Opporteen's High School Teen Leadership Panel Says Communicating With The Counselor Is One Thing; "Time To Assist" Is Another

More than 1 million students drop out of high school
each year.  Opporteen is designed to directly impact these
students at no cost to schools, students or the system

I came across this Huffington Post piece that shares the importance of asking what students think to enjoy more satisfying outcomes.  http://ow.ly/ejf5S   It points out the age-old and common-sense approach to understanding the customer -- know where their heads are and what it is that influences their actions at the most fundamental levels -- information that those of us as marketers have known--and relied upon--for decades. 

As I've only been in the restaurant business for short of three years, I can tell you that customer feedback is the foundation of its success, having been named the best restaurant in the City by many groups three years running.  I can also say that the food business is no different than any other--you have a product, a customer, employees, interaction at some level, issues, a changing environment, and a thousand things competing for headspace.  While I can't think of any other industry that has as many touch points, I would suggest that education with its student/parent customer base runs a close second.

Interestingly, Opporteen's leadership panel (Opporteam) which consists of 103 junior and senior high school students across Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, was polled about the subject just a few weeks back.  93% of the team says that students' thinking about their futures are not directly asked and, more importantly, the majority of those believe that what is said falls upon deaf ears or isn't acted upon.

So it begs the question of which is more important?  Reaching a student who doesn't believe the process or what it is you have to say, or transitioning the student's thinking to trusting what it is you are saying and making respectful how it is you are trying to say it.

We know that students today enjoy a freedom to think and do as never before, and a level of independence that is, while bothersome in this writer's opinion, prevalent to the point of no return.  

Among its many objectives, Opporteen is designed to leverage students' independence to think and do, and to connect with those beyond the walls of their schools who can make a difference in their lives.  Non-profit Opporteen is an independent resource that motivates students to connect with people who can enlighten them to opportunity and, in some form, hope for their futures -- something that by nature will always be difficult for schools to accomplish--simply given their massive responsibility and the resources available to them to get there.

Please like and follow us on Facebook at Opporteen, or my blog at kevingrangierusa.blogspot.com, and learn how Opporteen helps students to communicate with counselors and schools, and how the outside world (you and I) can influence the futures of our next generation.  

Thanks to EVERYONE who is helping to make Opporteen a reality that will effect so many.