A Practical Blueprint for Teaching Life Skills With Rob Heller

Welcome & Guest Introduction

Jackie Pelegrin 0:01

Hello, and welcome to the Designing with Love Podcast. I am your host, Jackie Pellegrin, where my goal is to bring you information, tips, and tricks as an instructional designer. Hello, instructional designers and educators. Welcome to episode 164 of the Designing with Love Podcast. I'm thrilled to have Rob Heller with me today on the podcast. Rob is a successful entrepreneur, youth development innovator, and the founder of the Boost Program, a comprehensive curriculum designed to help teens and young adults develop the essential skills they need to thrive beyond the classroom. Through 26 real-world skills organized around people skills, character skills, and mindset skills, Boost helps young people strengthen communication, relationships, responsibility, resilience, self-awareness, and other capabilities that support success in life and work. Rob is also the author of The Missing Course for Today's Youth, which explores why these skills deserve a more intentional place in education. Today we'll discuss how educators and youth leaders can move beyond simply expecting young people to possess these skills and begin teaching, practicing, and reinforcing them through meaningful learning experiences. Welcome to the show, Rob.

SPEAKER_01 1:17

Thank you, Jackie. Thanks for having me. I appreciate you do great work. So I really appreciate you spending some time with me today.

Jackie Pelegrin 1:24

Absolutely. And uh same, same to you as well. I'm so glad we got to connect and find each other through PodMap. So it was really it's a really great uh program that is out there. So I'm really glad that that we formed that connection on there. Absolutely.

Why the Boost Program Exists

Jackie Pelegrin 1:40

Yes. So to start off our conversation today, Rob, can you tell us a little bit about your journey and share what inspired you to move from entrepreneurship into youth development and create the Boost program?

SPEAKER_01 1:52

Um no, great question, Jackie. So my journey actually started 20 years ago. So I have three kids and the oldest who's now early 30s when he was a teenager. I knew that there were certain skills. Of course, I w wanted him to do well academically, excuse me, to go to a great college, um, you know, all the things that parents want for their kids. But I also knew that there was a certain skill set that if he possessed these skills, he just would have a better chance at a better life. Um, and really around connections with people and character, et cetera. And as teenagers, those of you that um have, you know, raised teenagers or have teenagers, you know sometimes they can tune us out, even though they are listening, so it's important to realize that. But that it feels like they're tuning us out. So I went looking for a third-party program to help teach the lessons that I knew were important. Bottom line is I couldn't find one. I'm an entrepreneur. My friends, family said, Rob, you gotta create your own program. I did. Um, it's called the Boost Program, and it's really to teach the you can call it um soft skills, life skills, social emotional learning, whatever you want to call it, but it's really the key uh skills that create a great life. Um so I created it, it was great, um, got a lot of traction. Uh this but I really got business busy in my um main business, which was commercial insurance. I ended up selling my business to a big publicly owned company. So the booze program was really kind of put on hold at that time for many years. And a couple years ago, as um uh, you know, it was a 40-year insurance career, I was exiting that. It was I still had a lot of energy and passion, and I knew I really wanted to come back to the booze program. I'd use a lot of the techniques uh within the the company that had purchased me, going around the country teaching these skills. And I also knew in a phone-based world that you know the next generation lives in that these skills were more important than ever. So, really, last couple years I've really just refined it and brought it back and took an old you know curriculum that was 20 years old and just made it modern.

Jackie Pelegrin 3:53

Wow, that's great. I love how you saw that there was that need with your son and wanting to provide him the best you could, and you just didn't find it out there. So you thought, well, okay, there's nothing out there, I'll do it myself then and really come up with that. And like you said, your friend kind of gave you that nudge that you needed right to take it. Yeah, absolutely. Right. I think we do sometimes. Yes. Yeah, I love that. I I love how you just even though you had to put it on hold for a little bit, you didn't abandon it and you came back to it and refreshed it, made it really great for this generation. So that's great. I love it. So

Why Life Skills Must Be Taught

Jackie Pelegrin 4:30

schools do often value certain skills such as communication, responsibility, resilience, and teamwork. But these abilities are sometimes treated as qualities students should already possess when maybe they don't. So why do you believe, Rob, that they need to be taught as intentionally as academic subjects today?

