What happens when they grow up?

Do you ever wonder what the impact of your investment in your child will be?  Can only 3 days away from home make a significant impact in a students life?  What happens when these kids grow up into adults?  Just a few days ago an Email was received in the general mailbox of Rapport Empowered Education and all of these questions were quickly answered...

Hello,

My name is Brian Breuner and in the Spring of 1991 my parents enrolled me in one of your first Teen Leadership Breakthrough Courses.  For some reason I’ve been thinking a lot about this course over the past few days, and upon reflection I’ve come up with the following conclusion… Even though it’s been nearly 20 years, there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t consciously or subconsciously use the tools, skills, and lessons that  I learned at Rapport.

 I was 16 when my parents enrolled me in the course. At the time I didn’t know why they did it.  I didn’t see myself as an “at risk” teen, I had, what I felt was a good circle of friends (my parent’s then and still agree), and although I was just doing OK in school I felt everything in my world was fine.  My Mom’s company had sent her and a few coworkers through one of your adult courses and afterward she felt that the teen course would be beneficial for me, so off to Las Vegas I went (we lived in California at the time).

I didn’t know what to expect, and while I was excited for the adventure of traveling, I wasn’t really excited about the reason for the trip.  Looking back on things now, that was probably the best trip of my life.  I truly feel that I “found myself” during my time at Rapport.  Being a teenager is hard.  Between the peer pressure, school pressure and trying to figure out who you are, it can easily overwhelm anyone.  Rapport let me discover who I was, and that it didn’t matter what anyone else thought, I gained a confidence that never existed prior to Rapport, and I learned communication skills that,  as I stated before, I still use to this day.  Recently I had a debate with a supervisor over why I was being selected for a project over someone who had more time and experience then I did.  He stated “You display a confidence that no one else does, we need you here”.  This statement is a direct result of the Teen Leadership Course.

As I was looking through your website I came across the following quote “substantial increase in the students’ emotional intelligence, self-confidence, adaptability, competence, and inter-personal skills”, I could have save the University of Calgary a ton of time and money and just told them “True” to all of the above.  This is exactly what the Teen Leadership Breakthrough Course did for me.

Unfortunately, I don’t remember the names of the teens that joined me for the course that week.  I think about them from time to time and hope that they are successful in whatever endeavors they have chosen.  It’s funny that while I don’t remember their names, and we were only together for a few days, the kids that joined me at Rapport had a very large impact on my life.

I want to say Thank You.  Thank You for doing what you did in the Spring of 1991 and Thank You for what you continue to do for our youth today.  I can guarantee that when my children come of age they will be visiting your Teen Leadership Course.

Respectfully,

Brian Breuner