Somewhere in the Middle Welcomes College Strategist and Founder & CEO of College Ready Shellee Howard
Shellee Howard is the Founder and CEO of College Ready and CR Tutoring and Test. She is a college graduate and is a Certified Independent College Strategist. She is a best-selling author, a member of HECA (ethics organization), and a member of SOFA (Society of Financial Awareness).
Shellee is a mother of four young adults. Her oldest son graduated from Harvard in 2016 debt free and graduated from UC San Diego Medical School in 2021. He will be completing his Orthopedic Surgeon Residency at UCLA. Her oldest daughter attended the University of Alabama and CBU and graduated debt free with her BSN in 2020 and received her RN in 2021.
Her youngest son attends SFSU majoring in Film Production. Her youngest daughter is a rising Senior and will be looking to attend college as a business major internationally.
Shellee has traveled around the world helping students create their “Stand out Strategy". She knows what it takes to compete in the Top tier schools as well as find the best-fit college for all students. Shellee believes that no two students are the same and each student must have their own strategy and plan to be successful. Each student has a gift/talent and a passion that will set him or her apart from their competition. Getting to know your student one on one is the key to success. Her focus is to find the best academic, financial, and social fit college for each student to thrive at and graduate debt free!
Connect with Shellee HowardFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/CollegeReadyPlan
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GoCollegeReady
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/college-ready/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCr_WodPHDfSWEbiPdsRDbyQ
Website: http://www.collegereadyplan.com/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(02:08):
Happy Friday everyone. Welcometo somewhere in the middle with
Michele Barard. I'm your host,Michele Barard founder and CEO
of Michele Aykroyd LLC. And I'mreally happy to share this hour
with you, where we examine allthose places where spirit meets
life and the joys and challengesthat may bring. You guys know I
like to start by thanking MissBeverly black and tribe family
(02:28):
channel for helping me createthe space for us. Tribe family
channel is home to an assortmentof thought provoking shows that
explore life, spirit, businessand culture, including the woman
at the well hosted by MissBeverly black herself. Somewhere
in the middle was born on trackFamily channel. And though we
have grown onto our ownplatform, we are ever grateful
and loyal to our roots. Toparaphrase an African proverb,
(02:51):
you're here only because westand on the shoulders of those
who came before us. I want tothank my guests on the November
17 show, calendar coach PaulCasey, you can connect with Paul
on social media and his website,www dot Paul Casey dot o RG
that's P au LCASEY dot o RG. Ifyou missed that show, make sure
(03:17):
you listen to the replay. Youcan find our complete show
archives including the November17 show at the somewhere in the
middle podcast.com. I also wantto shout out Bruce George of the
geniuses common movement whichencourages all of us to embrace
our inner genius and share itwith the world. It is essential
that we share this message withthe youth. But it's not just for
(03:39):
the youth. We all need to bereminded sometimes that the
world needs our genius. Learnmore about the geniuses common
movement at WWW dot geniusescommon.com I think you guys are
really going to enjoy thismonth's guest. She helps parents
and college bound children findthe right school and the
(04:00):
resources to graduate fromcollege debt free. Shelly Howard
is the founder and CEO ofcollege ready and CR tutoring
and test. She is a collegegraduate and is a certified
independent college strategist.She is a best selling author, a
member of h e c a and ethicsorganization and a member of s o
(04:25):
f a society of financialawareness. Shelley is a mother
of four young adults. Her oldestson graduated from Harvard in
2016. Debt Free and graduatedfrom UC San Diego medical school
in 2021. He will be completinghis orthopedic surgeon residency
(04:46):
at UCLA. Her oldest daughterattended the University of
Alabama and CBU and graduateddebt free with her bachelor's in
nursing in 2020 and received herRN In 2021, her youngest son
attends SFSU majoring in filmproduction, and her youngest
(05:08):
daughter is a rising seniorlooking to attend college as a
business major internationally.Shelley has traveled around the
world helping students createtheir standout strategy. She
knows what it takes to competein the top tier schools, as well
as finding the best fit collegefor all students. Shelly
believes that no two studentsare the same. And each student
(05:30):
must have their own strategy andplan to be successful. Each
student has a gift or talent anda passion that will set him or
her apart from theircompetition. Getting to Know
Your Student One on One is thekey to success. Her focus is to
find the best academic,financial and social fit college
(05:50):
for each student to thrive ingraduate debt free. So I like to
welcome Shellee Howard tosomewhere in the middle with
Michele Barard. Shellee, thankyou so much for being on the
show.
It is my pleasure.
Well, I'm really excited becausewhat you do is so important,
particularly to parents, and Ireally want to get into that.
(06:14):
And I think you know, already, Istart my interviews with two
questions. Kind of get into whyyou do what you do. So if you're
ready, I'll ask those twoquestions.
I'm ready. Let's get started.
All right, Shelly Howard, whoare you? And how did you become
who you are today?
(06:35):
I am definitely a serialentrepreneur. This is my seventh
business. And I started all ofthem from scratch. I started at
the age of 12. And both myparents are entrepreneurs. So it
wasn't that far out of mythinking. And really, each of my
businesses have come to me, I'venot sought out any of them. And
(06:56):
college ready started when myson came home from eighth grade
and said, Mom, I know exactlywhat I want to do when I grow up
and where I want to go. And Iwas like who really because most
adults still trying to figure itout. So for me, I'm a mom, I
have two children, biologicallyand two step kids. My oldest
(07:18):
went to Harvard for four yearsfor free, then on to medical
school at UC San Diego, and isnow an orthopedic surgeon
resident at UCLA. And so that'snumber one. And then number two,
four years later, is aregistered nurse working at a
pediatric hospital. And she wentto University of Alabama for
free. And now my stepson he is afreshman at San Francisco State
(07:44):
going to do broadcasting. Andthen I have a high school
senior. And then I just broughthome a game exchange student
from Italy, so I can't getenough of my teenagers. I love
them very much.
Teenagers are the best. I knowsome people say they're the
worst, but I think they'reawesome.
Oh, I live in a world of teen Icreated my world of teenagers.
(08:08):
Because I've always been a coacha mentor throughout my lifetime,
whatever career it was, it'sjust I, you know, was just a
magnet to them. And now I get totalk to them all day long about
their future, what they want tobe where they want to go, how
they want to do it. And I mean,they give me so much credit.
When they when they graduate,and they get into a college.
(08:32):
They call me Shelly, I just gota full ride into Vanderbilt. And
I'm so proud of you. And theyact as if I'm part of that. And
it's such a really neat feeling.
Yeah, that's awesome. No, Ithink it's really interesting,
too, because the young peopletoday have a different
experience, at least based onwhat I saw with my three kids.
(08:54):
You know, the applicationprocess, the finding money for
school process, all of that isso different than back in the
80s. When I started in college,I went to university in New
Orleans my first year, and Ithink my entire semester cost
like less than 800 bucks. Notanymore. Not anymore. And the
(09:20):
application process was prettysimple. You wrote up a piece of
paper, I know paper, right? Theyprobably don't even know what
that means. You wrote anapplication on paper, most
almost like a job application.They recall. And then, you know,
a few weeks later somebody saidokay, here's your start date. It
(09:40):
was not that hard. And I foundwith my kids, it was very
challenging. You know, thisprocess. Now. You've got to have
so many extracurriculars you gotto have so much you know job
experience or something toexplain what else you did
besides school volunteerism, howare you helping Parents and
(10:00):
students through that process.
