Welcome!

Hello and welcome to the first Komo newsletter!

I’ve been sending out emails for years now and, while it’s been fun, it’s time for a new model.

I want to go deeper on the topics I’m passionate about. If your kids are struggling with school, I want to help turn that around as quickly and painlessly as possible.

More on that below, but first I’ll (re) introduce myself.

Might be helpful to know why I’m so obsessed with helping students and parents learn how to learn. And, how I plan to be a helpful, possibly even joyful, addition to your inbox each month 😊 

👋I’m Kelsey. I’m just getting back to the work I love after a year and a half of a postpartum rollercoaster. I almost died and am really happy to still be here. Obligatory pic of my boy because apparently I am that Mom. This is from one of our hikes:

I know that every teen can feel smart, confident and self-motivated.

Every student can get good grades, even if they have learning differences or can’t focus or hate their subjects or have struggled for years.

I know this from 20 years of working with thousands of students but really, I know this because I was a struggling student myself.

📖 When I was in the 6th grade, I broke my pelvis in a horseback riding accident. I missed months of school which was then reflected in failing grades.

😭 My teachers read students’ grades aloud in class from highest to lowest in a mortifying display of public ridicule. This seemed standard for the French school system I attended at the time. I was always at the bottom and invariably went home in tears.

🚀 In efforts to “catch up”, I stumbled upon strategies that ultimately laid the foundation for a successful academic career.

🧐 While my 12-year-old self didn’t know terms like executive functioning or metacognition or even time management, the strategies I began practicing strengthened these core learning skills. I started to understand what I was being taught and my grades skyrocketed.

🪞In hindsight, learning how to learn unlocked my confidence and capacity to thrive in school.

🤑It’s why I earned over over $100,000 in scholarship offers and awards for college and grad school.

🔈️ It’s why I’m so vocal about the impact of students building skills, explicitly and systematically. It’s life changing and seriously affects the opportunities available to them.

💛 Granted, at the time, I was simply grateful to escape classroom humiliation. But the experience instilled in me profound empathy for struggling students that I carry with me to this day.

It’s why I chose to dedicate myself to helping students realize that school doesn’t have to suck. They ARE capable, they CAN learn, and with the right skills they are unstoppable.

Moving forward, I want to share not only what I’ve learned re: the best ways to help your kids stay organized, self-motivate and earn good grades, but:

• opportunities. Scholarships, internships, student competitions, cool stuff I come across in my network.

• resources. A lot of families struggle with school compounded by other challenges like gaming addictions and mental health challenges. I want to bring you vetted resources so you can cut through the noise and get help that actually…helps.

• offers. I’ve just opened enrollment into my program for the first time in over a year (details here), similar to the flagship program we ran for years but smaller, only offered a few times each year, and I’m working with students directly. I’ll keep you posted on what I’m running and when.

I’m sure some other things will make their way into the newsletter but for now, that’s the plan. I’ll show up in your inbox 2-3 times per month.

Below is an initial round up.

In the meantime, what do YOU want to hear about the most?

Happy Friday!

Kelsey

PS questions, feedback? Hit “reply”!

Opportunities

• Apple’s Swift Student Challenge (closing FEBRUARY 25)

• Young Explorer’s Program, Adventure Canada. This is for our older kiddos, 21+.

• Kaeden Patel is the teen founder of The Sustainable Squad, looking for a young illustrators to join his team (10-18 years old). There was a fun write-up on Kaeden a couple months ago (here). And, if your kids like the idea of being an entrepreneur/making serious money at their age, encourage them to connect with Kaeden, possibly even ask if he’d be open to chat to share his experience (great prelude to the ‘informational interview’ asks we do as adult job seekers :)).

Resources

• Arrowsmith. This is a school whose teachings are grounded in neuroscience and neuroplasticity, and they offer free high-quality resources. Their current webinar series has things like “Conquering Chaos: Boosting Executive Function Head-On - Literally.” Sign up here.

• I stumbled across a guy who creates comics for young adults about life skills, especially those in or entering the work force. His name is Arnold Mascarenhas. We had a great chat last week and much of his work says things our kids NEED TO HEAR…but in comic form (i.e. easier to receive than hearing the exact same message from parents :)). Check out his post on success involving monotony here, for example.

• One of my students goes to Cornell College, and they have a unique block system where kids take one class at a time. I wanted to put this on your radar because certain learners will absolutely thrive in this type of environment as opposed to the traditional 4-6 course load.

Offer

The Student Success Accelerator (SSA) 2.0 is open for enrollment now until February 26th for high school and university students. Over the course of 8 weeks, I teach your child how to learn and set up their very own system for academic and life success. Typical outcomes include better grades, more free time and less stress. And I show you how to create happier household dynamics around school.

Details are here, and you can check out stories from families I’ve worked with in the past here. If you think it’s a fit, click here to book an enrollment call (the goal is to make sure we are indeed a fit and if so, get you onboarded). If you have more than one child who needs help, you’ll like our second sibling 50% discount. Click here for program details.