SPEAKER_01 4:48

Yeah. Because really, again, these are the key keys to a good life. They're we know life is always is about the connections with other people. That makes a great life. We're wired to connect with other humans. And there's certain skills around that. The ability to listen and ask questions, um, not one-up someone. So it's really the it's it's really a skills. And the great news is anyone can learn it. You can be an introvert, but again, once you learn some techniques, uh makes you much more effective. Um, and certainly, again, it's really important to do well academically. But if we're teaching math and science and history and um other subjects, why isn't there a course that specifically teaches these skills, especially when we know how important they are to life and connections and quite frankly, a job and making more money?

Jackie Pelegrin 5:38

Right. That's so true. Especially that part about teamwork. Uh, because teamwork is something we do in work, right? We that has work in that team work, right? We're working together. So it's really interesting, Rob, because I teach graduate courses. And one of the things I notice with my students, they're in the workplace already, right? And they're coming back to either change careers or level up what they're already doing and

Teamwork Problems Start With Basics

Jackie Pelegrin 6:05

get that higher salary, right? That higher pay with a master's degree. But I noticed so many of them when I, because I teach several classes that have a group assignment in them, and they're really valuable assignments. And so it's in any subject, you can teach teamwork and how to do group work and work and collaborate together, but they complain about it so many times. And I'm like, wait a minute, what are the chances that they're actually doing that at work, but yet they don't want to do it in their academic studies? Why do you think there's that disconnect sometimes in the academic side of it with things?

SPEAKER_01 6:36

Yeah, so that yeah, no, that's a really great question, uh, Jackie. So I think of it sometimes. So the big term now is soft skills, and employers are saying, hey, 85% of what we're looking for is soft skills. We can teach someone the technical part of the job. We really want these soft skills. And most of the soft skills, like teamwork, leadership, conflict resolution, they're really not soft. They're actually hard. And one of the reasons they're hard is they're usually made up of multiple skills. So it's hard just to say, hey, let's we're gonna teach teamwork or leadership or conflict. You really need these micro skills. So being a curriculum um director, you certainly can understand this. There's 101 courses and then 201. So, really, what uh a lot of what Booth focuses it on as a program is 101 course. So it's almost like it's hard to do, it would be impossible to do algebra if you don't know basic math. So I really feel it's really important to develop just basic skills first, like again, um making it about someone else, listening, agreing, smiling, you know, all these, particularly around the people skills. Before you can uh again work with teamwork, you have to be empathetic, you have to obviously be honest, um, you can't gossip. So there's uh again, to be a good teammate, you have to have all these other skills. So that's really what we focus at is the kind of the micro skills or the one-on-one skills first and then move into it. Um and the other thing is is um, because I work with a lot of um schools, uh we focus primarily on the ages 14 to 24. So it's both high schools and um colleges and university and and also workforce development. And a lot of them have group-based projects, which are great because it's way better than sitting, you know, in a row in a classroom. But again, if you don't have the skills, when you get into the group-based project, then it becomes difficult. Um, and you just get way more out of it if you know the basic skills going into the group-based project.

Jackie Pelegrin 8:35

Right. That's so true. Yes, yeah. There's there's so much that goes behind that and so many dynamics that work that lead up to that to make it an effective team project or a group project.

SPEAKER_01 8:47

So you have to learn all the base of the basic skills first, but to be an effective teammate.

Jackie Pelegrin 8:52

Right, exactly. I love that, Rob.

Turning Traits Into Practice

Jackie Pelegrin 8:55

So Boost uh focuses on those three pillars I mentioned earlier, the people skills, character skills, and mindset skills. How do you turn broad concepts such as confidence, integrity, listening, or resilience, as you've kind of mentioned earlier, into learning experiences that young people can practice and apply in real life situations?

