Maximizing Student Voice

Listen as MaryKatherine and Jordan talk about the value of leadership courses and the power they have.

Change. How does your leadership impact how you deal with change?

Welcome to Season 2 of Realiteen Talks! We're glad you're here. Today, we kick season off by talking all about student voice. Listen as Jenaya and Matt, share their insight.

It may feel impossible to not compare yourself, particularly regarding body image, to others, from celebrities touted in the media to people who are a part of your everyday life. However, these comparisons can have a negative effect on your self-esteem, placing unrealistic and damaging expectations on you that can affect your self-worth. On this episode of FranklinCovey Education’s Realiteen Talks, host and High School Practice Leader Gary McGuey was joined by a panel of teenagers to explore how to break the cycle of unhealthy comparisons and learn to love yourself for who you are. Comparisons can also be drawn between your current self and the person you want to become, such as when you’ve set a goal to lose weight, be more fit or something else entirely. While pushing yourself and setting goals can help you progress, that growth can only occur with a healthy attitude toward your journey. The panelists offered some tips for managing comparisons, body image and self-esteem. Recognizing your uniqueness and the beauty of being a singular individual, though difficult, can help put you in a better headspace, as can remembering that everyone has a unique journey that no one else can truly see and working to set realistic, achievable standards for yourself that make you happy.

College isn’t the right post-high school path for everyone, but it’s a part of many teenagers’ lives. In turn, it’s a part of many a stressful night.However, there are strategies for approaching college preparation without those stress-inducing moments of panic. There’s a beneficial method for everyone – it’s all about finding it.

Often, it can seem like life is happening to you – and that can lead to a perceived lack of control. Challenges and obstacles come one after another, leading to even more chaos, and it’s enough to overwhelm just about anyone. But what if something as simple as your mindset could change that pattern? On this episode of FranklinCovey Education’s Realiteen Talks, hosted by High School Practice Leader Gary McGuey, a panel of teenage guest weighed in on the topic of mindset – and how the right attitude and approach could change your eventual outcomes. “Whenever I think of the power of mindset, I really just think about your mentality or the way you approach different situations,” one panelist said. “Whether that be approaching academic, athletics or other relationships. … [It’s] also your mindset of positive thoughts versus negative thoughts.” The mind is a powerful and influential thing, the panelists said. In fact, it can be one of largest factors, if not the biggest one, in determining success or failure in a given situation. Without a positive mindset, it’s hard to remain motivated in the face of adversity. Many outside factors can influence your mindset, from the way you were raised to past experiences or the particular environment you find yourself in. However, at the end of the day, it’s up to you to stay on top of your mental state and find the best way for you to remain strong and committed to a positive, powerful mindset.

We’ve all been stressed out. Whether you’re a teenager with a big project due, a big game tonight or a big college application or an adult worrying over work, bills and other stressors, stress is a natural human emotion and an unavoidable part of life. However, that doesn’t mean you can allow it to dictate its own terms and control your life. On this episode of FranklinCovey Education’s Realiteen Talks, host and High School Practice Leader Gary McGuey was joined by a pair of teenagers intimately familiar with stress – particularly in a year that’s been more difficult than just about any that’s come before it. McGuey and the two panelists explored how they recognize stress, keep it at bay, and use it to fuel a more productive approach to the challenges and opportunities in their lives. “I feel like there’s also a good side to stress, where we feel motivated by it,” one panelist said. “Things like, perhaps, classes – when we want to do well in a class and we know that, if we do well, it will be good for our futures. … “There’s definitely a point where we have to figure out, ‘OK, where is this tipping point?’” To keep stress from becoming a “dark cloud,” it’s important to work to understand your own unique signals of being overly stressed and to pay close attention to when stress in one particular area bleeds into other, unrelated aspects of your life.

We’d all be better off if everything we hoped for or strove for resulted in fulfillment and success – but that wouldn’t be much of a life, either. Disappointment is a natural part of life. There are plenty of failures to be had, things to let you down, and missteps to take. However, how you accept and deal with disappointment is within your control – and can make all the difference in the world. On this episode of FranklinCovey Education’s Realiteen Talks, host and High School Practice Leader Gary McGuey was joined by a panel of teenage guests to talk about the art of accepting disappointment. The panelists agreed that mindset is everything. If you’re determined to wallow in disappointment and setbacks, growth can’t occur. However, if you choose to view every failure and disappointment as a chance to learn something that could help you grow and become a better human being, you’ll flourish. Still, that’s easier said than done, particularly in what’s been a difficult year-plus for everyone. The panelists offered some advice and lessons they’ve learned in dealing with disappointment, including searching for opportunity in every disappointment, accepting yourself and the results when you’re genuinely putting in your best effort, and understanding what’s truly “disappointing” and what actually came from unfair expectations on yourself or others.

Everywhere you turn in today’s media landscape, a persistent theme reveals itself – we’ve become a society obsessed with image. The expectation of perfection, which is wholly unrealistic and detrimental, can lead to significant challenges with how you perceive yourself. Your self-worth is in no way tied to your body image or any other single aspect of who you are – but it can sure feel like it is. On this episode of FranklinCovey Education’s Realiteen Talks, host Gary McGuey, High School Practice Leader, was joined by a panel of teenage guests to discuss the often-sticky topic of body image and how they practice self-love. “It’s constantly changing,” one panelist said. “I know I compare myself – I think it’s just natural instinct. But, as much as you want to compare yourself to social media and what’s going on, we have to realize that it’s always changing. We can’t change ourselves every single week depending on what the trend is now.” The influence of celebrities, peers on social media and more is profound, and it affects everyone. However, teenagers can be ultra-susceptible to the impact of body image, particularly in the age of lives lived on social media. To combat feelings of having to fit in or look or dress a certain way, the panelists said to work to understand what’s healthy and normal for your body, what makes you happy, how you want to be perceived, and more.

Mental Health and Wellness is a heavy topic, but it affects everyone in society, no matter socioeconomic status. On this episode of Realiteen Talks, host Gary McGuey, High School Practice Leader for FranklinCovey Education, invited a panel of teenage guests to share how they deal with mental health and wellness, sharing opinions and strategies to overcome challenges they see every day. The panelists felt people need to embrace the idea, “it’s okay to not be okay,” and that help cannot be effective until the problem is recognized, and the feelings identified with. Help is out there, and there’s nothing wrong with needing professional intervention, from a psychologist or councilor. They pointed out that people in crisis shouldn’t be afraid to lean on their friends for support. They also agreed that social media has had a negative effect on mental health, specifically in regards to the pandemic, because people compare themselves to what they see online, and there’s less in-person interaction. The panelists shared suggestions of mental health and wellness tips for someone to utilize before they’re ready to seek help. These include: don’t beat yourself up, try some exercise or sports, focus on nutrition and sleep, as well as water intake. Avoid phone before bed, and focus on yourself; don’t take other people’s problems on. There is a stigma regarding mental health and wellness, and until society works together toward acceptance, and recognizes the issues are valid and cannot be ignored, things won’t get better.