{"id":1464,"date":"2012-08-08T18:43:45","date_gmt":"2012-08-09T01:43:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mikebellah.com\/wordpress\/?p=1464"},"modified":"2012-08-08T18:47:41","modified_gmt":"2012-08-09T01:47:41","slug":"finishers-lucky-to-be-here","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mikebellah.com\/?p=1464","title":{"rendered":"Finishers: Lucky To Be Here"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Why is Finishers successful? I will do a workshop in a couple of weeks when I\u2019ll be expected to answer that question.<\/p>\n

My first response is to be cautious. We don\u2019t know yet how well it\u2019s working. The fast growth is promising, but we\u2019ll know we\u2019re successful when the data say we are\u2014when students involved in Finishers graduate at a higher rate than their peers. Until then, we can only guess.<\/p>\n

So here are my guesses. These are the reasons I think students come to and stay with Finishers:<\/p>\n

The Power of a Pledge
\nNothing particularly innovative here\u2014lots of groups do this. There seems to be something about formal pledges (which students sign to join Finishers) that helps folks follow through on their promises.<\/p>\n

The Power of a Dream
\nBut pledges, by themselves, are just words on paper. Finisher pledges begin with articulating one\u2019s dream. The idea is to remind students what life goals are dependent on their academic ones.<\/p>\n

The Power of Relationships
\nEvery Finisher must both be and have an encourager\u2014someone to check on him or her regularly and encourage\/help with whatever obstacle one might be facing (including the nonacademic\u2014rent, health, depression).<\/p>\n

The Power of Example
\nSome things (commitment, hope, resilience) are caught more than taught. At every monthly meeting at least one student shares his or her story. These inspiring tales are my favorite part of Finishers.<\/p>\n

The Power of a Movement
\nEarly on I almost ruined things by letting a well-meaning student start dividing us into committees with officers and job descriptions. Then, the core group got me alone and reminded me what I had told them\u2014we\u2019re more of a movement than a club, with a shared passion not program. Thus, our leadership is more bottom-up than top-down. And spontaneity is as important as planning.<\/p>\n

This last point helps me see the unifier in all my points. Why is Finishers working? I can answer in one word: students\u2014these incredible students who somehow came together at this time and place.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m lucky to be here. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why is Finishers successful? I will do a workshop in a couple of weeks when I\u2019ll be expected to answer that question. My first response is to be cautious. We don\u2019t know yet how well it\u2019s working. The fast growth is promising, but we\u2019ll know we\u2019re successful when the data say we are\u2014when students involved […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mikebellah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mikebellah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mikebellah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mikebellah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mikebellah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1464"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mikebellah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1464\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1467,"href":"https:\/\/mikebellah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1464\/revisions\/1467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mikebellah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mikebellah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mikebellah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}