SPEAKER_01 9:13

Yeah, no, that's a great, another great question. So I think the first thing and most important thing is I've been really happy with the engagements of the students. That was my big thing. When I brought this back, I actually had to go into the high schools to teach it myself to make sure I had the right lessons and to see if it would work. And I wasn't sure. Again, I don't come from an education background. So going into a high school as a chat, even though I'd been in business 40 years and spoke in front of groups and led, you know, teams and had hundreds of people reporting to me, I really it was kind of it was new, and I was a little nervous if I could um, you know, uh create that engagement. And I'm happy to say I feel like we've really figured it out. And most of it boils down to letting someone see how it can really benefit them. I hate to say it. I mean, certainly you want to be a good person, you want to be humble and kind and all these things, um, particularly on the character side, but it's hard just to say because it's the right thing to do. Once they see how it benefits them and creates a they're just viewed differently and they make a better connection, um, and they quite frankly, they feel better by implementing these skills, then it then it opens up. So I think the key with that is how it can benefit them and help them, just with their life in general. So again, I feel like and we do that right out of the gate. So we get that engagement right out of the gate.

Jackie Pelegrin 10:35

Right. Right. So it sounds a lot like what we do in instructional design is uh we don't always use this model, but it's it's called the ARCS model. It's uh it's mainly used for adult education, but it can be used for younger kids too, like high school and things like that. But so the ARCS model is stand, it's an acronym and it stands for attention, relevance, confidence, satisfaction. So you're kind of it sounds like you're doing something similar to that. You're grabbing their attention. What can it do for them? You know, giving them that relevance. This is how it's gonna help you, not only in school, but in life. And then you're building up that confidence that you go through this program and you're gonna come out on the other side better, right?

SPEAKER_01 11:16

Well, then that makes me feel much better. Get I have a curriculum and uh leader blessing in the program from at least from uh conceptually how we're uh attempting to do it. So that makes it feel good, yeah.

Jackie Pelegrin 11:27

Yeah, exactly. When you describe that, it just yeah, because you have to really grab their attention and hook them right from the start, whether it's through a story, an engaging story, or telling them something, you know, you have you're right, you know, you want to make it to where what's this, how's this gonna benefit me? How can I relate to this? And especially with high school kids and college kids, right? You have to be able to come down to their level, relate to them, right? Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 11:52

Yeah, if it just feels like a lecture from an adult, then you you've lost them out right out of the gate. Yeah.

Jackie Pelegrin 11:57

Right, exactly. What what's one of the ways that you feel like works best when you first approach them with that? Is it usually a story that you tell or something like that?

SPEAKER_01 12:07

So we uh it that's a great, and you're asking

Hooking Learners With Future Vision

SPEAKER_01 12:09

great questions. Because we take a we to really take the whiteboard, blackboard, whatever it is, and we just say, okay, guys, picture yourself 10 years from now. So whatever the age is, picture, tell me what that looks like. And we just start, they just start throwing out stuff. And it it usually they start with material stuff. So I want a car, I want this. It's always the material stuff first. Then we just keep going. And then eventually it comes out I want a family, I want to be respected, I want friends, I want to be respected in the community, I want to be viewed a certain way. When I get down, I want to have the ability to bounce back. So we just keep putting it up on the board. And then I say, guys, you can have this over the next, if it's an eight-week course, over the next six, seven weeks, whatever the time frame of the course is, over the next period of time, we're gonna teach you the skills that's gonna allow you to have all of this. Doesn't mean life's gonna be easy, doesn't mean you're not gonna hit obstacles because everyone does. But if you have the skills that we're gonna teach you, you will just be able to um uh it will allow you to get just about all of what you want.

Jackie Pelegrin 13:11

Right, exactly. So you're bringing them into that process right from the beginning, right out of the gate. I love that. Yeah. Because that really makes a key difference, right? Because you're like you said, you're not lecturing at them, you're not telling them things, they're giving you the information, and then you're tailoring that approach to what they give you. So I love that.

SPEAKER_01 13:30

And we've got another thing that I think is helpful is from the very beginning, I said, guys, we need your help. Like I think we got great stuff here, but you got to tell us what's working, what's not, what you look, you know, and we we end up doing a survey at the end um that really gives us great information and what we can do to make it better. Really, that's what we're looking to do. So that's been helpful too.