So it really depends on wherethey find college ready. The
interesting thing is, I willhave some people call me while
they're pregnant and asked mehow do I start planning for
college and you're like, Whoa.And then I have others in
between elementary school. Andit's just a conversation where I
help them understand, just teachthem to love to learn. That's
(10:23):
all. I mean, if you'relistening, it's just the love of
reading is so important to thesuccess of the student. And so
before they're in eighth grade,it's really just, you know, make
it fun, make it educationenjoyable, let them experiment,
try other things. And then bythe time they hit eighth
(10:44):
greatest, where people want tostart getting a little more
clear on who is the student,what are they good at? What are
their gifts and their talents?What are their struggles in
start to help them and supportthem in both areas celebrate
their success, and, you know,maybe tutoring or extra help in
(11:05):
some of the other areas. And socollege ready, we are unique in
that we start with students asyoung as when they promote from
eighth grade. And we got throughthe whole four years with them.
The reason why we started thatis I found that dripping it
gently over four years andhelping them figure out who am
I? Why does it matter? Doing apassion with purpose project,
(11:30):
and getting clear without makingmistakes on picking the right
classes or doing a club that maynot matter or even just being
too busy? These students thinkthat busyness equals college,
but that's not the case. And sohelping them to get clear on why
are they doing this, if they'rejust doing it for college and
(11:51):
just checking the box, I reallydiscourage it. Colleges are
looking for amazing students tobe themself, they're not looking
for a bunch of the same person.Because that would not be
college, that would be all thesame people that are looking for
diversity, not just in skincolor, not just in ethnicity.
(12:13):
They need business majors. Theyneed art majors that you know,
they need every but everydifferent kind of person. And so
I help students, one on one,create their stand out strategy,
and help them to get reallyclear how much rigor do they
really need, how many APS, howmany IVs. They don't need to
(12:35):
take all of them that areoffered. And then we help them
then understand what is theirtest strategy, how many times to
take it, where to take it, whyto take it. And then we do
what's called passion with apurpose. And I could talk all
day about that one, becausethat's my favorite. And then we
help them get clear onleadership and extracurricular
(12:56):
activities. But really, what itcomes down to is when they're
ready to graduate, we want themto know who they are, and why it
matters, and be able to conveythat to a college. And we're not
looking for just do this, this,this and this, I tell people
think about it as if you wereapplying to a job, you have a
(13:19):
very nice resume deep andthoughtful and something to be
proud of, or do you have noresume or maybe just one
volunteer opportunity. That'swhat it comes down to. There's
no particular one thing that'sbetter than another. So it's
helping that student to takeaway the unknown, the anxiety,
(13:43):
the stress that comes with justtruly not knowing, and we
simplify the process. Andinstead of making them Ultra
busy, ultra stressed, we makethem very calm. And we have a
process and the procedure andall they do is just a little bit
at a time. Now in reality, somepeople do not find college ready
(14:06):
until their sophomore junior orsenior year. And we have a plan
for them to it's just a firehose versus a sleeved rep. So
that's how we differentiate ofyou know, how do we help them
and when do we get started? Sowhat is
a standout strategy and why isit necessary?
(14:27):
So think about it this way,somebody will have your GPA or
higher, somebody will have yourtest score or higher. Somebody
will have community service ormore impressive community
service or more hours, somebodywill have more leadership or
(14:47):
better extracurricular. Soinstead of worrying about what
everybody else is doing, we'refocused on what that student
will do to stand out withoutconsidering In the noise out
there of my sister's brother'sbest friend's daughter, and
you're like, oh my gosh, but Idon't have that many APs and
(15:08):
you're like, but that's yourstrategy. And then it's about
picking the right college forthe right student. So we
simplify it. And we helpfamilies get clear on what is
most important in academic fit,a social fit, or a financial
fit. In a perfect world, you getall three, but just like dating,
(15:30):
you may not get all three. Soyou need to get really clear on
what is the deal breaker, orwhat is the thing you can't live
without? And then build thestrategy. So everything comes
together. You know, people askme all the time, how did my son
get into Harvard? That's a topof the and then how did he do it
(15:51):
without going into debt? Likethose two things. Everybody
wants to know, I tell him, hedidn't have a perfect GPA. He
didn't have a perfect testscore. He didn't have the most
community service hours. But hehad a lot of really good
standout work. He had a ton ofleadership. He had a lot of, you
know, four years of varsitysoccer not, you know, one
(16:15):
semester, it's all about thatstudent and what they bring is,
that's what's most important. Sowhen people start to get caught
up in, I want my kid to go tothis school. I ask why. Why that
school? And that's the hardpart. It's like, well, because
(16:35):
they have a good football team.Well, I'm like, is he going to
play football? Or they have awonderful softball team? Well,
is she going to play softball?So it's helping people almost
simplify in strategize like youwould a business transaction? I
tell people think about when youbought a home, your first home?
Did you walk up, pull the flyerout of your first time and go,
(16:58):
Yep, I'm gonna pay that price.I'm gonna buy that one. I don't
think many people would saythat. Or even a car simplified
even more, would you walk onto acar lot? Look at the sticker
price on the window and go, Oh,yeah, that's what I feel like
pain. No, you would not do that.But yet, we leave this process
(17:20):
up to our 17 year old. And it'sthe cost of some people's home,
a college education could costthe same not in California. But
in a lot of places. It is thesame cost. So leaving this up to
your 1617 or 18 year old, bevery careful, because I promise
you, they don't know how muchthat loan is going to cost.
(17:45):
Well, and that's one of thethings that I think is really
interesting. Right now. So Icome from a generation where
parents just kind of at somepoint, they're like, Okay, bye.
Yeah. Like, there, I didn't feellike I have a lot of guidance in
the whole college thing. Eventhe high school counselor, I
(18:08):
don't think was particularlyhelpful. You know, I came of age
in the 80s. So, you know, yougot to a certain point, you're
kind of on your own figuringthings out much more so than
kids today. And one of thethings that the way that I
started the process and tell meif this makes any sense. I said,
Okay, set up a spreadsheet, andgo research what you think you
(18:31):
want to study, I do not believeit's what you actually want to
study, but what you think youwant to study. I know a lot of
us end up studying things. Andthen we get out of school and
realize, man, I didn't want todo that at all. But you come up
with an idea of what you thinkyou want to study, look for
programs that are good schoolsthat you think you're interested
(18:51):
in, let's create a spreadsheet.And then let's start, you know,
start researching from there,you know, because everything's
online, yes. And no more paperbrochures coming out and all
that. So that seemed like a goodplace to get the kids started.
So they could start thinkingabout that piece. Is does that
seem like a reasonable strategyfor parents to take like, go and
(19:13):
start looking at schools andprograms and thinking about what
you want?
