...not as I expected but a beginning nonetheless

Well I was on the road by 8 am as planned. I headed out towards Provincetown, the point the furthest east in this part of the country (I think Maine is further east in general). It was a lot farther away than I thought but it was a beautiful ride.

I promised myself that I wouldn't miss any scenic stops on my journeys because who knew when I'd be in the area again. I saw a sign for the Nauset Light House so being a water aficionado, I had to check it out. I ended up on a back road which I thought was going nowhere. Instead, it not only went to the lighthouse and beach, it passed right by Nauset High School, which I had labeled the second stop on my list. Am I meant to take this journey or what?

So they became my first visit and what a good one it was! The secretary was very pleased to receive the 'goodies' I had for her and welcomed me warmly. I think her name was Wendy. She was delightful though and understood the nervousness I felt as this was the true beginning. I'm feeling very encouraged.

I did make it to Provincetown which I hadn't been to in years (the last time was when I was sharing weekly flying expeditions with my flying buddy Johannes). I found the school but when I went to the door, I couldn't get in. I knocked, looked for a buzzer...nothing. No cars, no visible people. I'm not sure what was going on today but I couldn't find a way in. I know how security has changed at shcools so I've got to keep that in mind as I visit. So I'll mail them the packet. Too far to go back.

The rest of the schools I just scouted out. When I got to Chatham, I had to see the coast near the famed light house. I was looking through a sample bag again and realized that I had omitted one item. Thought it would be better to have everything complete than to give them a packet with something obviouly missing. Need to get a better system in place...that's the lesson to be learned here.

All in all, a positive day though. I'll be back to them next Wednesday. Between now and then, I'll drop a few more off at local schools. Need to set myself a goal per week...in between all the other projects I'm working on.

Over and out...day one done!

Cape Cod - The Journey Really Begins!

Finally the Ultimate School Trip is beginning. I've checked into the quaint Beach 'n Towne Motel in Yarmouth, Massachusetts so that I can be up early and head out to the Land's End, Provincetown. It's a bit long for a day trip from home not distance wise so much as the fact that there are no major highways on the Cape. Sure there's Route 6 but I'm guessing that it might be pretty busy early in the morning tomorrow. With typical high school start times running at 7 am, I've got to start early if I'm going to get all the high schools on the Cape in tomorrow.

I've put together a packet that includes a letter to the principal, stress management cards for the administrators in the school (principal, assistant principal and dean)and secretaries, a list of all the programs and products I've developed and collected to help schools be more optimistic and successful and a goody bag filled with hard candy and a smiling eraser. All of this in a bag with a small magic wand on the outside.

Why a magic wand? Because I'm the "Good Fairy of Eduation!" of course. More on that later...or you can check here

The Ultimate School Trip: Still not started

Almost two weeks have passed since the last post and I still haven't started the journey. Life gets in the way of course for all of us but this was the ending of summer, a birthday to celebrate over several days, a holiday weekend, a trip to the Boston Red Sox...and getting the other parts of my life in order to begin this journey.

I wish I could afford to just pick up and go but finances don't allow that. I need to use home as a base for the beginning with day trips and maybe one night overnight per week. I probably should have started my company as a non-profit so that I could get sponsors to help defray the cost of this adventure. I've researched a few companies that I do business with - hotels, restaurants (Panera) to see if they could help me but they only donate to non profits. Maybe I'll form one but if I do, I want to do it right. Can I own a profit company which is my career/job and a non-profit that helps fund me visiting schools?

All that will be decided another day. For now, I need to get my correspondences out to the 4 states that responded to my mailer to all the commissioners of education, get my web design/internet obligations done and get my home life in order.

Cape Cod schools are on the agenda for this week. The journey must begin and as Wayne Dyer says in his new PBS special - don't worry about the big picture. Instead focus on one small task at a time...and the big project will take care of itself. One school at a time, one more place where optimism and success go hand and hand. I can't wait!

The Ultimate Trip: Ok, I'm not starting in Chicago!

Any idea what the first day of school is like? Kind of busy and crazy to say the least. Not that schools don't know what they're doing....that's not it at all. It's just that there are lots of students trying to make sense of their schedule, parents coming in to enter new students, teachers trying to wrap their mind around 150 new students and all that's required for themthe first few days.

And that's the day I happen to be in Chicago! Today is the first day of school for many of the schools around the city. So I'm postponing starting til I get back home later today. I need to respect that schools do not need a visitor on the first day. They don't need a stranger coming in...even one bearing gifts to help their school lives.

So I'll just go out for the the few hours I have left in this beautiful city and enjoy it. I know I'll be back.

Ultimate School Trip: Chicago Day 1

No luck dropping off my folder at Harpo Studios. I didn’t really expect to be able to deliver it. After all, if they had a policy to take things from random visitors, they’d have thousands of packets to go through. The security guard there very politely asked me to mail the packet to Harpo with mention of the Oprah show. Sigh…I’ll do it of course but I sure do hope someone gets to see it. All in good time.

I can’t say I”ve been totally ready this past year with having to deal with losing my best friend Annie. I wasn’t ready to face the world but I did use it to teach myself web design which is allowing me to do his blog and to create a web site for the program.

At least I got a few pictures of Harpo Studios which will be up on my Treasure Map in no time. It’s funny. The security guard said I could try to get tickets. I told him I had tried for 5 years every time they became available but had never gotten through. This is the year though. I can feel it! Hopefully it’s to be a guest so that I can share this program with many schools at once.

I had a nice ride over with my taxi driver from Somalia. Sure wish he liked air conditioning because it sure is the day for it! Beautiful city…humid weather!

Monday is the day to visit a group of schools in the city. More after that!

The journey begins

I'm excited!

The ultimate school trip is about to begin with a trip to Chicago tomorrow. I'm going to visit several high schools dropping off a goody bag with info about my 'Strategies of Success' program and filled with things to help the staff create an optimisitic, engaging and exciting school environment. All of the things on my list have been tried and tested in my own classroom and I know they work for me.

I can't wait to write about my experiences here as I make my way around the country.
Here we go Chicago! You're first!