Inspiring Excellence Symposium

Excellence from the Inside Out is an interactive self-care workshop designed to help high school students discover how wellness, connection, and belonging fuel their personal and academic success. Participants will explore practical strategies for caring for their mind, body, and heart, and create their own Self-Care Blueprint to take home. This engaging session will be co-facilitated by students from the Youth Mental Health Development Academy, a county-wide peer leadership program dedicated to empowering youth to lead with empathy, resilience, and excellence.

Professional learning is more than a slide deck—it is a designed experience. In this session, participants will explore how to create PD that is purposeful, engaging, and coherent by applying adult learning principles, backward design, facilitation strategies, and intentional branding. Participants will reflect on memorable PD, examine how learning moves from presenter-centered to participant-centered, and consider practical design moves that help educators think, discuss, practice, and apply new learning.