You know, it never hurts to lookand think but I think the
missing piece in all of that isgetting clear on what's most
important. Do you need afinancial offer? If that's most
important, and you start lookingat these amazing schools like
(19:34):
USC for 77,000 a year? Do youreally want your kid looking at
that school? And what if theyfall in love with it? That's
kind of dangerous. So I tellfamilies, as much as I love the
idea of them touring colleges,it's better to have a strategy
even for that. You know, whenyou're on a family vacation and
(19:57):
you happen to be in Boston inyour you're like, you know Let's
just go check out Harvard.That's what we did when my son
was in fifth grade. It wasn't,we're going to plan for college.
And no, it was like, Wow, thiscampus is amazing that history
is so awesome. It was never evenon our radar that that was a
school he would be applying towere from Southern California.
(20:19):
That is across the UnitedStates. This mama did not want
that to happen. But it wasreally introducing, I tell
parents, then the number onething to do is to talk about
college as a just extension ofadulting. Because no student I
(20:39):
know of wants four or six moreyears of high school. And they
think college is that they thinkoh my gosh, more school, I'm
done. Like I did my my penance,like let me out. So if you take
them on a college tour, and showthem and talk about your
memories, not all of them, butnot the wild ones, not the wild
(21:03):
ones, the ones how you combinedyour red shirt with your whities
and everything came up pink.Those stories are brilliant to
share, and how you met yourroommates and your they became
your lifelong friends and youknow, the connections with your
professors and really studyingsomething you wanted to learn
about on days and times youwanted to learn. These are the
(21:26):
things that need to be sharedwith students because they don't
know why they're taking all thisrigor. They don't know why their
parents keep saying just study,get good grades, and they're
like, this is awful. Why do Iwant to do four more years of
this? So I made college reallyfun. With college ready, we even
two times a year we take ourstudents and we tore colleges.
(21:49):
But what we do in our strategyis we look at one public, one
private, one large, one medium,and one small. And it doesn't
have to be a brand name school,because what we're trying to get
at is, what is important to thatstudent? Is that classroom size,
do they want to be one of 500 inbiology? Or do they want to be
(22:13):
one of 12? Do they want to havea big sports culture? Or does it
not matter? Do they want to goto college in a building in
downtown New York? Or do theywant to be in a rural community,
these things are reallyimportant for their success.
Because as you know, whenstudents are happy, they're
(22:33):
thriving, and they study well,when they're lonely and sad and
not connecting. That is not agood thing for them emotionally
or academically. So that is theway we approach it instead of
just, you know, Google is ascary thing. If you Google why
(22:54):
you have a headache, is becauseyou have a brain tumor, you have
to be very careful, right? Whatyou Google. And I tell the same
thing for students. Because USNews and World Report, as you
know, as nice as we want tothink that information is it's
really information, whatcolleges want you to believe.
(23:16):
And it's not always the exactfacts. And so I tell students
even be careful what you Googleand the resources that you're
using. Because not all of themare as solid as getting that
information directly from thecollege themself. So these are
all things that I tell studentsto be careful about. And then
(23:39):
when you pick a college, reallyget clear on the match of why
why that school isn't a subjectmatter. Because if a student
wants to go into psychology, Iasked them what they want to do
when they graduate. And if theysay get a job. I know they
haven't done their homework,because there's no job called
(23:59):
psychology. You have to go backto school and they're terrified
when they learn this. Yeah. Butif we're not having that
conversation, who is and it'snot the high school counselor,
because they say you're good atmath, go to MIT, nobody talks
about the cost of MIT. Nobodytalks about the social fit. Do
(24:22):
you want to fight for every a?Because at MIT, you better be
ready to bring your A game. Sostudents have to get really
clear on you know, what do theywant? Do they need an alumni?
Or, you know, where do they wantto live after school? I think we
focus a lot on the exitstrategy, versus just getting
(24:45):
them into a institution. Wetalked about what kind of career
would you like, in they'll throwout some ideas and I say how
much does that career make? NowMoney is not everything, but I
asked them Do you Ever want tomove out of your parents home?
And then money does get real?Yeah, yeah. And so I talked to
(25:07):
my say, Well, you know, I lovethat you want to be an artist?
Is that a hobby or a career?Because you don't just graduate
from college and you're a highpaid artist? So how will you
sell your art? How will youmarket? How will you finance?
Where will you get the capital?And they're all like, what? I
(25:28):
just want to paint? Like, whatare you talking about? So it's
these hard conversations, youknow, and as a parent, right,
you're a parent of three, I'm afour, you know, that when a
parent talks, they hear want,want, want, want, want. And
I'm gonna stop you there.Because I'm constantly surprised
at the things that my kidsremember that I say, good. We
(25:53):
had, we had one Christmas inparticular, where all three of
the kids were home from theirrespective places. And I'm
upstairs in my room. And I hearthem saying, oh, you know, my
mom used to always say, bla,bla, bla, bla bla, and I'm like,
they actually paid attention. Ididn't think they were so
parents, they really are payingattention. They just pretend
like they are.
(26:13):
I call it selective hearing, forsure they are listening. But I
will tell you, I will say thesame thing and apparent right
behind them as like, I have saidthis 10 times, yeah, you say it
once they do it. Why? And I'mlike, Well, you know, at least
they're gonna do it. It's likethat you have to be happy.
(26:34):
They're at least gonna do it.And I love teenagers. So it's
not, you know, it's not even agenerational thing. I think this
has been going on for many, manygenerations, where, you know,
they think a parent has theseexpectations, and they don't
want to let them down. So theymight want not want to talk
about being a professionaldancer, or a theatre, you know,
(26:58):
performer because parents areworried how will they connect
and get into that and afford it?And how long will they have to
wait tables before they gettheir big break? And these are
real parental concerns that goback generations?
Yeah. Yeah. Well, I know that,you know, one of my children
wanted to be a teacher. And Isaid, How about thinking about
(27:24):
getting a hard degree, andgetting a teaching certificate
in case you get into teaching,and you discover, maybe it's not
what you thought it was going tobe? Because public schools are
very challenging these days. Andthat was my approach. I don't
know if that was the bestapproach. But she did end up
(27:45):
getting a degree in chemistry,and she has received a teaching
certificate. And if she goesinto the classroom, and she's
happy, awesome, but if not, shehas an exit strategy. She has
something that she can. Doesthat makes sense. Like, that was
the approach that I you know,that was my parent. I don't have
(28:06):
any kids who decided they wantedto be in theater. So. But that's
the way it manifested for me,you know, was, I know that
teaching is very challengingprofession and a lot of teachers
relieving because of it, becauseit's hard. So what do you ask
what do you advise parents tosay when their kids want to get
(28:28):
into a profession that eitherthey know it's challenging, like
teaching, and a lot of peopleend up wanting to leave? Or they
want to go into dance or theateror something that we
traditionally in the UnitedStates feel like, hey, that's
going to be a struggle? What doyou advise parents to say? Or
(28:49):
how do you advise parents toapproach it?
