Like College, Just without the Late-Night Pizza

Creating an environment for young adults where working through past mistakes or forging positively focused experiences and then turning them into effective life habits is what Optimum Performance Institute is all about. With most of our participants being of the college-going age, OPI’s education department plays a considerable role in this effort to assist these participants towards a fruitful existence, in this case, a degree or a technical certification, while overcoming “Failure to Launch” obstacles.

In an effort to continue giving the space for college success and overall confidence, the department’s Student Success Seminar has been recently restructured to include a group presentation to culminate the six-week experience. Whether it be effective communication with peers while collaborating in groups, time management skills to combat the inevitability of academic procrastination, or the intensifying anxiety that almost always arises from public speaking, the educational counselors at OPI are constantly providing real-life, immersive examples of the collegiate experience.

Now, not only do the participants get a valuable and experiential education on tools such as learning style assessment and practice, study and test taking skills, and generally how to succeed in college, they also get to prove these new-found or re-sharpened abilities in a safe and supportive environment. Much like a college classroom, the participants are given a syllabus and told what to expect from the newly added final project: a presentation expanding on one of the topics discussed in the seminar or an approved subject matter relating to higher college or learning.

Every step of the way, from the initial group meeting to disseminate the project, to the skills needed to produce a college-level presentation with visual aids to the presentation day itself, the group facilitators support the participants and help them process through the pitfalls that can arise from this vast array of moving parts of a college style group presentation.

Just like college, but what is different is that following the presentation, the participants get to evaluate themselves, the group as a whole, and the experience itself. Throughout the seminar and continuing after its conclusion, the participants get the necessary guidance and structure needed to take this newfound confidence and envision a future state where, with some hard work, a college degree and a professional career of their choosing is not only possible, but a certainty.

by Paul Shadi Sanbar, MA, Life Coach
Department of Career and Volunteer

For more information about this and other programs at Optimum Performance Institute, call (888) 814-5985 or click HERE to contact us via our online form. We will get back to you promptly.