Spring round up

It has been a busy spring! As we wrap up the school year, I have three lists for you today:

1. Two things that made a huge difference in my students’ grades this term.

2. Four productive things your child can (should?) do this summer.

3. Assorted internship opportunities and resources, including a deep dive into what science is learning about ADHD.

Here we go!

Grade boosters

Self-perception

Three students I've been working with since January learned a time management system that worked immediately. Within a week, they felt more confident and were ahead of their work. Within two weeks, their grades in all subjects had improved.

Then they stopped using it consistently and fell back into old (self-defeating and unproductive) patterns.

The more we talked, the more I learned that this wasn't about motivation or understanding. They wanted to succeed and knew exactly how to use the system. The problem was deeper: the strategies didn't match how they saw themselves.

One student was an athlete who thought only “nerds” used a calendar. Another high-achiever thought they should be “smart enough” to keep everything in their head. And the third struggled with perfectionism; she felt she couldn’t maintain the calendar perfectly at all times, so didn’t see the point in trying.

Here's what hit me: they had a system that worked, they wanted to use it, but they couldn't sustain it because it conflicted with their identity. The athlete didn't see himself as someone who plans ahead. The high-achiever saw organization tools as admitting weakness. The perfectionist saw any system she couldn't execute perfectly as proof she was failing.

Until students shift how they see themselves - from "I'm not organized" to "I'm learning to become organized" or from "smart people don't need help" to "smart people use tools" - even the best strategies won't stick.

The internal narrative - their self-perception - has to start to change first.

Consistency > intensity

Most students react to the work assigned to them. They alternate between cramming and stressing when they have a bunch of work to “chilling” when things are quiet.

Shifting to consistently learning what they’re being taught in class regardless of the workload not only takes LESS time, it improves their comprehension, confidence and grades.

Studying is a perfect example. 30 minutes of daily review beats 3 hours of cramming every time (and it’s not even close).

Writing essays is another great example. Trying to write an essay in one sitting is awful (maybe manageable in middle school but by high school and college...truly awful). Breaking the essay out into steps and completing one step per day? Simple, low stress and likely to result in a high grade.

Consistent, small efforts build genuine comprehension and confidence. They reduce the stress cycles that exhaust teens (and their parents). Your child learns better and feels more in control, and you both stop living in crisis mode around every major assignment or exam.

Productive things your child can do this summer (if they haven’t already):

Finish researching universities and select best fit schools and programs (Grade 11).

If they’re not sure what next steps to take, check out the research roadmap I shared last year here (and read to the end of this email for a special summer offer 🤓).

Create a resume (high school and college).

Every high school student should have a resume that captures their extracurriculars, volunteering, work experience, etc. Most students don’t have one, or have one that is incomplete or not great quality (typos, colloquial language, inconsistent formatting).

Creating an “official” resume they can add to as they progress through high school (and college!) is a huge time saver for when they’ll invariably be applying to jobs, scholarships etc.

It’s also a helpful snapshot to assess their candidacy for college (e.g. is their profile aligned or close to aligning with what their dream programs look for?).

Note: this isn’t to say our teens should spend their time solely in service of building a compelling profile for university purposes. I’ve just worked with so many students in Grades 11 and 12 who regretted not being more strategic with their time outside of school for this exact reason.

Sign up to volunteer somewhere (Grades 9 - 11).

Anywhere that is remotely of interest to them - pet shelter, hospital, retirement home. It can align with their post-secondary aspirations or career goals, but mostly should be related to something they enjoy or are curious about.

Especially if they’re otherwise free over the summer, showing up to something consistently - even if just for a couple hours each week - sustains the accountability muscle we want to build (and that they’ll need come back-to-school).

Plus, volunteer supervisors make excellent references when students start applying for jobs or scholarships.

Other options in this vein: part-time job or a practical online course (coding, personal finance, presentation skills, etc.).

Create a LinkedIn profile (college). Yep, even if they're just starting university. LinkedIn isn't just for job hunting - it's for building professional awareness early.

Students can connect with classmates, follow companies in industries that interest them, and start to understand how professionals communicate online. The profile doesn't need to be elaborate, but it should exist and be professional.

That’s all for today. Cool summer and fall internships below. As always, hit me up with any questions!

Talk soon,

Kelsey

Resources & Opportunities

• Internship at Chanel, Global Learning & Development. This is for current university students or recent grads, based in Paris 🤩 Note: the posting doesn’t say whether it’s paid or unpaid.

• Internship, Staff Writer @ Forbes Advisor. This is a full-time, 3-month contract at 40 hours/week that pays $20/hour. If your child is in university and interested in journalism and finance, this could be a good fit for the summer.

• Global Investigations Internship @ J.S. Held. For undergrad students with a minimum 3.0 GPA and an interest in finance. Pays $20-25/hour, the office is located in NY but the posting indicates that remote is an option.

• Internship @ Precision Medicine Group. This is a fully remote opportunity for undergrad students interested in healthcare, starting in September. No info on payment.

• Fall 2025 Research & Events Internship @ The Brookings Institute. This one is for undergrad students in their Junior or Senior year interested in public and foreign policy. Minimum 24 hours/week and pays $18/hour, with some in-person required in Washington. This is an incredible opportunity for a dedicated student with excellent time management skills to balance school with work (and is a huge value-add to the resume) 🤓 

• The Artful Agenda. “Everything you love about a paper calendar is now digital.” I haven’t tried this myself yet but have heard good things and wanted to share!

• This New York Times article, titled Have We Been Thinking About A.D.H.D All Wrong?, is worth a read if your child has been suspected of or diagnosed with ADHD. This is an interesting article for different reasons, but three things that stuck out to me were:

  • the difference between the short-term (generally positive) outcomes of medication and its long-term (almost universally neutral or negative) impacts;

  • the physiological impact of Ritalin, specifically studies that have found a height gap between children who took the drug vs. those that did not (“children who took Ritalin for an extended period grew less quickly than non-medicated children….on average, [they were] more than an inch shorter than the ones who had never received medication”); and

  • the ways in which the “clinical definition of ADHD [are] increasingly unanchored from what we’re finding in our science.”