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The Y Corps: Genevieve, Kevin, Maggie, Dahlia and Traiveon
December 14, 2017

YCorps Spotlight: Genevieve Kalland

We are so grateful for our wonderful staff at Youth Frontiers (YF), from our full-time and part-time employees to our YCorps. The Youth Frontiers YCorps (Youth Corps) is a seven-month internship program that gives emerging leaders the opportunity to facilitate, along with our full-time staff, life-changing retreats for schools all over the upper Midwest. The YCorps do a lot to further our mission, so we want to celebrate their skills and stories on our blog in a five-part spotlight Q&A series. Our first YCorps member in the spotlight is Genevieve Kalland. READ MORE

Peggy Bell with family smiling to camera on cliffside on vacation
December 7, 2017

Help: The Art of Just Showing Up

By Peggy Bell, Youth Frontiers School Relations Assistant

About a month ago I traveled to Tucson, Ariz., to gather with family and friends for my father’s funeral service. The pastor said something that has stayed with me, and I want to share it with you. As the pastor welcomed the guests and thanked them for coming, he said, “Ninety percent of life is just showing up.” I think he wanted the guests to know that by just being there, they had already done much for my family. Sometimes, it is the simplest things that make the biggest difference when people are going through difficult times. And often the people who benefit from these simple gestures don’t know how to ask for help or maybe don’t even realize what they need.READ MORE

small group leader leads discussion on a Kindness Retreat
November 30, 2017

Small-group leader best practice: connect first

By Sarah Gavigan, Youth Frontiers Communication Specialist

The first thing Shyla* noticed as she walked into the Kindness Retreat® was the noise of the room. It was a Tuesday and the day had just begun for Deephaven Elementary, but the fifth-graders were chatting like they had a week’s worth of life to discuss. Though their volume was great, their stature seemed quite small to Shyla. This was not what she had expected.READ MORE

a person holding up a sign that says give thanks
November 23, 2017

Stories are gateways to gratitude

By Sarah Gavigan, Youth Frontiers Communications Specialist

Each year, Thanksgiving reminds us to give voice to our gratitude for the people and the experiences that elevate our lives. We say thanks countless times around this holiday – heck, we can’t even mention the holiday without saying “thanks” (no, saying Turkey Day doesn’t count). But how often do we make our English teachers proud and show rather than tell our gratitude?READ MORE

Megan Deutschman with husband smiling in a flower garden
November 16, 2017

Overcoming Imposter Syndrome

By Megan Deutschman, Teacher Frontiers Project Manager

“70 percent of successful people feel like imposters or fakes about their work at some point in their careers” (Bohart, 2015).

My first week of class was typical: introductions and syllabi. I was excited to finally be realizing my dream of studying education at a doctoral level. After five years of classroom teaching, I knew I was ready to continue on in my field in a different way. And then I started to orient to the world of academia and that feeling of excitement and certainty began to evaporate …READ MORE