Giana shared with me that her older sister had brainstormed some ideas for her service project that related to empowering girls, and teens in general. Of the topics that had come up, the issue of teen homelessness was the one that Giana resonated with most strongly, but she still wanted to explore other options.

We did a few online searches to see if we could find some ideas for her to consider but not much came of it.

It dawned on me that setting up an information interview with someone in a nonprofit with the mission of serving teens in need would help us get a better handle on what problem Giana might tackle to solve for her project. I thought of Janis Avery, the Executive Director of Treehouse. Treehouse is a wonderful, highly respected nonprofit that serves foster children in Seattle. I emailed her later that day requesting a referral to someone we could speak to in her organization, and within a day we had an appointment set up for the following week.

Field trip!

photo credit: Tim Green

Since we last met, Giana had an opportunity to speak with a person involved with the human trafficking issue in Seattle. She decided to donate some time as a volunteer to this organization but was still looking for the focus of her bigger service project.

We explored lots of different aspects of empowering girls and discovered that both she and I like to use mind mapping to brainstorm. We mapped out our ideas and then looking at one another’s mind maps, we recognized that it was going to take some more time before she’d be ready to narrow her focus.

This a good place for a side note: I appreciate the unique combination that Giana embodies of: 1) being highly motivated to make a difference in the world, 2) knowing herself well enough to be able to say no to what doesn’t fit for her, and 3) the quality of valuing exploration and choice – really seeking what resonates.

From my perspective, it would be easier to influence Giana’s choice and encourage her to “just pick” one of the issues she has considered. But I feel passionately about her commitment coming from her own sense of “this is it” and not someone else choosing for her. So far, she hasn’t hit on that sweet spot of knowing for sure. My challenge is to help her keep zeroing in on what will truly be in alignment with her desire to influence change – and at the same time not setting the stage for endless exploration.

I have a strong value for the creative process, and have found in my own experience that if I don’t rush something that is organically in the process of being birthed, it allows for the potential of a more unique and worth-waiting-for outcome. I want this for Giana – the opportunity to create and contribute from her own experience of inspiration.

photo credit: hangdog

The focus of our first meeting was to clarify Giana’s vision for the change in the world that she most wants to influence along with the scale and type of service she’d enjoy. We also explored her strengths, goals and preferences.

Here’s what surfaced in our exploration about her community service:

Her vision for change was “to make as big a difference as possible empowering girls.”

Her preferences included -

• a large-scale independent community service project
• being in a leadership position and possibly co-leading with the right partner
• a combination of direct (one-on-one) and advocacy roles for her type of service
• stopping a problem before it starts or soon after (regarding effecting change through service)

Other important considerations, as her project is chosen and implemented:

• Her goals are related to being positioned to achieve admittance at a college that fits her longer-term goal of becoming an ambassador.
• Her strengths encompass public speaking, organizing, finding solutions, debate, ambassador roles, and writing. (Wow!)
• She really likes having choice and flexibility.
• She prefers organizational culture that honors uniqueness and diversity in personalities, interests and priorities.

As we talked, I was increasingly inspired and excited about what she brings to her project and whatever she decides to do in her life.

We talked about project areas that she was already considering, which included helping children in the Philippines and the human trafficking problem in Seattle.

As we wrapped up our first session I checked with her to make sure that our approach to working together was in fact working for her. I felt very encouraged when she responded that she liked what we were doing and that she really liked ‘not being treated like a kid.’

This feedback was affirming for me. I am not coming from a parental point of view – my intention is to create a collaborative team relationship with her.  I am an advocate for her being her highest and best self as she identifies her particular calling and creates and leads a satisfying and highly successful service project.

photo credit: smith_cl9

I’m thrilled to be working with a wonderful teen client that has generously agreed to my blogging about our experience as we embark on the journey of her community service project together. This is an ideal opportunity to share how her project unfolds, how we are taking a very intentional approach to her community service and what I learn while in service to her.

First, let me introduce you to my client, Giana. She’s 14 years old and a 9th grader. She’s a bright and beautiful young lady who loves the color pink (I didn’t know you could have pink braces!), considers herself a world citizen (she has already lived in 8 countries) and feels deeply about the need for significant change in the world. She radiates positive optimistic energy and reminds me of what’s possible. I feel honored to be a part of her team.

As we meet weekly, I’ll be coaching Giana through a process that I’ve developed – I’m calling it The VizAbility Project.

So we have a project within a project: Giana will create an awesome community service project (to be determined), and my unique approach to community service is the “umbrella” project template that we will be using.

Giana’s ‘job’ is to show up as her most awesome, creative, and motivated self – I’m confident this won’t be very difficult for her.

My job, as Giana creates and grows her community service project, is to serve as her:

• Coach – I’ll facilitate her process as she moves through the VizAbility Project.
• Mentor – When it’s helpful, I’ll share from my own experience and resources, to help her move forward with her project.
• Advocate – My intention is to promote her project to the widest audience possible, while encouraging her to fully embrace and recognize her impact as an agent of change.

Stay tuned for our first week!

Rice University students Lauren Theis, left, and Lila Kerr

Two Rice University undergraduates, Lauren Theis and Lila Kerr, minoring in global health technologies, were faced with a challenge last year.

“We were essentially told we needed to find a way to diagnose anemia without power, without it being very costly and with a portable device,” said Theis, a political science major and native of San Antonio, Texas.