Jackie Pelegrin 14:26

Yes, that's helpful, especially if you're offering a service. It's so helpful to have that feedback and see, okay, let's how can we take this the good and the things that we need to improve, right? To make it better for the future kids and everything and the ones coming up, right? And I think it helps these uh these young people see that they have ownership in the process, right? Because they're able to give feedback into it and you're letting them know, hey, whatever feedback you give us, good or you know, not so good, then we'll take all of it, we'll utilize it, we'll see how we can improve it. So I think they like that, right? Because they like to do that.

SPEAKER_01 15:01

No, absolutely. No, that's the key is to again doing that right out of the gate, right? Which has been helpful. No question.

Jackie Pelegrin 15:08

Yeah, I love that. That's great. Um, and it's amazing too, because as we know, all the young people today, they're growing up surrounded by smartphones, social media, artificial intelligence, most recently, and then constant digital communication with each other. So it often seems like they're not really face to face too much. So, how has that environment changed the skills they need? And what can educators do to strengthen genuine human connection without simply rejecting technology?

SPEAKER_01 15:36

Yeah, yeah. No, obviously you have to have that right balance. We're not completely rejecting technology. I mean, that wouldn't make sense. As you said, you really have to have the right balance. So let me just tell you how far we've come. When I first started the Boost Lessons, we I, you know, I had 20-some lessons. One of the lessons was telephone manners

Phone Control & Real Connection

SPEAKER_01 15:54

of what so someone calling the house of someone looking for their friend, what they should say to their parents to come off as mature and engaging. So obviously that's not happening anymore. So we don't telephone manners the way that we used to. But we have really spent, so there's 26 skills within Boost in these kind of three levels the people, skills, character, and mindset. But one of the skills is you control your phone versus it controlling you. And it's become such a big lesson because it really affects all other 25 skills. So again, the the net this generation has lost a lot of the basic people skills because of technology, because they're texting, because they're not having conversations, um, they're spending so much time. The mental health, which is again a big, big piece of what we do, is really in jeopardy because of social media and just the distraction, and it's an addiction. So, really, we've spent a ton of time on the phone, and I'm really proud also of the lesson that we've created around the phone. Um, I just did a group of high school students, it was really juniors and seniors, so it was even older high school. And we really had a conversation again, you versus your phone. And again, I start off with guys, uh we're in this together. I have an uh what I feel like is an addiction issue with my phone. I am on it way too much. I it doesn't make me feel good. We really spent a lot of time on the phone of really what it's doing to them, which again, they they just there were so many pieces that they just had never heard that way. Talking about the dopamine, and that again, they just start looking for more and more and more. That they're these devices are designed by really smart people to keep them on it. Infin infinite scrolling, um, notification, you know, all the little things that are happening to keep you on there. Social media, obviously, again, and they're spending so much time and it's not making them feel good. Um, so we really went through all of this, um, and particularly again the kind of the fact that it is an addiction. Um, and they're they're again they're they're the phone in some ways is controlling them. We actually I had a puppet and I said, Do you want to be the the puppet or the puppet master? Because that's what's happening with the phone. So again, I know I'm kind of rambling here, but I'm just really passionate about this lesson that we've put together on the phone. Because the other thing that's happened is I feel like the the younger generation will be brought up because everyone knows the harmful effects with more guardrails, and it's just starting, I I get that, but with more guardrails and parents that are more tuned to it and more protections for that generation. And then older people like me have already made their careers, and yeah, maybe it's messing them up, and maybe it I'm spending too much time on it, but most of it's made. So this 14 to 24, they're like on an island. So we, you know, by by letting them know, like, guys, you need it more than anyone, this lesson. Um, it was really, it was really, it's been really great. And the um the people that have, you know, the students that have been through it are like, brah, this is great. I knew some of it, but not all of it. And we also set up a plan for them over the next 30 days to not get rid of technology, as you said from being in, because that's not gonna happen, but just to create those blocks of time when it's phone-free. So getting it out of the bedroom before they go to sleep in the morning, you know, what uh when they have concentrated work. Because I don't know, if I was doing homework now, there's no way I could I'd have my phone right next to me. Yeah and the inner and it is a it's a big distraction. So again, I know again, I'm kind of going on, but we uh we're spending a lot of time on the phone and the harmful effects, but in a way that's resonating with that.

