Annual Essex County School Safety Conference featuring Dr. Robyn Silverman and Al Duncan

Annual Essex County School Safety Conference

Creating a Community of Character Cultivating Responsible, Respectful Role Models in Your School and Community

Tuesday, April 3rd 2012
8a.m.–2p.m.
Peabody Marriot
8 Centennial Drive
Peabody, MA

Dr. Robyn Silverman
Al Duncan

Original: http://www.mass.gov/essexda/brochure.pdf

[VIDEO] Duncan Nugget® #12: Paralyzed By Choice

“I have so many things I could do that I don’t know what I should do!”

Students and professionals say things like that all the time. I understand why.

In a famous research study, more people stopped to taste jams at a table with 24 flavors, but more people actually made a purchase at a table with 6 flavors.

Having too many choices exhausts your brain, stifles creativity, and kills motivation because you end up feeling overwhelmed and develop a fear of making the wrong choice.

When it comes to dreams, goals, and aspirations, most people aren’t suffering from a lack of choices, they’re suffering from lack of ability to make a choice.

Successful people do their research, make a choice, and adjust based on the consequences. They refuse to be paralyzed by choice.

Million-Dollar Question:
How determined are you to avoid being paralyzed
by the fear of making the wrong choice?

_________________
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

[VIDEO] Al Duncan – Wejgwapniag First Nations School – Quebec, Canada – Testimonials

Hundreds of students, parents, community leaders, and Post-Secondary Educational Institutions, from across Quebec and New Brunswick, flocked to Galgosiet Community Hall on the Gesgapegiag Native American Reservation to attend the first annual Education Fair (hosted by Wejgwapniag School) featuring keynote speaker Al Duncan.

Saint Leo University eNews | MLK Day Speaker, Al Duncan

University Campus students were able to spend valuable time on Martin Luther King Jr. Day hearing from one of the nation’s up-and-coming youth empowerment advocates, Al Duncan. Duncan easily engaged campus students in a give-and-take on the qualities needed for true leadership. Above all other characteristics, Duncan believes the power of choice––exercised daily––is indispensable. “Choice is the steering wheel for your life,” he said. “You have a choice to exhibit exceptional service to other people.” Each day, he likes to ask himself: “What do you know that you could be using to make your life or someone else’s life better?”

Duncan, now 39, recalled the story of how his life shifted at age 24. He was then enjoying a carefree lifestyle as a professional saxophone player, but on a more serious level was also reconnecting with the written works of Frederick Douglass and Dr. King. Then one day he received a disturbing call from his mother, back in the dangerous inner-city Philadelphia neighborhood where he had grown up. Duncan’s younger brother, only 12 at the time, was headed for trouble. He returned home to stay with the family and help, but determined he couldn’t shield his younger sibling from the violence of the neighborhood.

So the two relocated to Atlanta, and at 24, Duncan took on the responsibility of getting a new place, finding a new line of work, and raising his 12-year-old brother. Although challenging, it all turned out for the best. Consequently, the advice he shares with young people who have grown up in a celebrity-oriented media culture is this: “Leadership is about much more than what you do when you’re in the spotlight. It’s about what you do when you’re on the spot.”

Saint Leo University eNews | MLK Speaker, Al Duncan:

[VIDEO] Duncan Nugget® #202: Live Your Life

A few years ago, I saw the following statement on a student’s Facebook status:

“Oh I get it! The point of life is to live.” 

As you can imagine, his status immediately generated a couple of sarcastic comments:

“omg”

“lol”

“AHAHA you hit the nail on the head didnt you?”

People were clowning him and I’m not sure if he was serious or not , but that is a profound statement: the point of life is to live.

A lot of people spend their whole life dying. Dying from stupidity. Dying of mediocrity. Dying of boredom. Dying of loneliness. And the list goes on. They do nothing. They just fade away and completely waste a precious gift.

Enjoy your life.

Do something awesome with your life.

LIVE your life. You deserve it.

Million-Dollar Question:
Are you really living your life?

___________________
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

[VIDEO] Duncan Nugget® #26: Contagious

There are few things more nerve-wracking than being stuck at work or on a plane next to someone who is constantly coughing.

You’re sitting there thinking, “I better not get sick or I’m going to hurt somebody.”

When people are coughing like that it’s easy to see that they might be contagious, but we are often unaware of the subtle ways that people are contagious.

The limbic system is the part of your brain that produces emotions. Scientists have discovered that it’s an open-loop system. Which means the moods and attitudes of one person transmit signals that can alter the heart rate, hormone levels, sleep rhythms and immune functions inside the body of another person. And the person may not even realize what happened.

That’s deep.

People are always contagious.

Million-Dollar Question:
What attitudes and moods are you and the people you hang around infecting each other with?

______________________
ACTION STEPS AND DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Q & A: 4 Tips For Success In Your College Career

Q: I truly appreciate having the opportunity to listen to you speak. Next fall I will be attending the University of South Carolina and will be double majoring in International Business and Finance. I was wondering if you have any tips for what to expect in the college world, and how to continue striving for success in my college career. —Nicholas C., Colorado