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John Wallace SpeakWell Camp Helps Kids Build Physical, Mental and Social Emotional Skills Lost During the Pandemic

John Wallace SpeakWell Camp Helps Kids Build Physical, Mental and Social Emotional Skills Lost During the Pandemic

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Retired NBA Player John Wallace works with Basketball Campers

“It’s important to teach leadership skills on and off the court.” – Patty Kennedy, Founder, SpeakWell


BREWSTER, N.Y. (PRWEB)

The COVID-19 pandemic kept students at home and online for months, impacting more than their academics. Studies show children were physically, emotionally and socially impacted by the isolation of the past year. As New York schools prepare to reopen after Labor Day, the John Wallace and SpeakWell Basketball and Leadership Camp heads into its third session at the Hardscrabble Club in Brewster, NY helping middle school students build those skills as they get ready for in-person school.

The John Wallace Basketball Camp was started by retired NBA player, and a first round draft pick for the New York Knicks, John Wallace – who last year had his #44 Syracuse University jersey retired, and the Al Morales Basketball Club. This year, John – who also serves as a role model for SpeakWell – an after-school program that teaches middle school students leadership, life and speaking skills, integrated the programs to help all students benefit from high-level physical, social and emotional skills, positive mindset and communication training.

“Playing basketball is more than just developing talents on the court,” said John Wallace. “From overcoming fear, developing a strong work ethic, finding your voice, mutual respect and teamwork – those skills serve you on the court and in life.”

“So many kids lose the confidence as they navigate the challenges of middle school and this is especially true as a result of the pandemic,” said Patty Kennedy, an international entrepreneur and speaker and founder of SpeakWell. “The program is a structured curriculum that focuses first on mindset, combines social and emotional learning with leadership skills training – including speaking and opportunities to demonstrate leadership. The combination helps students find their voice, gain a strong sense of self, work well together, and learn skills they need in school, sports and life.”

Part of the program includes “Real Talk,” where students engage in productive and respectful conversation and debate about real-world issues that impact them. They also engage with high-profile role models including professional athletes, actors, business leaders, scientists, and journalists who actively mentor the students. SpeakWell 7th-grade students became the first in the country from a K-8 school to each deliver TEDx talks, far exceeded 12th-grade speaking & listening standards, published national articles and have spoken alongside senior executives at international companies including UBS and BT.

The students’ reaction to the program? “It changed my life,” said 14-year old SpeakWell student, Zena Gardner – one of the first students from a K-8 school– and only girl – to deliver a TEDx talk. As part of the program, SpeakWell alumni mentor younger students.

As SpeakWell continues to expand its 8-week after-school programs across the country, the organization also will launch additional John Wallace SpeakWell basketball camps and introduce acting camps with actress Amy Hargreaves of Homeland and 13 Reasons Why – another SpeakWell role model

Interested schools, parents and organizations should contact info@speakwell.rocks to sign up.

About SpeakWell

SpeakWell is a public speaking and leadership program that builds strong, confident students who do better in school, sports and life and help one another. The program began with nine students and now serves more than 150 students across the country. The curriculum combines leadership and speaking skills training with social and emotional learning, offers unique opportunities to demonstrate leadership including TEDx talks, corporate panels and national writing opportunities, as well as a chance to engage with high-profile, diverse role models – including professional athletes, actors, business and community leaders. The organization also includes a non-profit arm that accepts donations and awards scholarships for students and schools in need. For more information, to involve your school, or donate, visit http://www.speakwell.rocks or contact info@speakwell.rocks.

NOTE TO REPORTERS: The third John Wallace SpeakWell camp will take place from 9:30am-4:00pm, August 16th-August 20th at the Hardscrabble Club in Brewster, NY. We invite you to see it in action and visit us for a story and interviews. Contact KATE GILBERT at 631-804-3969.

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How Harappa is futureproofing India's youth with Thrive Skills that really matter

How Harappa is futureproofing India’s youth with Thrive Skills that really matter

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In his decades-long experience in academics, Pramath Raj Sinha often observed how many students don’t learn the life skills that are critical to success.