Jackie Pelegrin 19:35

Wow. I like that, Rob, because you're you brought more awareness to these kids and and helping them realize that there's so many things that play into technology, right? The good, the bad, the the ugly kind of thing, right? Yeah, because there are good things that technology can bring and letting them see that it's not all harmful, but there are good good things that it brings to the thing.

SPEAKER_01 19:56

We actually, yeah, no, it's so too. Because then I we we actually I started with guys, when I was your age, I used to have um a separate camera, a separate music device, a separate computer, um uh uh and there's a uh phone, uh, you know, was a separate, and so all these devices in one and now it sits in your pocket, like we're not going back.

Jackie Pelegrin 20:18

Right, exactly. I remember in high school exactly. In high school, I had um I had a pager, and I thought we thought that was the yeah, you and I are about the same age. So we thought that was the greatest thing. I thought I'll be it to be a sophomore and have a have a pager. And I talked to some high school kids not too long ago, and I'm like, yeah, I remember the days of the pager. And I heard of that, but what is you know, they had no idea really what that was.

SPEAKER_01 20:43

I put up pictures I put up pictures of phones and then a pay like literally I had a payphone. I go, guys, what is this? They they had no idea what a page is.

Jackie Pelegrin 20:50

They had no idea. Yeah, you have to have quarters in your pocket so someone might pay you.

SPEAKER_01 20:56

I said that you you get better have a lot of change because you don't get a lot of time and they're gonna you're gonna get cut off, so you had to have a lot of quarters in your pocket.

Jackie Pelegrin 21:03

It was funny because I thought, okay, someone's paging you, but you have to go find a phone in order to call them back.

SPEAKER_01 21:09

Right.

Jackie Pelegrin 21:09

Yeah, exactly. And they don't know what that concept means because they didn't experience it. We did. So I think each generation.

SPEAKER_01 21:16

Yeah, we talked about you had a separate camera and you had to send it to the drugstore to get it developed, but you only had what, was it like 24 pictures, so you had to be very careful in which ones you took. Um take a couple days to get back. So some of it they they were amazed at it. The idea is that we're not going back. Like we're not. So it's here to stay. It's not gonna, but so you just need to be aware of what it's doing to you. And again, especially that it's not making you feel good on so many times. Spending five and six and seven hours on your phone, which we help them calculate how much time they're doing it. It's more than just like the screen time that they see on their device when they add up some other things.

Jackie Pelegrin 21:54

Right.

SPEAKER_01 21:55

Um, and when they're seeing it's 40% of their not we we calculate their awake time. So, okay, 24 hours in a day, you sleep eight, that's 16 hours a day. So once you see your, you know, six, seven hours, that's like 40, 50% of your time. And it's again, you can't hit your goal, you won't reach your goals, and you're not feeling good. So we really kind of spent a lot of time on that.

Jackie Pelegrin 22:17

Wow, that's great. So do they've uh do they complete during that time uh something like a like a uh almost like a not a chart, but um oh what am I trying? Like a journal or something where they can journal what's going on.

SPEAKER_01 22:31

Now you sound like a curriculum instructor. Yeah. Yeah. That's exactly what we do. So they have um they we do a calculation where they figure out the the percent of their time and then they um figure out which blocks they want to focus in on on the next thirty days, then they actually block that do that, and then in the next thirty days, and then we we're gonna regroup. So right now we're regrouping in 30 days and they're right, and there's a journal of 30

Journaling & Weekly Accountability

SPEAKER_01 23:01

days every day, they're writing down how they did, and blah, blah. Yeah.

Jackie Pelegrin 23:04

Right.

SPEAKER_01 23:04

But really, I thought of it the other day, and the uh we're doing another group we're starting on um Thursday, this Thursday, and we're gonna do weekly check-ins um to again, so we're gonna take this 30-day block and break it into weekly, and then again, keep having those conversations each week. I think that will be even more effective to keeping people on track and and making sure they're starting it.

