Messing up life plans and thinking 'bout college!

In both classes we drew names and problems and messed up a few kids' life plans. It was fun and torture all at the same time! The first kid's name I drew is Nicole. And then I drew her problem: disorganization. How ironic is that? There she was, having lost her binder, trying to organize a brand new binder for binder check. So we talked about how hard it is to be disorganized and we also talked about disorganization's best friend: procrastination. This was also funny because when Nicole get's overwhelmed by her disorganization, she gives up and watches NCIS! Way to procrastinate, Nicole! Seriously, Josh Cushman helped me explain how to get through procrastination and disorganization by using baby steps.

The juniors wanted to do one more of these, so I drew Loren's name and her problem: addiction. The kids decided that she became addicted to alcohol after trying her first drink at age 21, a Cosmo (this is actually on Loren's life plan). Nicole said Loren's addiction ate up all her money so all she could afford was a mixture of "Red Bull and Budweiser." (How are our kids so clever?) At any rate, this gave us the serious opportunity to talk about how easy it is to fall in with the wrong crowd and drink to excess to the point where it hurts your life. Nicole made the point that sometimes we think we are "untouchable" and "that won't happpen to me" and then we find ourselves in compromising situations thinking "how did I get here?"

With the Seniors, I drew Yvonne's name and her problem, bad accident. We decided she fell off a ladder and messed up her back and neck. Yvonne said she would not drop out of school but would set up a network of classmates to share their notes with her and she would keep up with her reading and assignments. Wow. If anyone could do it, it's Yvonne.

The beauty of having only 3 seniors is that I'm able to work with them individually on their post-high school plans. Yvonne looked up the due dates for the colleges she wants to apply to. Phu Tai worked on his application for TCC. Lisa and I discussed potential plans she has including looking into Seattle Art Institute. I can really see her there!