Parents ask us the importance of STEAM all the time. Here’s why we believe the disciplines of STEM interlaced with the creativity and imagination of art is the reason why such tough academic concepts are easy to remember.

In the context of learning, this is how STEAM is a great tool:
a. It inspires creativity and innovation
b. It reinforces critical thinking and reasoning
c. It promotes problem solving
d. It encourages flexibility and adaptive thinking
e. It supports collaboration and communication

Here are a couple of facts: 
1. Computer Science is the key ingredient in all aspects of our modern lives.
2. Our children won’t be working in the same types of jobs we hold today.

So, then, can we really train them with “job skills” as many other Coding and Tech schools have us believe?

While we can teach them to interpret algorithms, data and applications, we must also train our children in Ethical Coding standards so they understand the implications of what they’re creating in the larger context of the best interest of our present society and future generations.

That’s why our curriculum is innovative and project-based, so children set goals early on to help with every decision they make to move forward. We help children work on finding their passion while showing them the importance of having dedication and a strong work ethic. Imagine children exploring while doing math, learning to code and engage in play in the real world while seeing their creations come to life in the virtual world.

We all want our children to be self-aware, generous, kind, culturally competent people. That’s where we believe emotional intelligence plays a huge part in their success at school and life. It allows to develop considerate, caring and contributing members of society.

FutureSTRONG Academy is a college, career and life readiness program which can aid at crucial development milestones of your child. We primarily focus on Social, Emotional and Character development based on age related milestones WHILE teaching them Hi-Tech job-oriented skills.

Our program is designed to facilitate develop self-awareness, self-regulation, growth mindset, emotional intelligence, community contribution, responsible decision making among other things. We examine a child’s strengths and challenges in Open Mindedness, Self-Regulation, Compliance, Divergent Thinking, Adaptive Functioning, Autonomy, and Interpersonal Interactions.

Skills such as growth mindset (Blackwell, Trzesniewski, & Dweck, 2007), sense of belonging (Allen, Kern, & Vella-Broderick, 2016a; Allen, Vella-Broderick, & Walters, 2016b), and grit (Duckworth & Quinn, 2009) have been shown to correlate to student grades, scores on achievement tests, attendance and other academic outcomes.

“Most Americans will tell you that character education is a good idea. According to pollsters, 90% of us want schools to teach core moral values.”
Source: A Cry for Character: How a Group of Students Cleaned up Their Rowdy School and Spawned a Wildfire Antidote to the Columbine Effect, Prentice Hall (Paramus, NJ) by Dary Matera, 2001, p. 191.

More here: https://futurestrongacademy.com/why-futurestrong/

In phase I, we help children and teens discover their interests, channel their energies and improve their productivity. We teach them real life skills like negotiation, strategy and collaboration while putting them on the direct path to personal accountability.

At Future STRONG we believe that human potential has two aspects, a skill set for professional excellence – aptitude, and a tool kit for personal excellence – the right attitude needed to face real life.

Our phase II and III are targeted towards parents and adults in the workplace.

• Set you on a path to a success and winning mindset.
• Show you how to live intentionally instead of sleep walking through life.
• Help you find and seek your inner wisdom.
• Challenge your unconscious habits and behavior patterns.
• Help you with setting expectations to self and others.
• Help you set goals and sustain them.
• Bring clarity to your vision and your purpose.
• Show you how to live to your fullest potential.

Purple stands for creativity and productivity, Green stands for mental health and Teal stands for happiness and emotional balance.

At Future STRONG, we teach our children secrets of high performers. These also happen to be the things that bring happiness to their life. Staying on task, focusing on their strengths and the ability to do the hard things with integrity. An extra benefit of Social and Emotional Learning: on average, kids with a SEL background have an 11% higher scores in their standardized tests.

Well, there is some good news. We’re not here to hog your limelight as the new favorite adults in your child’s life. But, these days, as parents, we’re doing two jobs. Parenting our children in the real world of emotions and preparing them for an online world that’s constantly changing and evolving. We often feel like we’ve no control over things, asking ourselves, “Am I doing a good job at this parenting thing? Is my child going to be OK?”

We want to support your child’s social and emotional learning and character education in addition to how they live their lives within the settings of home, school and community. In short, we want to share the load of parenting that’s on you.

We will teach them the importance of personal management skills like self-engagement, resisting digital distractions and dealing with stress. They will learn to become confident, take on challenges and deal with disappointment.

Look, we’re seeing how children who are not taught the value of reading emotions, understanding empathy and the ability to collaborate are becoming leaders whose moral character and conduct is being called into question. We need to teach our boys how to treat girls like equals and we need to teach our girls how to stand up for themselves.