So how I approach it as aprofessional and you know,
parents can take it any way theywant. I learned a long time ago,
don't give parenting advice. Iwill speak I will speak to what
I know. And I tell students,that is amazing. That is a great
plan. A I love that idea. Ithink, you know, having that as
(29:12):
part of your strategy is amazingidea, but What's plan B and Plan
C? Just like you just said foryour own child, just in case
plan A doesn't pan out, what isthe backup plan? And that is how
we approach it in and then wetalked about, you know, how much
(29:34):
debt would you have to incur? Todo Plan A, and how long would
you work for free? And they'relike, why? I don't want to work
for free. And I'm like, that'scalled a student loan. Yeah. And
if you don't get a reduced orfree education based on you
know, merit scholarships, that'swhat it's gonna cost. And they
(29:57):
said, Well, I don't want to workfor free and then I'm like,
okay, then Maybe we should dothis and go get some merit
scholarships, and really getclear on. If I do this, at least
I'm not in debt, and I have abackup plan. So typically, for
my artists and my musicians, Iwill always recommend, Plan A or
(30:17):
B that can be flip flopped itanytime, is have a business
major or minor. You can alwayssell art, you can always own a
music production studio. Theydon't have a hard time when I
say own or, you know, write bebe the one in charge. You know,
(30:39):
these are things so instead ofjust saying, You know what,
you're not going to besuccessful, it's really too
hard. You're going to be astruggling artists, all those
things as adults, we know is areal thing. Right? But if you
say that they're just going tostop listening. Yeah, so I don't
say that I just talked aboutthat to great planning. Yeah, I
(31:00):
love it. I, you know, it's,it's, it's telling them that I
hear them. But I'm not shootingthem down. And I think that's
all they want is to be heard,you know, teenagers, they just
want to be heard in a businessmajor or minor for any of those
type of wonderful dream, I callthem passions. I'm also a
(31:24):
professional photographer. Thatwas one of my seven professions
that I started in, you know,that was never my major. But I
fell in love with it. And I madegreat money at it. But then the
iPhone came out. So even thebest laid plans, right. But I
had my business to fall back on.And so that's what I encourage
(31:47):
students to look at, in do thework early. And that's why I
love when we have students inninth and 10th grade is because
we can start talking about whatare your gifts? What are your
talents? What are you here? Forwhat? Why are you on this
planet? And who do you want toserve? You know, do you want to
(32:08):
just work on your own in yourhome? Or do you want to, and we
do all of this in college readywith our passion with purpose
project? So first, we asked, wenot just ask we have
conversation with a student,what are you passionate about?
You would think that would beeasy. It is not easy for these
(32:28):
teenagers because thistechnology is here now fast,
furious, and they spend a lot oftime with it. I had one student
asked Siri Siri, what am Ipassionate about? Like it was
legit? Yeah, really? Oh, it'sinteresting. I would encourage
any parent listening on thispodcast, ask their student,
(32:49):
their child to write down 10things they're passionate about,
and then rank them and see howlong it takes them. About the
first three are easy. The nextthree are challenging, the rest
are truly pretty hard. Studentsreally struggle.
But I mean, is it possible to bepassionate about 10 things? Is
(33:11):
that a reasonable exercise? Imean, I know as an adult, I'm
not passionate about 10 things.
It is when you think about itthis way, if you woke up on
Saturday morning, and you hadnothing to do, and you had all
the money in time in the world,how would you use that time? I
can think of 10 things that Iwould do. I don't think that
(33:31):
that's asking a lot, you know,you know, it could be sitting
and reading a book with a cup ofcoffee, you know, that could be
quality, quiet time is whatthey're passionate about. It
could be you know, I want to goride my bike, I want to go to
the beach, all of these things Iwant to those are an indication
(33:53):
that that's what they love.That's what they want. So it's
not thinking about it in a wayof something tangible. It's just
figuring out who are they andwhat is important to them. Those
are the things we're diggingfor. And then the harder one is
when we ask them 10 things theywould like to see changed in the
(34:15):
world. So you have thisgeneration of huge advocates. I
mean, they want to do someamazing things. And I love that
about them. And I give them allthe time, money resources they
could come up with. They woulddo some amazing things. But
other ones that have been keptvery tight in their bubble in
(34:36):
their little world because hisparents were trying to protect
them from all that craziness.Yeah, they're at a total loss.
They honestly don't know.Because they've been sheltered,
good, better indifferent. I'mnot here to judge but if they
don't know what they want to seechanged in the world. It is hard
to do community service becausethey don't know that What needs
(35:00):
to be fixed? Right? So you know,community service is all good,
every single bit of it. Butthere's also better and best
right? Tutoring. That is such anice thing for them to do if
they like tutoring. But is thatwow, you tutored? No, that's
pretty okay. Pretty much everysmart kid tutors at some point,
(35:24):
some other person, then you getinto what's better, maybe if a
student has a heart for animals,they may want to make blankets
or bedding or something for, youknow, the the animals either at
the shelter, or the you know,the animals that are homeless,
(35:45):
that that is something they'repassionate about. And so it
means so much more to them thanjust showing up in tutoring. And
then what's amazing is when theylead others to create change,
where they truly find out rightnow the biggest thing is
depression and anxiety and allof the things that people are
(36:08):
going through a group of mystudents just created. It's
called Healthy Minds. Andthey're using sports to help get
it get students out of theirfunk. And so they love it and
this essay that they're going tobe able to write about how they
took this from a small idea to anational organization. That's
(36:31):
amazing. Like yet, they're doingit with people they love.
They're doing something theylove. And they feel like they're
really making a difference. Butwhat they're really finding out,
do I like to lead or follow? DoI like children? Or do I like
elderly? All of the sudden, thefocus is not on? What do you
want? You know, what do I want?But you're doing all of these
(36:54):
things for other people. Andyou're like, Wow, I'm pretty
good at this, you know,marketing thing, or I'm pretty
good at this empathy thing. Andthat is a great way to start.
Would that be a good career foryou? Yeah. And then you have
this whole different insightwhere they're leaving for
college, knowing who they areand why it matters. And their
(37:16):
major actually sticks and theydo something with it.
That's awesome. That'sabsolutely amazing. Well, if you
had three tips, three tips forsomebody, let's say their kid is
a junior. And they justdiscovered you guys. If you had
three tips for that student,what would they be?
(37:39):
The first one is find out whatthey truly are passionate about.
It is the beginning to asuccessful application season.
Number two would be berealistic, what is a good
academic fit, social fit andfinancial fit. And number three
(37:59):
is spend the time picking theright colleges. Our students are
in 10 Point 7 million inscholarships last year during
COVID. And it was because wematch the student with the best
school. And that is a criticalpiece to not going into that.
(38:20):
Got it got it. Awesome. Well,Shelly sorry, you can see that
my puppy has decided she wantsto join in here. She's ready to
play. Um, how can people get intouch with you?
I would think the easiest waywould be our website. And that's
WWW dot college ready planbecause it is a plan.com all our
(38:46):
social buttons are there. Andthe other thing I recommend, I
have a best selling book, How tosend your students to college
without losing your mind yourmoney. And you can get it on
Amazon or you can go to mywebsite and I'd be happy to to
send you a free copy for yourlisteners. So that would be my
(39:07):
my best advice.
Well, that's awesome, because Iwish I had that book before I
started this journey with thesekids. But let me tell you,
somehow we made it through. I'mreally glad that you're able to
share guys make sure you go toit's college. Ready. plan.com
Right, correct. Okay, thank you,Shelly Howard being on somewhere
(39:31):
in the middle with MicheleBarard.