Jackie Pelegrin 23:27

That's a great idea. I like that because when you uh uh this is something I I always tell educators and faculty is trunk chunking things out is so helpful because if you can break it up into smaller chunks, it helps with cognitive overload and um and then also too, like what you mentioned, it gives them more accountability into something where as if you go the 30 days and you're like, Did you do it? And then you see they filled it out halfway or something.

SPEAKER_01 23:54

Yeah, no, absolutely. Yeah, no, I totally agree. Yeah, I'm excited to to do these weekly check-ins and right.

Jackie Pelegrin 23:59

And see how they how effective it is and how once they hit that 30 first 30 day mark, then you can see what the success and completion rate is for that. That's cool. Because it's it's more of a benefit to them than anything to to have to see that. It's not so much, you know, oh, you only you did 80% now, you know, but it's more it's a benefit for them more than anything. I like that. Yeah. So if every high school could add one missing life skill to its curriculum, which skill would you choose and why?

SPEAKER_01 24:31

Um so we talked a lot about the phone. So that it's almost like that's become the main one. But what I've always felt is the one skill and the people skill piece is it's about the other person, not about you. So that again, it boils down to again the ability to listen and ask questions and remember previous conversations about what you talked about. Um, and it just draws that and it makes that connection. So it's really it's more, it's not one-upping someone where you can't wait till they're finished and then you want to top their story. So it's really all the skills around, it's about the other person. In fact, we

The One Skill Schools Should Add

SPEAKER_01 25:07

say turn the lights on to off on you and put the put it on on them. Um and that's a skill that luckily my mom taught me early on, and I saw how effective it was. And and really it's not to just have people like you, it's really it's just it makes that connection. It's the it's and people can sense that. So to me, that's the one skill, and it's really not that difficult, and anyone can do it, even introverts. Um, so I I would probably put that at the top of the list.

Jackie Pelegrin 25:36

Wow, that's great. I love that analogy. Turn the light off on yourself and turn the light on someone else. Wow. Because you're shining the spotlight on them. I like that. That's great. Yeah, because it really helps when when we can take it off of ourselves. And and I think also, Rob, that ties into active listening as well. That's a that's a hard skill, I think we need now more than ever, right, in today's society.

SPEAKER_01 25:58

That's kids. Yeah, absolutely. In fact, that lesson was called listening and asking questions. So it really is the act of listening. Um, um, it's but it's even bigger than that. It's it's understanding nonverbal communication, which is just a huge percent, and to pay attention and be aware of your nonverbal communication, the greeting process, smiling, eye contact, you know, so they all kind of tie together, but um, but really it's again, it's about the other person, not about you.

Jackie Pelegrin 26:24

Yes, absolutely. And that that plays into uh that also falls really nicely or plays into the character education too, right? The character piece, right? Uh that's so important.

SPEAKER_01 26:37

Yeah. Yes. Yeah, no, absolutely, yeah. No, those are some really important lessons that we didn't talk about, being humble and also not to gossip. It's interesting. We do we do surveys, as I said, at the end of class, and 70% of the students, and we ask them though, okay, there's 26 skills you went through, rank which you know, tell us your game plan going forward, which ones do you want to work on? 70% come in with the phone, saying phone addiction is what they want to work on most. But the second biggest, which really shocked me, was not gossiping. Um, I knew it was important, it's an important lesson, but I didn't think it would resonate that much with students, and it really does. So they realize the harmful effects of gossiping, and so it was good to see that.

Jackie Pelegrin 27:17

Wow. That's great. I I like that you give them that opportunity to rank the ones that are the most important to them because then you can look for patterns and trends, which is something I do in evaluation. I look to see what are patterns and trends am I seeing? I even do that in the analysis phase at the beginning, but I also do it at the end. So we look for patterns and themes at the beginning and the end. So I like that you do that.

SPEAKER_01 27:41

That's yeah, no, I love that's my favorite thing is getting those like as soon as clut the last class is over and see the sheets and see what they said. Well, we can do better, which ones I want to work on. That's great.