At FutureSTRONG Academy, we make social, emotional and character development education relevant to teens.

One of our first modules is “Strength finder”. Teens who are self-aware, understand their strengths and feel competent are more likely to stay motivated and push through temporary setbacks with confidence and determination.

High results are achieved in the framework of high expectations. If the teen knows that there are caring adults who believe in their potential, strive to work best in all areas of their lives – school, home, relationships and interests.

Students who’re engaged in conversations of “What problems do they want to solve for the world” or “How do they plan to leave a positive mark in the world” can carve through their thoughts and actions with a clarity of personal identity and purpose. Isn’t it never too late to learn?

If you’re looking to live a life of purpose, this is the space to equip yourself with information. Together, let’s find ways to support each other on this journey. Let’s grow and help others grow. Let’s engage, energize and empower our own destiny. This is our Future STRONG. Together we are Future STRONG.

The Child Discovery Assessment and any other assessments provided during the semester or after do not screen for any Emotional Problems, Behavioral Problems, Speech and Language Difficulties, Impaired Cognitive Ability, Attention Deficits, and Hyperactivity.

We don’t have any toolkits that are designed to assist pediatric and primary care providers in screening patients for Behavioral Health and Psychosocial Concerns. Unfortunately, we don’t offer any Speech Therapy, and Drug Abuse Therapy. We do not offer counselling services for ADHD, Depression, Anxiety, Bipolar and Substance Abuse.

The Child Discovery Assessment and any other assessments provided during the semester or after do not screen for any Emotional Problems, Behavioral Problems, Speech and Language Difficulties, Impaired Cognitive Ability, Attention Deficits, and Hyperactivity.

We don’t have any toolkits that are designed to assist pediatric and primary care providers in screening patients for Behavioral Health and Psychosocial Concerns. Unfortunately, we don’t offer any Speech Therapy, and Drug Abuse Therapy. We do not offer counselling services for ADHD, Depression, Anxiety, Bipolar and Substance Abuse.

This is how we, at FutureSTRONG Academy, develop the next generation of 21st Century Critical Thinkers:

• We place them in social conversations, settings and experiences that foster critical thinking.
• We encourage them to be open minded towards new learning environments.
• We help them engage in reflective and divergent thinking.
• We ask them to question the information that’s being read, heard or seen.
• We help them see facts to judge the value of ideas and solutions.
• We foster group engagement by using diverse ideas and points of views to solve problems.
• We encourage them to analyze, evaluate and reason with different options.

A great Future STRONG Coach has the following traits:

 Compassionate
 Spontaneous
 Creative
 Willing to learn
 Willing to collaborate
 Self-reflective
 Eager to engage with the child
 Have goals
 Capable of receiving
 Manage emotions
 Invests in parent partnerships
 Expressive

We engage to build positive relationships with the child based on mutual trust. We understand the areas of growth and interest for the child and work towards developmental assignments that suit the child’s growing needs.

We provide constructive feedback, guidance, and reinforcement based on their practice and performance. We encourage them to expand their perspective, think critically to problem solve and set and achieve long term goals.

To become a certified Coach with us, they undergo rigorous training that involves research that is based on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Neuro-Linguistic Programming, Social Psychology, Positive Psychology, Emotional Intelligence and their Personal Intuitive Life Experiences.

Assessment process:

Here are the steps we use to evaluate and map the profile of the child – Finding, Comprehending, Gathering, Expressing, Reflecting, Applying – based on coach, child interactions.

More specifically, we will track and report the following measures:

• Quality of reflections on each topic
• Endurance and staying on task abilities
• Goal setting and sustenance
• Communication and self-advocacy
• Understanding of concept and feedback
• Average length of time for the child to complete an action item

In consideration for your use of and access to this assessment, you agree that in no event will FutureSTRONG Academy will be liable to you in any manner whatsoever for any decision made or action or non-action taken in reliance upon the information provided through this assessment.

Not everything that can be counted matters and not everything that matters can be counted. Mapping a personality profile is complex. Habits, ideas and actions assessed individually don’t tell a complete story. Also, habits grow, ideas change and the perimeter of an individual’s personality increases over time.

This survey of discovery and assessments don’t demonstrate a fixed competency assessment. Concepts like love, hope and determination – are abstract with long term consequences in life. After all these concepts can’t be assessed tangibly, only demonstrably.

Our programs and assessments are not clinical and counseling in nature. Our programs or assessments can replace therapy for clinical diagnosis like ADHD, depression, anxiety, bipolar, substance abuse, speech therapy and cannot replace professional therapy. This toolkit does not screen for offer Social, Emotional and Behavioral Screening for Emotional Problems, Speech and Language Difficulties, Impaired Cognitive Ability, Attention Deficits, and Hyperactivity.