It's been my pleasure. Thank youso much.
Well, that's our show thismonth, guys. You can reach me
online at Michele barard.com.You can also find me on
Facebook, Instagram and Tiktokas urban book editors. Send me a
note. I'd love to hear from feelfree to send them some topics
you'd like us to cover on theshow. We'll see you after the
(39:54):
new year on January 19 in 2024When my guests will Be author
and president of go get it. Netmateria Vonda. You can find us
once a month on Fridays at 5pmPacific 6pm Mountain 7pm Central
and 8pm Eastern at the somewherein the middle podcast.com Let's
(40:16):
continue the conversation. Youguys good. stay mindful and
happy holidays. Be Safe andEnjoy the break. Peace and
blessings
Happy Friday everyone. Welcometo somewhere in the middle with
Michele Barard. I'm your host,Michele Barard founder and CEO
of Michele Aykroyd LLC. And I'mreally happy to share this hour
with you, where we examine allthose places where spirit meets
life and the joys and challengesthat may bring. You guys know I
like to start by thanking MissBeverly black and tribe family
(02:28):
channel for helping me createthe space for us. Tribe family
channel is home to an assortmentof thought provoking shows that
explore life, spirit, businessand culture, including the woman
at the well hosted by MissBeverly black herself. Somewhere
in the middle was born on trackFamily channel. And though we
have grown onto our ownplatform, we are ever grateful
and loyal to our roots. Toparaphrase an African proverb,
(02:51):
you're here only because westand on the shoulders of those
who came before us. I want tothank my guests on the November
17 show, calendar coach PaulCasey, you can connect with Paul
on social media and his website,www dot Paul Casey dot o RG
that's P au LCASEY dot o RG. Ifyou missed that show, make sure
(03:17):
you listen to the replay. Youcan find our complete show
archives including the November17 show at the somewhere in the
middle podcast.com. I also wantto shout out Bruce George of the
geniuses common movement whichencourages all of us to embrace
our inner genius and share itwith the world. It is essential
that we share this message withthe youth. But it's not just for
(03:39):
the youth. We all need to bereminded sometimes that the
world needs our genius. Learnmore about the geniuses common
movement at WWW dot geniusescommon.com I think you guys are
really going to enjoy thismonth's guest. She helps parents
and college bound children findthe right school and the
(04:00):
resources to graduate fromcollege debt free. Shelly Howard
is the founder and CEO ofcollege ready and CR tutoring
and test. She is a collegegraduate and is a certified
independent college strategist.She is a best selling author, a
member of h e c a and ethicsorganization and a member of s o
(04:25):
f a society of financialawareness. Shelley is a mother
of four young adults. Her oldestson graduated from Harvard in
2016. Debt Free and graduatedfrom UC San Diego medical school
in 2021. He will be completinghis orthopedic surgeon residency
(04:46):
at UCLA. Her oldest daughterattended the University of
Alabama and CBU and graduateddebt free with her bachelor's in
nursing in 2020 and received herRN In 2021, her youngest son
attends SFSU majoring in filmproduction, and her youngest
(05:08):
daughter is a rising seniorlooking to attend college as a
business major internationally.Shelley has traveled around the
world helping students createtheir standout strategy. She
knows what it takes to competein the top tier schools, as well
as finding the best fit collegefor all students. Shelly
believes that no two studentsare the same. And each student
(05:30):
must have their own strategy andplan to be successful. Each
student has a gift or talent anda passion that will set him or
her apart from theircompetition. Getting to Know
Your Student One on One is thekey to success. Her focus is to
find the best academic,financial and social fit college
(05:50):
for each student to thrive ingraduate debt free. So I like to
welcome Shellee Howard tosomewhere in the middle with
Michele Barard. Shellee, thankyou so much for being on the
show.
It is my pleasure.
Well, I'm really excited becausewhat you do is so important,
particularly to parents, and Ireally want to get into that.
(06:14):
And I think you know, already, Istart my interviews with two
questions. Kind of get into whyyou do what you do. So if you're
ready, I'll ask those twoquestions.
I'm ready. Let's get started.
All right, Shelly Howard, whoare you? And how did you become
who you are today?
(06:35):
I am definitely a serialentrepreneur. This is my seventh
business. And I started all ofthem from scratch. I started at
the age of 12. And both myparents are entrepreneurs. So it
wasn't that far out of mythinking. And really, each of my
businesses have come to me, I'venot sought out any of them. And
(06:56):
college ready started when myson came home from eighth grade
and said, Mom, I know exactlywhat I want to do when I grow up
and where I want to go. And Iwas like who really because most
adults still trying to figure itout. So for me, I'm a mom, I
have two children, biologicallyand two step kids. My oldest
(07:18):
went to Harvard for four yearsfor free, then on to medical
school at UC San Diego, and isnow an orthopedic surgeon
resident at UCLA. And so that'snumber one. And then number two,
four years later, is aregistered nurse working at a
pediatric hospital. And she wentto University of Alabama for
free. And now my stepson he is afreshman at San Francisco State
(07:44):
going to do broadcasting. Andthen I have a high school
senior. And then I just broughthome a game exchange student
from Italy, so I can't getenough of my teenagers. I love
them very much.
Teenagers are the best. I knowsome people say they're the
worst, but I think they'reawesome.
Oh, I live in a world of teen Icreated my world of teenagers.
(08:08):
Because I've always been a coacha mentor throughout my lifetime,
whatever career it was, it'sjust I, you know, was just a
magnet to them. And now I get totalk to them all day long about
their future, what they want tobe where they want to go, how
they want to do it. And I mean,they give me so much credit.
When they when they graduate,and they get into a college.
(08:32):
They call me Shelly, I just gota full ride into Vanderbilt. And
I'm so proud of you. And theyact as if I'm part of that. And
it's such a really neat feeling.
Yeah, that's awesome. No, Ithink it's really interesting,
too, because the young peopletoday have a different
experience, at least based onwhat I saw with my three kids.
(08:54):
You know, the applicationprocess, the finding money for
school process, all of that isso different than back in the
80s. When I started in college,I went to university in New
Orleans my first year, and Ithink my entire semester cost
like less than 800 bucks. Notanymore. Not anymore. And the
(09:20):
application process was prettysimple. You wrote up a piece of
paper, I know paper, right? Theyprobably don't even know what
that means. You wrote anapplication on paper, most
almost like a job application.They recall. And then, you know,
a few weeks later somebody saidokay, here's your start date. It
(09:40):
was not that hard. And I foundwith my kids, it was very
challenging. You know, thisprocess. Now. You've got to have
so many extracurriculars you gotto have so much you know job
experience or something toexplain what else you did
besides school volunteerism, howare you helping Parents and
(10:00):
students through that process.
So it really depends on wherethey find college ready. The
interesting thing is, I willhave some people call me while
they're pregnant and asked mehow do I start planning for
college and you're like, Whoa.And then I have others in
between elementary school. Andit's just a conversation where I
help them understand, just teachthem to love to learn. That's
(10:23):
all. I mean, if you'relistening, it's just the love of
reading is so important to thesuccess of the student. And so
before they're in eighth grade,it's really just, you know, make
it fun, make it educationenjoyable, let them experiment,
try other things. And then bythe time they hit eighth
(10:44):
greatest, where people want tostart getting a little more
clear on who is the student,what are they good at? What are
their gifts and their talents?What are their struggles in
start to help them and supportthem in both areas celebrate
their success, and, you know,maybe tutoring or extra help in
(11:05):
some of the other areas. And socollege ready, we are unique in
that we start with students asyoung as when they promote from
eighth grade. And we got throughthe whole four years with them.
