December 8, 2009
To Whom It May Concern:
This November, Elmvale District High School had the unique but distinct pleasure to host a “Think Day” production for the first time. The impact was immediate, powerful and effective. “Kids talking to Kids” carried far more validity and relevance especially when delivered in such a fast-paced, energetic presentation. In […]
Archive for the 'Think Day' Category
Elmvale District High School: Immediate, Powerful and Effective
Published by December 8th, 2009 in Testimonials and Think Day. ClosedJob Position Openings: Road Team Manager
Published by November 25th, 2009 in FB, Employment, Newsletter, Think Day and Mainpage. 8 Comments
Effective Nov 19, 2009:
We have some exciting job position openings for dynamic young adults that love to make a difference and enjoy new challenges, experiences, and travel. We have immediate openings for a Road Team Manager for our Canadian school tours. If you have questions, please contact us at (905) 777 1662.
Road Team Manager
We have a job position open to lead one of our road teams that performs motivational presentations in schools across Canada.
Key Responsibilities:
- Lead Think Day Teams on cross-Canada tours
- Facilitate a positive and successful team experience
- Facilitate effective and powerful Think Day presentations, and customer experience, in schools
- Tour Management (driving, feeding team, arranging billets, etc)
Here is a description of what we are looking for in this position.
- Personal Skills
- Ability to think and learn independently
- Major adaptability and desire to learn and enjoy new situations and challenges
- Have a philanthropic world-view (desire to use your life to help others less fortunate)
- Good sense of humour
- Desire to travel
- Strong and mature interpersonal skills
- Ability to genuinely care and listen
- Make people feel significant
- Very positive thinking and speaking. Negativity from leaders will destroy team morale.
- Dynamic public skills
- Comfortable in front of large crowds
- Ability to speak with passion and conviction, and tell an engaging story
- Ability to promote and represent Absolute’s vision effectively
- Team Leading Skills
- Take responsibility and assertively take charge in tough situations.
- Ability to resolve conflict and remain objective and rational
- Ability to mentor team members and build team morale
- Technical Skills
- Experienced Driver. Experience with operating larger vehicles is an asset
- Basic knowledge of Audio and Visual Equipment is helpful
- Basic mechanical skills are an asset
- Problem solving skills
- Above average computer skills an asset
- Experience
- Have previous experience in a leadership position, team management and/or public communication.
Holy Cross Catholic Academy: Everyone has a story!
Published by November 18th, 2009 in Testimonials and Think Day. 0 CommentsTo Whom It May Concern:
It is with great pleasure that I write this letter of recommendation is support of Absolute Leadership Development Inc. I am the chair of the Bullying Program Committee at our school and attended a conference last year where I had the opportunity to witness this presentation; I enjoyed it so much […]
Keys, Pens, and Paperclips
Published by November 5th, 2009 in Team 2, FB, Road Team Blogs, Staff Blogs, Think Day and Mainpage. 0 Comments
They are only the elite, specially selected few.
They parade across our stage brandishing their weapons of choice. These are no ordinary instruments of torture, unusually, they are in the form of a broom, hockey stick, and a severed pool noodle. These ‘creme of the crop’ are showing us their rock and roll moves like never before (literally, I don’t think any of them have ever done this before!). They head bang as in the days of their youth, and while doing so there are generally three items that come spilling from their pockets.
Keys, pens, and paperclips.
Once in a while there will be an unlucky individual who flings their glasses inadvertently across that glossy hardwood floor not caring a bit, because they need to rock harder than their students did. They will let nothing stand in the way of their ETERNAL GLORY! For that is what they will receive if they can rock harder than a bunch of high school wussies!
These are the teachers who have bravely sacrificed eyesight and dignity alike to participate in our “school of Rock” and no matter how many teachers we see on stage we are always shocked at how well they perform!