Jackie Pelegrin 27:50

Right.

SPEAKER_01 27:51

Am I allowed to ask you a question?

Jackie Pelegrin 27:53

Sure. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:54

So this is really this is for you for you, Jackie, and then all the curriculum instructors out there. Can we have can we just put more emphasis on these soft skills? Again, I think you know I have a book called The Missing Course. And I just think that there needs to be, why not have a minor that in soft skill development? Um if 85%, if if most of what we're doing is trying to do it to bend, it's obviously to learn and and grow, but it's also to use that knowledge to get a job. If 85% of what employers are looking for by every major study is basically soft skills,

Why Not a Soft Skills Minor

SPEAKER_01 28:34

why isn't there a minor? Because I gotta tell you, if I was hiring and I've hired hundreds and I've got to let people go and promote it, if if someone came to me and I was like, oh yeah, I'd minored in soft skills and they could articulate what they learned and how they did it, I'd say, can you start Monday? It doesn't matter what job.

Jackie Pelegrin 28:51

Wow. Because it can be used across industries and positions, right?

SPEAKER_01 28:55

Absolutely. Especially in an AI world where you know the worry you need these skills more and more. It doesn't matter. If they have soft skills and they have the these abilities, then again, they're to me they'd make a great teammate and and I would want them on the team. If so again, I just can't it just boggles my mind that there's not just more courses or again, a literally, I think any school, organization, college that says like, hey, we have a minor in soft skills, I think that that gives them a leg up on, you know, their competition.

Jackie Pelegrin 29:29

Right. Yeah, you're right. I I agree with you on that. I think I think sometimes uh the reason why is because maybe they think that, like we were talking about at the beginning, like they think it's uh in my introduction, I was talking about how it's they think it's already there, like they already possess these skills um at the undergraduate and graduate level in in the university. So it's uh I don't know. I've I'm wondering, I'm thinking it might be just an assumption that we have we've always had, right?

SPEAKER_01 29:59

Yeah, but I think when people think about it, and there's no adult, literally no adult that I've talked to that didn't say, hey, everyone needs help on these things.

Jackie Pelegrin 30:08

Right.

SPEAKER_01 30:09

There's never there's never been an adult that I've talked to, and particularly again this generation, um, that again, they're they weren't born differently. Again, they just grew up in a different world. So what let's help, let's not just call them soft or say they can't do it. Um let's give them the skills.

Jackie Pelegrin 30:25

Right. That's so true. I wonder too, you know, uh, as we're talking about this before we wrap up, is I'm thinking about uh homeschooling kids too. Um, and that's important for them just as much as it is for the students that that go through a traditional education, right? In a in a high school and then a college. Uh, you know, it's I think it's just as important for those homeschool kids. And then when they go into a university or something like that, then you know, they face the big college or they go to school online and they, you know, so there's so many different ways that they can receive that education. It's not a one-size-fits-all anymore, like it used to be.

SPEAKER_01 31:02

Absolutely. That's so true. We've done some homeschooling groups, and both again, the students and the parents were really into it. So again, I I think that you're hundreds of

Homeschooling & New Learning Models

SPEAKER_01 31:11

right in the statistically, so many people are are big, you know, way more people are getting homeschooled now. It makes sense. And it's really become a business. It's not as much even, you know, mom or dad at the kitchen table anymore. There's small groups, there's cohorts, there's different approaches to it.

Jackie Pelegrin 31:25

Right. Yeah, it's really helpful because those co-ops can really help bridge any gaps that maybe uh the parents are are feeling, you know, with their kids being homeschooled. So it really helps. And the parents don't feel like they have to take it all on. And well, I like for me, I'm not that great at math. So if I was to be a homeschooled parent, how would I handle math? I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 31:46

No, that's so true.

Jackie Pelegrin 31:47

Because I I I took up through like algebra in high school. I didn't do calculus or anything like that, so I would be completely lost in that.

SPEAKER_01 31:56

You'd be lost, but being a curriculum director, I somehow I think you'd figure it out. I would figure it out.