The reason why we started thatis I found that dripping it
gently over four years andhelping them figure out who am
I? Why does it matter? Doing apassion with purpose project,
(11:30):
and getting clear without makingmistakes on picking the right
classes or doing a club that maynot matter or even just being
too busy? These students thinkthat busyness equals college,
but that's not the case. And sohelping them to get clear on why
are they doing this, if they'rejust doing it for college and
(11:51):
just checking the box, I reallydiscourage it. Colleges are
looking for amazing students tobe themself, they're not looking
for a bunch of the same person.Because that would not be
college, that would be all thesame people that are looking for
diversity, not just in skincolor, not just in ethnicity.
(12:13):
They need business majors. Theyneed art majors that you know,
they need every but everydifferent kind of person. And so
I help students, one on one,create their stand out strategy,
and help them to get reallyclear how much rigor do they
really need, how many APS, howmany IVs. They don't need to
(12:35):
take all of them that areoffered. And then we help them
then understand what is theirtest strategy, how many times to
take it, where to take it, whyto take it. And then we do
what's called passion with apurpose. And I could talk all
day about that one, becausethat's my favorite. And then we
help them get clear onleadership and extracurricular
(12:56):
activities. But really, what itcomes down to is when they're
ready to graduate, we want themto know who they are, and why it
matters, and be able to conveythat to a college. And we're not
looking for just do this, this,this and this, I tell people
think about it as if you wereapplying to a job, you have a
(13:19):
very nice resume deep andthoughtful and something to be
proud of, or do you have noresume or maybe just one
volunteer opportunity. That'swhat it comes down to. There's
no particular one thing that'sbetter than another. So it's
helping that student to takeaway the unknown, the anxiety,
(13:43):
the stress that comes with justtruly not knowing, and we
simplify the process. Andinstead of making them Ultra
busy, ultra stressed, we makethem very calm. And we have a
process and the procedure andall they do is just a little bit
at a time. Now in reality, somepeople do not find college ready
(14:06):
until their sophomore junior orsenior year. And we have a plan
for them to it's just a firehose versus a sleeved rep. So
that's how we differentiate ofyou know, how do we help them
and when do we get started? Sowhat is
a standout strategy and why isit necessary?
(14:27):
So think about it this way,somebody will have your GPA or
higher, somebody will have yourtest score or higher. Somebody
will have community service ormore impressive community
service or more hours, somebodywill have more leadership or
(14:47):
better extracurricular. Soinstead of worrying about what
everybody else is doing, we'refocused on what that student
will do to stand out withoutconsidering In the noise out
there of my sister's brother'sbest friend's daughter, and
you're like, oh my gosh, but Idon't have that many APs and
(15:08):
you're like, but that's yourstrategy. And then it's about
picking the right college forthe right student. So we
simplify it. And we helpfamilies get clear on what is
most important in academic fit,a social fit, or a financial
fit. In a perfect world, you getall three, but just like dating,
(15:30):
you may not get all three. Soyou need to get really clear on
what is the deal breaker, orwhat is the thing you can't live
without? And then build thestrategy. So everything comes
together. You know, people askme all the time, how did my son
get into Harvard? That's a topof the and then how did he do it
(15:51):
without going into debt? Likethose two things. Everybody
wants to know, I tell him, hedidn't have a perfect GPA. He
didn't have a perfect testscore. He didn't have the most
community service hours. But hehad a lot of really good
standout work. He had a ton ofleadership. He had a lot of, you
know, four years of varsitysoccer not, you know, one
(16:15):
semester, it's all about thatstudent and what they bring is,
that's what's most important. Sowhen people start to get caught
up in, I want my kid to go tothis school. I ask why. Why that
school? And that's the hardpart. It's like, well, because
(16:35):
they have a good football team.Well, I'm like, is he going to
play football? Or they have awonderful softball team? Well,
is she going to play softball?So it's helping people almost
simplify in strategize like youwould a business transaction? I
tell people think about when youbought a home, your first home?
Did you walk up, pull the flyerout of your first time and go,
(16:58):
Yep, I'm gonna pay that price.I'm gonna buy that one. I don't
think many people would saythat. Or even a car simplified
even more, would you walk onto acar lot? Look at the sticker
price on the window and go, Oh,yeah, that's what I feel like
pain. No, you would not do that.But yet, we leave this process
(17:20):
up to our 17 year old. And it'sthe cost of some people's home,
a college education could costthe same not in California. But
in a lot of places. It is thesame cost. So leaving this up to
your 1617 or 18 year old, bevery careful, because I promise
you, they don't know how muchthat loan is going to cost.
(17:45):
Well, and that's one of thethings that I think is really
interesting. Right now. So Icome from a generation where
parents just kind of at somepoint, they're like, Okay, bye.
Yeah. Like, there, I didn't feellike I have a lot of guidance in
the whole college thing. Eventhe high school counselor, I
(18:08):
don't think was particularlyhelpful. You know, I came of age
in the 80s. So, you know, yougot to a certain point, you're
kind of on your own figuringthings out much more so than
kids today. And one of thethings that the way that I
started the process and tell meif this makes any sense. I said,
Okay, set up a spreadsheet, andgo research what you think you
(18:31):
want to study, I do not believeit's what you actually want to
study, but what you think youwant to study. I know a lot of
us end up studying things. Andthen we get out of school and
realize, man, I didn't want todo that at all. But you come up
with an idea of what you thinkyou want to study, look for
programs that are good schoolsthat you think you're interested
(18:51):
in, let's create a spreadsheet.And then let's start, you know,
start researching from there,you know, because everything's
online, yes. And no more paperbrochures coming out and all
that. So that seemed like a goodplace to get the kids started.
So they could start thinkingabout that piece. Is does that
seem like a reasonable strategyfor parents to take like, go and
(19:13):
start looking at schools andprograms and thinking about what
you want?
You know, it never hurts to lookand think but I think the
missing piece in all of that isgetting clear on what's most
important. Do you need afinancial offer? If that's most
important, and you start lookingat these amazing schools like
(19:34):
USC for 77,000 a year? Do youreally want your kid looking at
that school? And what if theyfall in love with it? That's
kind of dangerous. So I tellfamilies, as much as I love the
idea of them touring colleges,it's better to have a strategy
even for that. You know, whenyou're on a family vacation and
(19:57):
you happen to be in Boston inyour you're like, you know Let's
just go check out Harvard.That's what we did when my son
was in fifth grade. It wasn't,we're going to plan for college.
And no, it was like, Wow, thiscampus is amazing that history
is so awesome. It was never evenon our radar that that was a
school he would be applying towere from Southern California.