Canada has some of the most amazing teachers, many of which end up on our stage and its their students who choose them because they know that these are the teachers who know how to have fun. These are the teachers who are trusted and liked by their students. They are the elite only because of the dedication to their students, dedication that is clearly seen when they rock out no holds bar to make sure their students get a laugh! we congratulate you teachers who are chosen for our air band rock off because you are the teachers who care for their students. We did not preselect you, you were chosen by the students you teach. In fact its almost as if you selected yourselves. How you ask? By being there for your students, approachable, and friendly. You selected yourselves when you decided to love kids and not just teach them. Our country is full of teachers and administrators
who love their students, who only want the best for them and their futures. A lot of the time you are the elite, the specially selected few, who will humbly rock out with us, and for some reason you are always carrying in those magnanimous pockets of yours:
Keys, Pens, and Paperclips
Its the Circle of our Lives
Published by August 5th, 2009 in Staff Blogs, School of Leadership, FB, Think Day, Student Zone, Mainpage, Hero Holiday and Featured. 1 CommentThink Day, Hero Holiday, School of Leadership, ONE Book … Absolute.org has a variety of interesting programs, but are they related, tied together somehow? Absolute is like a ring, no no not the one ring…you know the one…”in the darkness bind them?” That’s not us, that’s some other guy. At Absolute.org every one of our programs support and lead into the other. Someone asked me today what I do for Absolute, in what capacity I work for them. The truth is that my job title is irrelevant. Each of our jobs support and are connected to each other’s. Absolute is a circle.
I just returned from a Hero Holiday trip in the Dominican Republic. I met some fantastic people. There are few things more surprising than how content the people of Dominican Republic really are, compared with someone living in a developed country. Even more surprising is the effervescent joy that overflows and spills onto us from the displaced people of Haiti living in Dominican Republic. There are too many stories to tell here and now. For more on Hero Holiday, please visit Hero Holiday’s site or subscribe to 52 Stories. What I’ve come to realize is that my job, my official job at Absolute, is incredibly tied into Hero Holiday. The members of Team 3, my Hero Holiday team, had students (and one mom) from all across our fine country. Almost every province was represented by Team 3’s members, and we even had a girl from the Yukon! Most of these participants were there because of Think Day, a multimedia motivational experience that visited their schools. That is my job, Think Day. I am a Road Team Manager, along with my husband JP. We travel with teams across Canada from September to June (we break for Christmas of course!) tirelessly (most days) driving, setting up, performing, speaking, running workshops, discussion groups, etc etc etc. We tell our stories to bring hope and courage to our listeners and to let our generation know that they have value, that their voice can be heard, and that we want to join our voice with theirs to change our world!
On my Hero Holiday trip I saw those values not only realized in the lives of our participants, but applied to a people who are considered regrettable and forgettable by a world who has done very little to better their situation. All year I talk, and I talk, and I talk about social justice and trips like Hero Holiday, telling Canadian students that they can do something about the injustices they see in their world, and that it is just that; THEIR WORLD. And here they were! All 19 of them on Team 3 asking the same question I asked myself over and over again this year. “Have I actually accomplished anything? What is it that I’ve really done?”
The answer to my question was in the 100+ students who participated in Hero Holiday Dominican Republic Week 1, and more directly in the 19 members of my team. Not all had been at the shows that I spoke at, but there were quite a few who had been, and most of them had seen an Absolute show or had known someone who did, and that was why they were there! Their experiences in Dominican Republic taught them, not just told them, that they matter to the world. They matter to that stateless Haitian child, or to that Dominican Grandmother. They are actually making a difference.
My purpose in Absolute was reflected in the eyes of a girl who had been given the power and opportunity to help when she thought she couldn’t. When she thought she was helpless to do anything about the situation she saw in front of her, I got to help her realize that we’re stronger together and that we really could help this life, this girl, this time.