“I believe that a lot of what we are teaching our children is not what actually makes one successful in life,” says Pramath, who is a part of the founding team and a trustee at Ashoka University. He has also served as the founding Dean of India School of Business in 2002.

Pramath’s observations resonated with Shreyasi Singh, who’d worked with him in the Vedica Scholars Programme for Women in 2015.

Given their belief that learning new things never hurt anyone, the two saw the need for a platform that could help professionals add a new dimension to their skills with critical life and behavioural skills and launched Harappa in 2018.

While serving as the editor for the Indian edition of Inc., Shreyasi had seen technology lead many businesses on the road to success. So, leveraging technology to achieve a purpose she was so passionate about was a no-brainer.

Today, Harappa is helping hundreds of professionals explore new avenues of personal growth with the tailored e-learning courses that build their cognitive and social skills and add to their employability.

“It is imperative for the youth to equip themselves with foundational skills such as problem-solving and effective communication to achieve professional success and personal growth. It is these skills that make a difference between a good and an outstanding employee, or between being a follower and a leader,” says Shreyasi Singh, Founder and CEO of Harappa.

Exploring the other side of education

When the two founders were contemplating a brand name for their New Delhi-based startup, they brainstormed over some 50+ options before deciding on ‘Harappa’. As proud Biharis, lovers of Hindi, and enthusiasts of Indian textiles, art, music and food, they were always drawn to names and imagery that represented India’s rich cultural heritage.

“Like the ancient civilisation of Harappa, we believe we are pioneering a new frontier of excellence. We felt that our curriculum of cognitive, social and emotional skills shared its texture with the grounded and foundational imagery of the Harappan sites. Our skills are foundational to an individual’s life and growth,” explains Shreyasi.

She adds that education in India is generally fragmented. “We are both learning junkies and our focus was to upskill people. We cared deeply about life and behaviour skills which are imperative for our own professional success,” says Shreyasi.

Agreeing with her, Pramath Raj Sinha, Founder and Chairman, Harappa says, “At Harappa, we are trying to teach things that schools and colleges do not really teach. We call these skills ‘Thrive Skills”.

Thrive Skills: For enterprises, institutions and individuals

Harappa operates on three business models. The first is based on tie-ups with college campuses, helping students to be workplace ready and teaches them how to communicate effectively, and prepares faculty to keep pace with changing classroom demands. In the second model, the team works with both big and small scale enterprises across industries to help their employees upskill. Under its third model, Harappa caters directly to individual learners, where its target audience ranges from 18-45 year olds.

Harappa’s programs drive transformative career success using Thrive Skills—an essential set of cognitive, social, and behavioural skills to enable individuals to continuously succeed at every stage of their career.

For leadership success, Harappa offers three sharply-targeted flagship programmes: High Performing Leaders Program, Powerful Presence Program and Women’s Leadership Program. Each of these programmes is mapped to more than 15 top Thrive Skills such as audience connect, practising mindfulness, client centricity, brand building, powerful storytelling and big picture thinking, among many others.

Know more about Thrive Skills here.

Scaling with a distinguished set of faculty

Today, the EdTech battleground is heating up, but Harappa’s biggest differentiator is its faculty. Their 80+ faculty deliver rich and contextualised content that is tailored to suit the requirements of 21st-century learners.

“For each of our existing 27 courses, we have five or more faculty members, who are a good mix of practicing senior professionals and academicians. For learners to really understand how to make use of what we are teaching them, they have to learn it from people who have applied this in their everyday life,” explains Shreyasi.

Pramath adds that while other platforms offer a large number of courses on various topics, Harappa focuses on its special niche. “You might find a course on public speaking or critical thinking on other platforms, but they are an add on. We focus on an important aspect of learning and skills and focus only on that to ensure that we do an outstanding job,” he says.

Harappa Bridge: Reimagining work and education

The…

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