Boy Scouts Share Important Message

Are you ever asked, “How do you know you are making a difference? How do you know your audience (or students) actually remembers your message?”  Speakers in the education world and teachers particularly get this question a lot because so many people wonder if teens retain the messages being shared with them.  Yesterday, audience members surprised me.

For the past week, my son was in the Northern Woods camping with his Boy Scout Troop (6 hours from our home).  When he arrived home with his Troop, he began sharing all his great stories from the week (catching a 25″ Northern and getting the “Lumberjack” Award). In mid-sentence, he suddenly said, “Dad, try to guess what happened?“

“What?” I asked.

Son: “I got some free food and extra stuff from the store for free because they knew you.“

Me:  ”WHO knew me?“

Son:  ”The boys working in the store.“

Me:  ”Who were they?“

Son:  ”I don’t know.  They saw my name ‘Domitrz’ and asked if I was related to you. When I said, ‘Yes,’ they talked about your program and how awesome it was. Then they gave me some stuff and EXTRA FOOD!!“

Me:  ”Were the boys from around here and working all the way up there for the summer?“

Son: “No, but they knew you.“

Me:  ”How old were they?“

Son:  ”High school age guys.“

While I’ve been blessed to hear stories of people seeing students wearing my “Can I Kiss You?” and “Want Some Action?” shirts in fun locations (Disney World, etc…), this quick conversation was soo much cooler. To know high school students in the middle of the Northern woods at a Boy Scout camp (6 hours away) KNEW MY NAME was the surprise. Had my son been wearing one of my shirts and these boys thought of the connection to me, I would have still have been pleasantly honored to know my audience had such a positive memory.  To know they knew my LAST NAME was the shocker.  They simply saw “Domitrz” and started talking to my son.

Neither I nor my son are the focus of this story.  This small group of audience members get and deserve all the credit. Each of these young men made a CHOICE to open their minds and commit to change (not letting an important message be forgotten – even months after originally hear the concept).  Regardless of what friends said, the entertainment world displayed before them, and their peers who tried to influence them otherwise, these students stuck to  message they believed in!  Kudos to each of them.

I only wish I had way to say, “Thanks” to each of them personally.  Thanks for sharing with my son. Thanks for believing in a positive message.

Why do I share this quick story?  With the amazing talent you possess, I know you have peers and/or audience members you never knew you impacted – those same individuals who are excited to tell others they heard you and want to spread the message.  Here is to the blessings of being a speaker, educator, activist, and/or  caring individual making an impact.  Thank you for all you do to make this world a better place.

Written by Mike Domitrz on July 26, 2010

A new semester of school brings fresh challenges for educators (mentally, emotionally, and physically).

Teachers, professors, educators, advisors, student leaders, and activists have shared throughout the years how busy this time of the year is for everyone.  For middle schools and high schools, the first semester is wrapping up.  For colleges and universities, a new semester is about to begin.  Not surprisingly, do you notice how many people get sick during this 3 or 4 weeks?  Stress.

Those of you who devote your lifes to helping others often forget to take care of yourselves.  A common mistake for many of us.  What do you do to relax and take care of yourself?  Quickly grab a piece of paper.  Draw a line down the middle so that you have 2 columns.  Above one column write, "Relax" and at the top of the other column, write "Taking Care of Me."  Now, write down everything you ENJOY doing to relax and to take care of yourself.  If you have too short of a list, ask people what they like.  Suddenly, you should have a nice list for yourself.  Look at your daily schedule and take 30 minutes twice a day to do one of the "Relax" items and 30 minutes for one of the "Taking Care of Me" choices.  The bigger the list, the better.  Variety and options are key to most people sticking with a plan.  Best of all, this approach makes taking care of you FUN!!

Start right here on this blog.  Leave a COMMENT listing as many items as you can think of for "Relax" and "Taking Care of ME."  The more we share, the more we tend to receive!

Written by Mike Domitrz on January 6, 2008

Do you really want my opinion? Do you take it in or simply let it be said?

When someone provides you feedback, how do you absorb their words?  Do you open your mind with a positive energy of "How can I make that work?" or do you respond with "I like your ideas, BUT . . ." and immediately share why you cannot or will not utilize their idea(s)?

Recently, I was sharing on a college e-mail listserve how schools can utilize our "Pledge for Action" during Sexual Assault Awareness Month in April.  At the time, the pledge was called the "Pledge to Protect."  We have been utilizing this pledge for over a 1.5 years.  Through this e-mail exchange on the listserve, one of the members shared how she did not like the word "Protect" in the pledge’s title because of the Patriarchal meanings and connotations of that specific word.  No one was questioning the content of the pledge — just the name.

We had a choice.  We could say to ourselves, "It is one person and this pledge has been extremely effective.  If we make this change, we would have to get new websites, change all the current information we send out, and make lots of other updates."  The other option we had was to ask the entire listserve, "What if we change the name to ‘Pledge for Action’ which requires signers to commit to taking real action?  What do you all think of this idea?"

We chose to open this question to the entire listserve and the feedback was OVERWHELMING — we kept hearing "WE LOVE THE CHANGE to Pledge for Action!!" (www.pledge4action.org).

From that change, another colleague of mine suggested, "Mike, with this new name, I can envision a pin people can wear year-round that says, ‘Pledge for Action’ and it would be a die-cast pin (like a National Honor Society pin in high school) so it would be sharp looking."  The "Pledge for Action" pins have now been ordered.  We have a pin designed in the shape of the logo used on the pledge with the wording "Pledge for Action" across the front.  Plus, we have a new t-shirt coming out which is designed specifically for the pledge!

All of this change happened because one person shared their opinion with us.  If we had discarded their e-mail, we would have lost out on improving an already successful educational campaign.  The new changes are going to help us get this campaign out to many more populations, especially with schools, communities, and organizations being able to use the pins and the shirts in conjunction with the signing of the pledge.

The surprising part of this experience were the amount of e-mails saying, "Thanks, Mike, for being willing to listen to change.  Most people would not have opened up this conversation about their own work."  To me, it seems like the only choice.  How can you ask students and communities to open their minds — while you keep yours closed to helpful feedback?

Who will you ask for their ideas today?  What positive changes will you make?  Join us in our newest change and sign the pledge at www.pledge4action.org.

Written by Mike Domitrz on February 22, 2007

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