(20:19):
That is across the UnitedStates. This mama did not want
that to happen. But it wasreally introducing, I tell
parents, then the number onething to do is to talk about
college as a just extension ofadulting. Because no student I
(20:39):
know of wants four or six moreyears of high school. And they
think college is that they thinkoh my gosh, more school, I'm
done. Like I did my my penance,like let me out. So if you take
them on a college tour, and showthem and talk about your
memories, not all of them, butnot the wild ones, not the wild
(21:03):
ones, the ones how you combinedyour red shirt with your whities
and everything came up pink.Those stories are brilliant to
share, and how you met yourroommates and your they became
your lifelong friends and youknow, the connections with your
professors and really studyingsomething you wanted to learn
about on days and times youwanted to learn. These are the
(21:26):
things that need to be sharedwith students because they don't
know why they're taking all thisrigor. They don't know why their
parents keep saying just study,get good grades, and they're
like, this is awful. Why do Iwant to do four more years of
this? So I made college reallyfun. With college ready, we even
two times a year we take ourstudents and we tore colleges.
(21:49):
But what we do in our strategyis we look at one public, one
private, one large, one medium,and one small. And it doesn't
have to be a brand name school,because what we're trying to get
at is, what is important to thatstudent? Is that classroom size,
do they want to be one of 500 inbiology? Or do they want to be
(22:13):
one of 12? Do they want to havea big sports culture? Or does it
not matter? Do they want to goto college in a building in
downtown New York? Or do theywant to be in a rural community,
these things are reallyimportant for their success.
Because as you know, whenstudents are happy, they're
(22:33):
thriving, and they study well,when they're lonely and sad and
not connecting. That is not agood thing for them emotionally
or academically. So that is theway we approach it instead of
just, you know, Google is ascary thing. If you Google why
(22:54):
you have a headache, is becauseyou have a brain tumor, you have
to be very careful, right? Whatyou Google. And I tell the same
thing for students. Because USNews and World Report, as you
know, as nice as we want tothink that information is it's
really information, whatcolleges want you to believe.
(23:16):
And it's not always the exactfacts. And so I tell students
even be careful what you Googleand the resources that you're
using. Because not all of themare as solid as getting that
information directly from thecollege themself. So these are
all things that I tell studentsto be careful about. And then
(23:39):
when you pick a college, reallyget clear on the match of why
why that school isn't a subjectmatter. Because if a student
wants to go into psychology, Iasked them what they want to do
when they graduate. And if theysay get a job. I know they
haven't done their homework,because there's no job called
(23:59):
psychology. You have to go backto school and they're terrified
when they learn this. Yeah. Butif we're not having that
conversation, who is and it'snot the high school counselor,
because they say you're good atmath, go to MIT, nobody talks
about the cost of MIT. Nobodytalks about the social fit. Do
(24:22):
you want to fight for every a?Because at MIT, you better be
ready to bring your A game. Sostudents have to get really
clear on you know, what do theywant? Do they need an alumni?
Or, you know, where do they wantto live after school? I think we
focus a lot on the exitstrategy, versus just getting
(24:45):
them into a institution. Wetalked about what kind of career
would you like, in they'll throwout some ideas and I say how
much does that career make? NowMoney is not everything, but I
asked them Do you Ever want tomove out of your parents home?
And then money does get real?Yeah, yeah. And so I talked to
(25:07):
my say, Well, you know, I lovethat you want to be an artist?
Is that a hobby or a career?Because you don't just graduate
from college and you're a highpaid artist? So how will you
sell your art? How will youmarket? How will you finance?
Where will you get the capital?And they're all like, what? I
(25:28):
just want to paint? Like, whatare you talking about? So it's
these hard conversations, youknow, and as a parent, right,
you're a parent of three, I'm afour, you know, that when a
parent talks, they hear want,want, want, want, want. And
I'm gonna stop you there.Because I'm constantly surprised
at the things that my kidsremember that I say, good. We
(25:53):
had, we had one Christmas inparticular, where all three of
the kids were home from theirrespective places. And I'm
upstairs in my room. And I hearthem saying, oh, you know, my
mom used to always say, bla,bla, bla, bla bla, and I'm like,
they actually paid attention. Ididn't think they were so
parents, they really are payingattention. They just pretend
like they are.
(26:13):
I call it selective hearing, forsure they are listening. But I
will tell you, I will say thesame thing and apparent right
behind them as like, I have saidthis 10 times, yeah, you say it
once they do it. Why? And I'mlike, Well, you know, at least
they're gonna do it. It's likethat you have to be happy.
(26:34):
They're at least gonna do it.And I love teenagers. So it's
not, you know, it's not even agenerational thing. I think this
has been going on for many, manygenerations, where, you know,
they think a parent has theseexpectations, and they don't
want to let them down. So theymight want not want to talk
about being a professionaldancer, or a theatre, you know,
(26:58):
performer because parents areworried how will they connect
and get into that and afford it?And how long will they have to
wait tables before they gettheir big break? And these are
real parental concerns that goback generations?
Yeah. Yeah. Well, I know that,you know, one of my children
wanted to be a teacher. And Isaid, How about thinking about
(27:24):
getting a hard degree, andgetting a teaching certificate
in case you get into teaching,and you discover, maybe it's not
what you thought it was going tobe? Because public schools are
very challenging these days. Andthat was my approach. I don't
know if that was the bestapproach. But she did end up
(27:45):
getting a degree in chemistry,and she has received a teaching
certificate. And if she goesinto the classroom, and she's
happy, awesome, but if not, shehas an exit strategy. She has
something that she can. Doesthat makes sense. Like, that was
the approach that I you know,that was my parent. I don't have
(28:06):
any kids who decided they wantedto be in theater. So. But that's
the way it manifested for me,you know, was, I know that
teaching is very challengingprofession and a lot of teachers
relieving because of it, becauseit's hard. So what do you ask
what do you advise parents tosay when their kids want to get
(28:28):
into a profession that eitherthey know it's challenging, like
teaching, and a lot of peopleend up wanting to leave? Or they
want to go into dance or theateror something that we
traditionally in the UnitedStates feel like, hey, that's
going to be a struggle? What doyou advise parents to say? Or
(28:49):
how do you advise parents toapproach it?
