Create a Positive Culture in Your School
“Students who feel emotionally and socially safe, are much more likely to engage in their own learning process.”
– Mike Donahue
The pressure educators face today is greater than ever before
There is a host of mental health issues and emotional baggage students walk into the building with every day. When students are emotionally healthy, they thrive. Value Up exists to help you in your efforts to create and maintain a healthy emotionally safe environment.
FOSTER A POSITIVE CULTURE
Social and Emotional School Climate refers to the psychosocial aspects of students’ educational experience that influence their social and emotional development. The social and emotional climate of a school can impact student engagement in school activities; relationships with other students, staff, family, and community; and academic performance.
INCREASE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE
A positive social and emotional school climate is conducive to effective teaching and learning. Such climates promote health, growth, and development by providing a safe and supportive learning environment.
EQUIP YOUR STAFF
The Value Up staff training will assist your teachers with practical classroom strategies that will create a more positive atmosphere, break down walls, and enlist the help of social influencers in the school.
Your school is special & unique
We realize every school has different challenges. The Value Up staff has over twenty-five years of experience speaking in schools all over the country. We take the time to find out what your needs are and then formulate a presentation that addresses your needs, specific to your school.
We have put together presentations and programs for hundreds of schools specific to these issues:
- Anxiety
- Bullying
- Social Media Issues
- Anger and Violence
- Suicide / Self-harm
- Substance Abuse
- Underachieving Academically
- Abuse at Home
- Inundation of Negative Media
- Disconnection/Loneliness
Assembly Only
Our signature program “Value Up” speaks to the students in a way that resonates with what matters to THEM and brings them into a collective agreement about respect, diversity and the value of others in their school community.
In 35 years, I’ve never seen anything like it.
-Jim, District Psychologist
Full Day Event
Our Most Impactful Solution!
Our full day, multifaceted culture-building package will by far be the most impactful day at your school the whole year! We will do multiple presentations to the student body dividing middle school and high school, we will do two student oriented break-out groups, one that focuses on leaders called “culture setters” and one that is focused on academically “at risk” students called “success academy”.
We also do a teacher training session after school that focuses on providing ways to help students create a positive, more inclusive social culture. The all-day package also includes a parent/community event that helps parents with practical ways to help their child navigate the pressures of being an adolescent.
Compared to other programs,
Value Up by far had the most impact.
-Jeff, Chief of Police
Culture Building Tool Kit
20 emotional resiliency sessions for every club in your school, books, teacher training manuals, inspiring posters, a banner, monthly video reminders, follow up video chats. This is your answer to having a long-term impact on the school culture.
This was a game changer for our building.
–Rocky Schneider, Gering High School, NE
What Educators and Students Say About Value Up
I was blown away by the instant rapport he had with even our toughest-to-reach students…His expertise and insight in creating and maintaining a healthy social climate, quite literally changed our school and community.
During my 30 years as an educator, I have had the pleasure of working with some of education’s brightest minds, and Mike Donahue ranks as one of the very best youth communicators I have ever encountered.
Mike’s insight and expertise at knowing what the root issues were with teenagers was instrumental in our success in stemming the tide of methamphetamine use in our State. Whatever Mike Donahue writes about connecting to teenagers will be worth reading.
Your message of valuing yourself and others was delivered loud and clear. We are a better and now a more safer school and community for having you here today.
The students rated your session ‘over the top’ and said they benefited from your expertise and motivation. You have such a high level of energy and know how to relate to teenagers with a powerful message.
Students bought into the message of valuing themselves and others and of being more empathetic than judgmental. I found myself using this message over and over again when dealing with conflict: from bullying to the problems that plague our teenagers throughout the whole school year. It is a pretty amazing thing to see a young person reflect on a message delivered in an assembly, that took place months earlier, and adjust their behavior based on the emotional connection that happened from that assembly!
You gave a great speech, and now it’s changing our school. I like what it does for our school, everybody here is making a difference in someone else’s day.
I can’t say enough about the job Value Up did with our kids. The presentation was fantastic. The students were riveted, engaged.. ALL of them. This isn’t a presentation just for students with meager or abusive backgrounds. It’s not just for students who disrespect others or who are disrespected. It’s for everybody to understand that each person has a battle they are fighting that we know nothing about. It gave great perspective for our kids.
It’s not your typical speech. I couldn’t believe the engagement of our students.
Value Up does not simply note the symptoms of the undesirable behaviors we battle in our schools and communities. It also provides a systematic approach on how to make the necessary changes. This program is a road map to positive change.
Parents called in stating that the assembly opened up dialog between their children that did not exist.
This fit our need of being applicable, reaching students, and uplifting compared to past assemblies that were merely informational and depressing.
Value Up was phenomenal for our students of York Middle School. The hour long presentation flew by, because the message and delivery kept the kids 100% engaged. We have had students commenting all week about this being the best assembly they have ever had. This gave our kids a message. Most of our kids are valuing other students each day since. I would recommend Value Up to any school.
In one day, this program did more for the social/emotional and mental health of our learning community than any program I have seen. If I can be of any assistance in this work, please do not hesitate to call upon me.
We Can Help Create a Positive School Culture
A sustainable, positive school climate fosters youth development and learning necessary for a productive, contributory, and satisfying life in an ever changing, complex society.
Value Up will assist you in that process.
Contact Our Team & Assess Your School’s Need
Book Event Day & Change Lives
Implement the Culture Building Tool Kit for Long Term Impact
Check Out Our New Book!
I spend my life speaking to thousands of teenagers every year in schools across the country. I speak about how valuable they are, and I talk about the struggles they are going through. But do you know what I wish I could do? I wish I could sit down with each and every one of those students and help them see what I see. I would tell them that I see a young person whose value is so great that it cannot be measured. I would tell them that no matter what they have done, their own value cannot be diminished.
I wrote this book to do just that, to sit down with you and let you know that you are not alone. Every day, I see the struggles young people are facing as our social media culture attempts to define them. I watch them wrestle with a world that assigns value based upon temporary things. One of the things that we’re going to talk about in this book is the word “intrinsic.” Essentially it means “something that is built in.” It belongs to itself. Your value is like that – it is intrinsic, it is built in. It belongs to you. You don’t have to do anything or please anyone to be valuable; you just are.
I hope you’ll let me help you discover what I know is already there.
Mike
You changed my life and taught me to view myself with value.
-Jasmine, Student