Jackie Pelegrin 32:01

Yeah, exactly. I love it. So, Rob, as we wrap up, what is one practical step an educator, parent, coach, or mentor can take this week to help a young person become better prepared for life beyond the classroom?

SPEAKER_01 32:15

So I think it goes back to kind of my number one skill, which is again, it's about the other person, and really teach someone to help develop the skill of, again, as you said, listening and asking questions, remember past conversations, saying their name. I mean, this is Dale Carnegie, um, you know, one-on-one, which by the way was written in the 1930s, and so much is is still so true. So I think it's really teaching them those skills again, listening, asking questions, remembering past conversations, um, saying their name,

Role Play & Video For Growth

SPEAKER_01 32:47

you know, just those basic things that again are easily taught. And what we do is not only have conversations, but we role play because you have to practice it. Like just saying it and hearing it once, it's not, that's not, it's like playing a sport or learning an instrument. You have to practice. So we role play, we actually videotape them so they can see themselves because a lot of people think they're doing it, but once they see themselves on videotape, and it's not to make them feel bad, it's to for them to see it and just get better. Um, and usually once they see it and see they didn't do good, I let me try that again, even though they didn't want to do it initially. Um, you know, heavy discussion, um, worksheets. Um, so there's really a a bunch of different techniques that we use to really help develop these skills.

Jackie Pelegrin 33:31

I love that. Wow. That makes my heart happy as an instructional designer and someone who works in curriculum that when we can tailor the instruction to the learners and really make that something where they are they're really involved in the process. And it's like you said, it's not just lecture, it really helps them feel like they're part of it. I like that.

SPEAKER_01 33:53

You know, yeah, and you gotta make it fun too, for sure.

Jackie Pelegrin 33:56

Right. Exactly. Yeah. And it maybe bring some game, do bring game elements into it as well to help them.

SPEAKER_01 34:02

Yeah, yeah. I probably should do more, do more of that as we go along and develop it. But certainly, you know, we we try. We have some booth coaches that are doing a better job than I am of of thinking through some of that stuff. So yeah, absolutely.

Jackie Pelegrin 34:16

Wow, that's great. Wow. Wonderful. Well, Rob, thank you so much for joining me today and for helping us think more intentionally about what it truly means to prepare young people for the future so important. This conversation that we had is an important reminder that readiness involves much more than grades, test scores, or technical knowledge. It also includes the ability to communicate, listen, build relationships, act with integrity, manage those setbacks when they come, because they will, right? And continue growing through life's challenges. For instructional designers and educators, there's also a powerful design lesson here. These skills become more meaningful when they're explicitly taught, actively practiced, reflected upon, and connected to situations learners will encounter beyond the classroom. So, Rob, for listeners who would like to learn more about the Boost program and your work, what is the best way to connect with you?

SPEAKER_01 35:06

Yeah, so I so my email is rheller at boostprogram.com. And again, if there's any uh curriculum uh directors out there that would I'd love, I love talking about this stuff as you can tell. So I'd love to just shoot me an email. Let's set up a call and talk about um some of the things and I'd love to have a conversation. Also, if you go to boostprogram.com, you can see where the book is. Again, I think the book is would be even more meaningful to curriculum directors because we I really walk through how we do it and we uh uh can download worksheets and the like. So I think um particularly, you know, cur people in the curriculum space would find that

How To Connect & Support

SPEAKER_01 35:44

book interesting. Again, it's called The Missing Course for Today's Youth by Rob Heller. Um so I think those are the best ways to connect.

Jackie Pelegrin 35:51

Great, wonderful. I'll definitely have to check out your book. I'm sure it's available wherever books are sold. So yeah, like on Amazon and everything.

SPEAKER_01 35:59

Amazon, absolutely. Yeah, and right on the Boost program, there's you know links to you could just buy it right through Amazon. Yeah.

Jackie Pelegrin 36:05

Great. I love that. Thank you for taking some time to listen to this podcast episode today. Your support means the world to me. If you'd like to help keep the podcast going, you can share it with a friend or colleague, leave a heartfelt review, or offer a monetary contribution. Every act of support, big or small, makes a difference, and I'm truly thankful for you.