What happens when YOU...

BELIEVE IN YOUR POTENTIAL, EVEN ESPECIALLY IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE RESULTS YET?

At the Boston IECA convention, Dr. Ellen Braaten opened her keynote speech, “The Curse of the Average Child,” with this slide. "Walmart or Harvard." All other high schoolers should just go home, settle in with their iPads, hide under the T-shirt quilt Aunt Donna had custom-made, and binge watch Game of Thrones. If these are the only options, then it’s winner take all—because stocking shelves doesn’t play well on Instagram.

My yoga instructor had a similar thought nearly a decade ago. “We are a …

WHATEVER YOU CHOOSE TO DO — DO IT WELL. #applyONPURPSE

What’s that tune you can’t stop singing to yourself? We’ve all got one; in fact, I feel pretty safe in saying we’ve all got more than one. We’ve got a whole chorus of tiny voices demanding our attention, but here’s the thing: Some of our internal voices empower us, reinforce our authentic selves, and feed the greater good. Too often, though, they are the roadblocks that spring from our deepest fears about ourselves. And, they are remarkably good at keeping us stuck, especially when we don’t even…

Years ago, during a shopping excursion at the Tannersville Outlet Center in eastern Pennsylvania, I wandered into the Cole Haan store. I browsed the offerings a few times but found I kept returning to a pair of strappy dress sandals. Summer is nearly here, I told myself. And just look at the lovely box complete with scripted Cole Haan on the outside!

I gave in and tried them on. The straps were toward the front of the shoe, and while the heel was just the right height, those straps felt a litt…

This article appeared int the NY Times last month. Are you curious about the advice admissions officers give their own kids? I know I am, and often ask when I meet with admissions officers and IEC colleagues. The article interviews officers from Kenyon College, Penn State University, Vanderbilt University, UCLA, UNC, Chapel Hill, Allegheny College, MIT, GA Tech and University of Richmond. Good Stuff. Diane Anci and son, Kenyon College. Source: NY Times A Link for You — Advice College Admissions…

“If you spend your life feeding people’s vanity, you get so you can’t distinguish what should be respected in them.” —F. Scott Fitzgerald “Leave your pride, ego, and narcissism somewhere else. Reactions from those parts of you will reinforce your children’s most primitive fears.” —Henry Cloud Martin Family Vacation, Spring 2009 Bryn, our sophomore in college, called in February. “I just don’t get it, Mom.” One of his closest friends had just withdrawn in the second semester of his sophomore yea…

A few years out of college and newly married, David and I headed back to South Mountain for the annual Lehigh-Lafayette Football Game (in this century this tradition is known as LeLaf). Following the game we went to a cocktail reception at Theta Chi, and the brick exterior, white columns, and pungent odor of beer long-seeped into the parquet floors greeted us — almost as if we had never left. As the crowd gathered and the volume rose a couple of drinks in, I overheard a question posed by one of …