Link’spiration™ November 26th – Giving Thanks

Link’spiration™ – A chance to be surprised and inspired by unexpected connections

Thanksgiving seems to bring life into sharper perspective as we focus on family, friends, and the abundance in our lives. It’s nice to pause and reflect; to remind ourselves of what matters. If we really boil down what we do at Allen, we come to work to help people learn. Everything we do is to help people do more, know more, and be more engaged.

So, in this Thanksgiving week, we’d like to share some of what we are thankful for, including the people and times in our lives when we’ve learned.
 
Belief in the Unbelievable: We learned this as children, but to retain it helps us be better adults.
Welcome to Dinovember – A month-long imagination invasion.

Second Chances: We don’t like to think of it as failure—rather, evolution.
How Many Times Should You Try Before Success?

Great Coaches: For all people who have pushed us to be more than we could be on our own, we thank you. We will always remember what you’ve done for us:
Personal Best

Personal Insights:We asked our peers here at Allen to tell us who has helped them learn that they are grateful for, here is what they said:

• My painting professor at Utah State University—Harrison Groutage. I admired his humor and passion. He was intimidating because of his prowess but his character made him so approachable.

• When I was 11 or 12, my aunt had me over to her house once a week for “writing camp.” She guided me through the process of writing a short story, taught me craft, helped me do book research and conduct interviews to make my story believable, revised my work many times, bound my finished product, and hosted a reading with all of my family. I felt like a million bucks and probably owe part of my decision to study creative writing to her.

• Mrs. McKay—East High School geometry. On intelligence tests, I always score lowest on spatial intelligence, but she made geometry make sense to me. She was kind but firm; she wouldn’t give up on anyone. By the end of the semester, she told me I had “abilities,” something I don’t think a math teacher had ever said to me before.

• My parents of course. Their examples and outlooks on life…in all aspects.

• When I was finishing up my history degree at USU I had a great professor for my capstone class. She pushed and challenged me personally. It was honestly the first time in college I had a professor tell me “you can do better” and “I expect more from you.” She took the time to know me personally, so she knew how best to help me. In turn, I gave a lot more and pushed a lot harder.

• My teacher for 6th grade created strategic class games that made us think. He treated us like the people we would become, so we were inspired to live up to those expectations.

Who has inspired your learning? We’d love to hear your responses. Join our conversation below.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours from the Allen team.