Hero Holiday had changed my life before I had ever been on one and experienced it for myself, but now it’s not just stories, it’s real. I got to work alongside some people I had met briefly in a gym somewhere in Canada and had asked “Now that you know, what will you do?” and they showed up. That gives me 19 new reasons to keep going. To keep telling my stories, stories about myself, and about the people I have met and been inspired by. To keep touring, and driving, and setting up, and tearing down, and talking and talking and talking, because though you may not all come on a Hero Holiday, some of you may. Some of you will hear for the first time that you are valuable, that your life counts for something, and you will take that message with you wherever you go, including a Hero Holiday.
I will step out onto the road again with fresh perspective on what it is that I do. 19 faces and stories to keep me going, and this is the cycle, this is the circle: Think Day, School of Leadership, Hero Holiday, 52, One, Think Day, School of Leadership…
So watch for us this Fall. Are we coming to your school? If we’re not and you want us there, CLICK HERE .
What’s Going on in Adam’s Head?
Published by April 2nd, 2009 in Team 1, Think Day and Featured. 3 Comments
Hope, value, dedication, purpose,and love.
To accomplish anything great in this life, all of those character traits are needed. The funny thing about those character traits is that you never really know you have them until challenges arrive!
Team One has had some challenges recently. As many of you are aware, we didn’t make it out west for our tour. On March 3rd, in Minnesota, our tour bus hit some black ice driving along the I-94. We flipped, rolled and destroyed our bus. Thankfully, none of us were seriously injured and we can go back to life as normal- if we want to.
This accident has thrown us some challenges- the band we were touring with, along with our sound guy decided to leave after the accident to spend time at home. The rest of us decided to keep going. For Team One, we believe nothing worth doing comes easy and we believe in the message we share with students all across Canada. We can’t stop now - there is too much to do!
So here we go… we have a new tour and a new team. The Ocean Buried is now touring with us. They have done a great job so far in the shows we have had here in Ontario! We are all super pumped to have them with us! With a band, we also need a sound man; so now we have Jesse. Jesse literally dropped everything he was doing to join our team! He is an amazing guy and has been a great help these past few weeks.
Hope, value, dedication, purpose, and love.
In Absolute, we share a message that we get to choose who we become. Every day, life gives us opportunities to become who we want to be. Those choices rarely come through easy events. Growth comes through the difficult times, and we all have them. How we respond shapes who we become.
And…that is why we are all excited to get back out on the road!
See ya on the road!
Adam Churchman, Road Team Manager, Team One
Waterford High School: Powerful.
Published by January 13th, 2009 in Testimonials and Think Day. ClosedJanuary 13, 2009
Powerful. One word encompasses the tone and message of ABSOLUTE’s presentation. The message of self-esteem and humanitarianism was powerfully combined. The presentation reached the students, and I know this because of the students’ reaction. Some students were hit by the speaker’s personal stories and they were able to see themselves in the speakers. […]
Holy Cross School Complex: Our Hats Are Off To You
Published by October 27th, 2008 in Testimonials and Think Day. ClosedThere are very few times in my life that I can say that a presentation moved me so much. Absolute did just that! It brought the staff and students closer together, making us all realize that we can make a difference no matter who we are.
...continue readingWanipigow School: Fantastic!
Published by September 23rd, 2008 in Testimonials and Think Day. ClosedTo Whom It May Concern:
RE: Wanipigow School Presentation
Once again the performance by ABSOLUTE was fantastic. All students were captivated by the band “BEAUTI”. They are great! The personal messages from individuals were very powerful. Most students could relate to the messages. HUGS are an excellent idea.
Overall, the presentation was excellent! We look forward to having […]
Tollgate Technological Skills Centre: Absolutely Awe-inspiring Event.
Published by September 12th, 2008 in Testimonials and Think Day. ClosedThe presentation itself was incredible! All 400 of our students were engaged for the full hour. It was the perfect mix of rock, videos and speakers. Many of us were touched by the personal stories that were told; students were able to relate and empathize. The school seems to be abuzz with a new vibe, Absolute has made it cool to care at Tollgate!
...continue reading