The materials and content of these assessments are to gather general information about the client and not intended to be a substitute for professional advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Users of these assessments should not rely on the info provided for their mental health needs. All specific questions should be presented to your own health care provider.

Our curriculum is aimed at raising 21st Century Computational Thinkers and Achievers:

Teaching while preserving:
Imagination, Wonder and Creativity

Teaching while raising the bar on:
Grit, Resilience, Collaboration, Perseverance, Goal setting and Decision making.

There are two aspects to Computational Thinking:

1. Learning the concepts and gathering the intelligence &
2. The actual task of performing problem solving.

In order to achieve this, parents can ask :
1. What your child aims to achieve with developing the game.
2. What problem they’re trying to solve.
3. How can they make their existing game better?

It is important to remember that goals for our children have to be communal. We all make an impact one way or another in a child’s life as teachers, community members, tutors, coaches, parents, peers.

Our goals for our children K through 12 are as follows.

• Goal 1 is to create self-awareness, help find strengths, develop effective communication, confidence and character and build a personal value system.
• Goal 2 is to use social awareness and interpersonal skills to establish personal, peer and group skills in the context of community contribution.
• Goal 3 is to demonstrate responsible decision-making skills, goal setting and sustenance and develop a problem-solving attitude to help in personal, school, and community contexts.

Future STRONG Academy is an after school essential life skills coaching program for Kids. Its like having an extra tool kit for your child to stand out in a group of peers who excel in the same set of STREAM* skills.

* STREAM: Science Technology Robotics Engineering Arts Math

~ Self-confidence and self esteem
~ Effective communicators, both written and verbal
~ Networking and collaboration
~ Time and relationship management
~ Positivity and ability to take on challenges
~ Stress and productivity management
~ Prioritizing themselves without burning out
~ Diligence, integrity and other values
~ Resilience: Learning to get back up after failure
~ Self engagement and productivity
~ Recognizing and regulating emotions
~ Handling Dilemma and Conflict resolution
~ Emotional agility: learning how to anticipate others’ reactions
~ Public speaking
~ Focus, attention and the ability to follow instructions
~ Personal accountability
~ Critical thinking: Active listening, questioning ideas and assumptions
~ Making independent choices and facing consequences
~ Attention and the importance of focus.
~ Persuasion and Negotiation skills
~ College and real life readiness skills

With robots, we find instant engagement with kids. There is not problem too small or big when it comes to Robotics for little minds.

Once we have the child’s curiosity, we incorporate these principles into the curriculum.

a. How to navigate change and unexpected challenges.
b. How to find joy in creation and not just consume what’s out there.
c. Ethics of computing and Artificial Intelligence.
d. The importance of our communication.
e. How to stay focused and process information overload.
f. Practical applications of Robotics in real life (Through a 3 to 5 minute videos in each class)

Deep curiosity that children have anyway. :)

Chrome Book or Laptop preferred. NO iPad please. Because, it might be difficult for younger children to navigate between Zoom and Vex Robotics site.

For course specific info click on the menu option above “COURSES” and choose individual options.

Questions
This interactive session will help children think about the topic in the form of questions. As we brainstorm, children will be able to quantify their learning in the form of answers.
Stories
Stories give us the “why” for what we do with our lives. Unlike facts and figures, concepts told in the form of stories have the ability to stick with us and are truly our life long lessons.
Challenges
During the lesson, students will collaborate in groups of three or more to solve problems in real life scenarios. This will help them put into practice the depth of their understanding of the topic.
Worksheets
Relevant thought exercises can help children comprehend difficult concepts. At the end of each lesson, children will fill out a worksheet that shows their understanding about the topic.
Homework
Homework will require children to put their comprehension into life long application. Because attitude, discipline and instinct can only be measured through actions and experience.

Fair question. To find out how everyone else is able to live this unlivable life. And most importantly, to get back to having conversations with our fellow earth dwellers while prodding each other with deep questions.

These interviews show us that we are all people who are exciting, heartbroken, crazy, lonely, and thriving in some way and the same way. These interviews might inform, entertain, compel, touch, impact and inspire.

This is not an opinionated survey of the human survival landscape. It’s a snapshot of their life in the now. To each his own.

Can I sign up to be interviewed?
Have a pulse? Sure, then email us at: info@futurestrong.org.

We understand plans can change and emergencies happen. If you’d like to apply for a change to another class or we require a 7-day notice in writing. Please send written requests to info@futurestrongacademy.com. We cannot guarantee placement and requests are based on availability. If another program of your choice is not available, we will not be able to refund the cost of the program.