School Consulting Programs
In 1997, two teenage girls were murdered in Maureen’s hometown of Salem, New Hampshire. Three boys, who were acquaintances of the girls, drove north from a suburb of Boston with the premeditated intention of “seeing what it felt like to kill someone.”
These senseless murders hit close to home for the town’s residents as they felt first hand the horror and confusion that parents in Columbine and other towns across the nation had so recently felt when violence rocked their world.
Shortly after this incident Maureen was asked to head up the self-esteem committee of the town’s DAVP–Drug, Alcohol and Violence Prevention program. After reviewing the country’s foremost programs she realized that there were very few, if any, programs that addressed the cause of violence among our youth and not just the symptoms. So for the next two years she worked closely with the teachers in the public high school, as well as the friends of the girls who were murdered, developing The C.O.U.R.S.E.
Creatively
Opening
Up to the
Resource of
Self
Esteem
Opening Students up to their creativity, interests and talents automatically brings excitement and energy back into the learning process, as well as increased self-esteem and optimism into their lives.
The C.O.U.R.S.E. is a workable program of personal excellence. It combines forward looking vision with daily achievement. It is an encounter with the student’s favorite topic–themselves.
The C.O.U.R.S.E. is a nine week guided experience based on four concepts:
- Everyone is creative. It is our most basic, innate nature.
- Creativity is teachable, or more accurately, it can be relearned.
- Anyone can become more authentic and happy by using their creative ability.
- Life increasingly rewards creative people who are true to themselves and express that at school, home and in the community.
“Self-esteem is not something separate from school performance in reading, math, and social and physical skills. It is an important, integral part of performance.”
– Dr. Stanley Coopersmith
The goal of The C.O.U.R.S.E. is to open students to their unique potential and promote self-esteem.
“The most important thing you could ever learn, is to learn how to love and accept yourself the way you are.”
~ Rachael Milliman, C.O.U.R.S.E. student
The C.O.U.R.S.E. is a practical and comprehensive program which translates and expands tools from various highly successful and widely accepted creativity programs.
The C.O.U.R.S.E. can either be taught directly to students or used for staff training, (i.e. character development training.) It can be modified to fit into different curriculums or time frames.