Destiny - STEAMM

Adventure Curator Rob is at STEAMM Academy in Canton City School District with students in after-school programming.

When he arrived at STEAMM for his first day, he knew right away he had a great group of middle schoolers. What happens often in groups of students though is that there’s sometimes one middle schooler that has the mindset, “I’m too cool to do this stuff.”

Destiny was her name. Rob noticed right away that she was the leader of her group with three other students, all four of them checking out mentally. So he immediately called Destiny up front to help him with the next activity. She wasn’t buying it...at first.

“Once we had everyone start participating in the activity I had the opportunity to see that wall slowly come down,” Rob recalled.

Rob allowed her to go through the process of discovering, creating, and exploring, giving her autonomy and seeing her leadership as a strength.

Balloons always help.

By the end Destiny was one of the most vocal, excited, and energetic middle schoolers participating. And her group of three fully participated alongside her.
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“Look at what some balloons and a plan can bring out of a middle schooler. It was a bit of a risky move to let her set the example, but I gave clear direction and expectations, and she was all smiles by the end.”