So how I approach it as aprofessional and you know,
parents can take it any way theywant. I learned a long time ago,
don't give parenting advice. Iwill speak I will speak to what
I know. And I tell students,that is amazing. That is a great
plan. A I love that idea. Ithink, you know, having that as
(29:12):
part of your strategy is amazingidea, but What's plan B and Plan
C? Just like you just said foryour own child, just in case
plan A doesn't pan out, what isthe backup plan? And that is how
we approach it in and then wetalked about, you know, how much
(29:34):
debt would you have to incur? Todo Plan A, and how long would
you work for free? And they'relike, why? I don't want to work
for free. And I'm like, that'scalled a student loan. Yeah. And
if you don't get a reduced orfree education based on you
know, merit scholarships, that'swhat it's gonna cost. And they
(29:57):
said, Well, I don't want to workfor free and then I'm like,
okay, then Maybe we should dothis and go get some merit
scholarships, and really getclear on. If I do this, at least
I'm not in debt, and I have abackup plan. So typically, for
my artists and my musicians, Iwill always recommend, Plan A or
(30:17):
B that can be flip flopped itanytime, is have a business
major or minor. You can alwayssell art, you can always own a
music production studio. Theydon't have a hard time when I
say own or, you know, write bebe the one in charge. You know,
(30:39):
these are things so instead ofjust saying, You know what,
you're not going to besuccessful, it's really too
hard. You're going to be astruggling artists, all those
things as adults, we know is areal thing. Right? But if you
say that they're just going tostop listening. Yeah, so I don't
say that I just talked aboutthat to great planning. Yeah, I
(31:00):
love it. I, you know, it's,it's, it's telling them that I
hear them. But I'm not shootingthem down. And I think that's
all they want is to be heard,you know, teenagers, they just
want to be heard in a businessmajor or minor for any of those
type of wonderful dream, I callthem passions. I'm also a
(31:24):
professional photographer. Thatwas one of my seven professions
that I started in, you know,that was never my major. But I
fell in love with it. And I madegreat money at it. But then the
iPhone came out. So even thebest laid plans, right. But I
had my business to fall back on.And so that's what I encourage
(31:47):
students to look at, in do thework early. And that's why I
love when we have students inninth and 10th grade is because
we can start talking about whatare your gifts? What are your
talents? What are you here? Forwhat? Why are you on this
planet? And who do you want toserve? You know, do you want to
(32:08):
just work on your own in yourhome? Or do you want to, and we
do all of this in college readywith our passion with purpose
project? So first, we asked, wenot just ask we have
conversation with a student,what are you passionate about?
You would think that would beeasy. It is not easy for these
(32:28):
teenagers because thistechnology is here now fast,
furious, and they spend a lot oftime with it. I had one student
asked Siri Siri, what am Ipassionate about? Like it was
legit? Yeah, really? Oh, it'sinteresting. I would encourage
any parent listening on thispodcast, ask their student,
(32:49):
their child to write down 10things they're passionate about,
and then rank them and see howlong it takes them. About the
first three are easy. The nextthree are challenging, the rest
are truly pretty hard. Studentsreally struggle.
But I mean, is it possible to bepassionate about 10 things? Is
(33:11):
that a reasonable exercise? Imean, I know as an adult, I'm
not passionate about 10 things.
It is when you think about itthis way, if you woke up on
Saturday morning, and you hadnothing to do, and you had all
the money in time in the world,how would you use that time? I
can think of 10 things that Iwould do. I don't think that
(33:31):
that's asking a lot, you know,you know, it could be sitting
and reading a book with a cup ofcoffee, you know, that could be
quality, quiet time is whatthey're passionate about. It
could be you know, I want to goride my bike, I want to go to
the beach, all of these things Iwant to those are an indication
(33:53):
that that's what they love.That's what they want. So it's
not thinking about it in a wayof something tangible. It's just
figuring out who are they andwhat is important to them. Those
are the things we're diggingfor. And then the harder one is
when we ask them 10 things theywould like to see changed in the
(34:15):
world. So you have thisgeneration of huge advocates. I
mean, they want to do someamazing things. And I love that
about them. And I give them allthe time, money resources they
could come up with. They woulddo some amazing things. But
other ones that have been keptvery tight in their bubble in
(34:36):
their little world because hisparents were trying to protect
them from all that craziness.Yeah, they're at a total loss.
They honestly don't know.Because they've been sheltered,
good, better indifferent. I'mnot here to judge but if they
don't know what they want to seechanged in the world. It is hard
to do community service becausethey don't know that What needs
(35:00):
to be fixed? Right? So you know,community service is all good,
every single bit of it. Butthere's also better and best
right? Tutoring. That is such anice thing for them to do if
they like tutoring. But is thatwow, you tutored? No, that's
pretty okay. Pretty much everysmart kid tutors at some point,
(35:24):
some other person, then you getinto what's better, maybe if a
student has a heart for animals,they may want to make blankets
or bedding or something for, youknow, the the animals either at
the shelter, or the you know,the animals that are homeless,
(35:45):
that that is something they'repassionate about. And so it
means so much more to them thanjust showing up in tutoring. And
then what's amazing is when theylead others to create change,
where they truly find out rightnow the biggest thing is
depression and anxiety and allof the things that people are
(36:08):
going through a group of mystudents just created. It's
called Healthy Minds. Andthey're using sports to help get
it get students out of theirfunk. And so they love it and
this essay that they're going tobe able to write about how they
took this from a small idea to anational organization. That's
(36:31):
amazing. Like yet, they're doingit with people they love.
They're doing something theylove. And they feel like they're
really making a difference. Butwhat they're really finding out,
do I like to lead or follow? DoI like children? Or do I like
elderly? All of the sudden, thefocus is not on? What do you
want? You know, what do I want?But you're doing all of these
(36:54):
things for other people. Andyou're like, Wow, I'm pretty
good at this, you know,marketing thing, or I'm pretty
good at this empathy thing. Andthat is a great way to start.
Would that be a good career foryou? Yeah. And then you have
this whole different insightwhere they're leaving for
college, knowing who they areand why it matters. And their
(37:16):
major actually sticks and theydo something with it.
That's awesome. That'sabsolutely amazing. Well, if you
had three tips, three tips forsomebody, let's say their kid is
a junior. And they justdiscovered you guys. If you had
three tips for that student,what would they be?
(37:39):
The first one is find out whatthey truly are passionate about.
It is the beginning to asuccessful application season.
Number two would be berealistic, what is a good
academic fit, social fit andfinancial fit. And number three
(37:59):
is spend the time picking theright colleges. Our students are
in 10 Point 7 million inscholarships last year during
COVID. And it was because wematch the student with the best
school. And that is a criticalpiece to not going into that.
(38:20):
Got it got it. Awesome. Well,Shelly sorry, you can see that
my puppy has decided she wantsto join in here. She's ready to
play. Um, how can people get intouch with you?
I would think the easiest waywould be our website. And that's
WWW dot college ready planbecause it is a plan.com all our
(38:46):
social buttons are there. Andthe other thing I recommend, I
have a best selling book, How tosend your students to college
without losing your mind yourmoney. And you can get it on
Amazon or you can go to mywebsite and I'd be happy to to
send you a free copy for yourlisteners. So that would be my
(39:07):
my best advice.
Well, that's awesome, because Iwish I had that book before I
started this journey with thesekids. But let me tell you,
somehow we made it through. I'mreally glad that you're able to
share guys make sure you go toit's college. Ready. plan.com
Right, correct. Okay, thank you,Shelly Howard being on somewhere
(39:31):
in the middle with MicheleBarard.
It's been my pleasure. Thank youso much.
Well, that's our show thismonth, guys. You can reach me
online at Michele barard.com.You can also find me on
Facebook, Instagram and Tiktokas urban book editors. Send me a
note. I'd love to hear from feelfree to send them some topics
you'd like us to cover on theshow. We'll see you after the
(39:54):
new year on January 19 in 2024When my guests will Be author
and president of go get it. Netmateria Vonda. You can find us
once a month on Fridays at 5pmPacific 6pm Mountain 7pm Central
and 8pm Eastern at the somewherein the middle podcast.com Let's
(40:16):
continue the conversation. Youguys good. stay mindful and
happy holidays. Be Safe andEnjoy the break. Peace and
blessings
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