Six Schools, One Big Milestone
Propel Launches DashStrom Growth Mindset Training in 6 Schools
This week marked a milestone for DashStrom: our growth mindset classes are now up and running at six Propel Schools elementary campuses. It’s our largest single-partner launch to date, and it happened during one of the best weeks of the year to celebrate after-school learning.
Six schools, one shared language
When Propel invited DashStrom to join its after-school programming this fall, we celebrated the idea of collaborating with the team at Propel to align on a program that demonstrated our shared values. What a wonderful accomplishment we get to celebrate now, as the idea turned into reality.
Scholars at Propel Elementary School campuses in Monroeville, McKeesport, Northside, Montour, Braddock Hills, and Hazelwood are training their growth mindset with Chatham University, DashStrom certified and mentored coaches.
In their first sessions, scholars met their coaches, learned their first Dash Word, and practiced the “I am STRONG!” pose that kicks off every class. Over the season, they will train their bodies to feel the shift from “I can’t” to “I can try “ and do their best. This mindset shift is the foundation of our shared values. It is incredibly fulfilling to celebrate achieving the goal together.
Lights On After School
The Propel team invited DashStrom to lead a family-focused class during Propel’s Lights On Afterschool event this week. Lights On Afterschool is a national celebration organized by the Afterschool Alliance to spotlight the role after-school programs play in children’s lives, and Propel opened its doors to families to see that work up close.
Our part of the evening put families right into the action. Parents, caregivers and kids teamed up for a series of team and individual challenges, the same kind of challenges scholars tackle in DashStrom classes every week. Some challenges were built to be a little harder than anyone expected. That was the point.
Again and again, families discovered they could do more than they first thought, especially together. A care giver who hesitated at the start of a wall sit ended up sharing his pride for his achievement right along with his scholar at his side. Kids coached their grown-ups through a blind path, showcasing patience and trust within the family. By the end of the class, families weren’t just watching their children practice growth mindset. They were practicing it with them.
Why families matter
Growth mindset skills stick when kids hear the same message everywhere they go: in class, after school and at home. The alignment between the values taught in Propel schools, and our eight DashStrom Principles gives our coaches the opportunity to build upon a very tight knit vocabulary for scholars and their families to leverage every day:
How DashStrom Reinforces the Propel Habits
Every Propel Habit maps to at least one of DashStrom’s eight empowerment principles, so scholars practice the same habits after school that they build during the day.
Propel Habit | DashStrom Principles | What it looks like in a DashStrom class |
Academics | Aggressive Goals, Personal Resilience | Scholars set a Dash goal a little bigger than today, break it into next steps, and learn that “not yet” is part of learning. |
Attitude | Positive Thoughts, Power Words, Personal Resilience | Scholars use the Dash Words (“I am STRONG!”) and practice flipping rainy thoughts into sunny ones. |
Behavior & Pride | Individual Integrity | Scholars give every challenge their best shot, with no shortcuts, and stand tall in a power pose for their own effort. |
Kindness | Community Vision | Scholars say, “I am Strong”, teammates answer, “Yes, you are!” and older scholars coach younger ones through new skills. |
Teamwork | Teamwork | Team relays and group challenges where the whole class cheers until every teammate finishes. |
Shared language, every day. When teachers use Propel Habit language during the day and coaches connect it to DashStrom principles after school, scholars hear one consistent message about who they are and how they grow.
Thank you, Propel
We’re grateful to the Propel Schools team, staff and families for welcoming DashStrom into their after-school community. We are also grateful to Anne Flynn Schlicht, Director at the Center of Women’s Entrepreneurship at Chatham University, who introduced us to the leadership team at Chatham University this year. Training and certifying students to become our coaches has been a rewarding experience, not just for our team, but for everyone who meets them or sees them in action. Our newest coaches bring real character into every session. It’s an exceptional cohort of students and we are grateful for their commitment and energy, especially during this very momentous week.
Six schools, dozens of families, and over a hundred scholars learning what it means to be strong. This is what it looks like when a whole community finds its dash.
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