They found that a simple salad spinner could be the basis for a centrifuge used to separate blood in resource-poor settings easily without access to electricity.

Both students took their centrifuge ‘on the road’ last summer while participating in Rice’s Beyond Traditional Borders program, a global health initiative that brings new ideas and technologies to underdeveloped countries. Click here for more details on this story.

I couldn’t find the conclusion of this story online – whether the centrifuge idea performed as anticipated or not. I hope it did. But truthfully, it’s equally important to me that young people like Lauren and Lila were encouraged and supported in thinking so creatively – and given the opportunity to actively implement their idea.

Sometimes it is fairly easy to start mapping out a plan for getting from point A to point B when it comes to achieving a goal.

But stretching into a big vision – one that we don’t know exactly how it’s going to come together – can call for a very different approach. I’m learning from experience that it’s best to not get particularly attached to planning how I think things should unfold.

In fact, it seems that the bigger the vision, the better it is to stay open to all kinds of possibilities when it comes to creativity, people, and resources that may show up to help guide us, especially when the original plan has us headed in the wrong direction.

My most recent lesson that underscores this is my brainchild – the start of a community that I named “Empower Youth.” My intention was certainly in alignment with my bigger vision. That is, my vision for growing a global community to support the Millennial generation (currently around 8 – 28 years old) in being catalysts and collaborators for personal and global transformation.

Recently a fabulous 22-year old joined my team as a volunteer, and it was humbling and funny for me to discover in a conversation with her, a gap in my understanding of the difference between “youth” and “young adults.” Here it is: I actually believed that youth encompassed people from the pre-teens to under-30 year olds.

I now know that many 14 and 15 year olds are beginning to refer to themselves as young adults, and for sure no one over 17 wants be be referred to as a youth. As a baby boomer that hasn’t raised any children, I plead my case for being clueless and see this as an opportunity to have a good laugh at myself!

Meanwhile, we’ve decided that Empower Youth doesn’t cover the entire age group that we want to serve, so we’re letting it go. Instead, we’ll be creating a format that will allow the identity to be chosen and shaped by youth and young adults (instead of me – a baby boomer that has plenty to learn).

And my lessons learned, while course correcting to stay on the path to a bigger vision:

• move into total collaboration with others that share my passion for empowering youth and young adults, and
• recognize that the highest and best good for realizing a big vision unfolds and finds traction by moving forward with collaboration, community and creativity!

Photo Credit: mhobl

Having clarity about what you want – a vision – is always a good start.

And then the time comes to move into action, and that time has arrived for my current project: Empower Youth. I’m creating a website – hopefully launching in May – that will feature and promote young people in their teens and 20′s that are passionately making a difference in the world.

My goal is to initially assist eight individuals or groups that have diverse projects – i.e. health, education, environment, eliminating poverty/hunger.  Each will have a page that showcases their project, their profile/bio, their envisioned outcome, and a “donate” button that links back to the nonprofit that they are partnering with.

If you know any young people in the Greater Seattle area that might benefit from this opportunity, please share this little invitation video with them and encourage them to contact me. There is no cost to them, and I’ll be working to increase awareness of their projects – and attract donations, too!

Apolo Ohno and Team Extreme Children's Speed Skating Club

The thing I appreciate most about Olympic athletes – especially Apolo Ohno (Olympic Short Track Speed Skater) – is the example they set for living full-out – no excuses.

Apolo responded to the question: What is the #1 thing you’d like to do before you die? His answer: “I’m doing a lot of them. I don’t really hold back. If I really want to do something, I will go out there and do it.”

His attitude and approach to life is grounded in being raised by Yuki, a single dad since Apolo was a year old. Yuki encouraged Apolo to channel his energy into proving how good he could be rather than how bad he could be. “Those conversations changed my life,” says Ohno, who admits to hanging with the wrong crowd as a young teen. “Above all, he told me how great my life could be. He believed it before anyone else, even before me.”

Apolo’s greatest mentor has been his father, but not everybody has a father like Yuki.

Do you have any teens in your life that you can encourage and mentor – to help them understand how great their life can be?

The Matsiko Children’s Choir gave the final performance of their U.S. tour Friday night here in Seattle. I was delighted to be in the audience. They are an inspiring group of young children – full of energy, big smiles, wonderful music and dancing.

They are also orphans or at-risk in their homeland of Uganda. The message they share through their music and visual presentation conveys the profound pain and suffering of the millions of children just like them – in Africa and around the world. (They didn’t dwell on this.)

I was even more touched by how effectively they communicate their connection with the vision that they hold for themselves, their community and country, and the world. Through the words of their music and their energy, they beautifully painted the picture of our world – without war, famine or poverty. I left their performance with a strong sense of the higher vision that these children are holding for us all:

all children of the world living in a peaceful and loving environment with the birthright of good health, safety, access to education and the ability to be self-sustainable.

Every one of these children’s lives has been profoundly transformed by the sponsorships they’ve received through International Children’s Network (ICN), a nonprofit based just outside of Seattle. They know how lucky they are, and they are actively expanding the vision of helping other children through their choir performances and sharing their stories.

If you are interested in helping a beautiful Ugandan child – and contributing to the children’s vision – check them out and think about becoming a sponsor. ICN works to provide for the needs of the child all the way through to university or trade school completion, and you are welcome to visit them in their homeland.