When greatness gathers in one room, incredible things happen. We witnessed just that in January at our national office in DC, where our three Coaches-in-Training cohorts joined for the opportunity to advance their leadership, dive deeper into personal development, and hone their facilitation skills.
The three cohorts represented at the training were “6 Gods,” our newest cohort; “Elev8te,” the second-year cohort; and “The L.A.W.,” the third-year cohort. With each progressing year that a new cohort of Coaches-in-Training is welcomed, participants get closer to completing the three–year journey to receiving official PeerForward Coach certification. Over the course of those years, Coaches-in-Training facilitate at Summer Workshops and connect with their cohort to continually master the skills required to become a Coach.
Our most recent training was led by certified PeerForward Trainers Loubert Senatus, D.C. Howard, Omezie Omeokwe, and Tamika Gordon. There, Coaches-in-Training took part in collaborative exercises including book discussions on “The Four Agreements” and “Emotional Intelligence 2.0”, practiced facilitation, and even created vision boards to guide them on their leadership path.
All Coaches-in-Training are alumni of our program, bringing with them a strong familiarity with the Summer Workshop curriculum and personal stories of how greatly they were impacted by their own Summer Workshops when they were in high school. Now, they’re training to be on the opposite end of that experience to create a space for growth and empowerment for the next generation of Peer Leaders. This training allowed Coaches-in-Training to dig deep into Rap Sessions, often described as the most impactful sessions at our Workshops, to gain a more profound grasp of the lessons they are guiding students through during that session. As is common during Rap Sessions, emotions often run high as students confront obstacles they’ve faced and reach powerful breakthroughs of inspiration and empowerment. For this, Coaches-in-Training take great care to learn how to navigate heavy discussions and lead students to positive and uplifting takeaways, requiring countless hours of study and practice to run these sessions.
“I realized this is not just me using the challenges that I’ve gone through to learn and grow; it’s a passing on of tools, a sharing of resources, a sharing of knowledge,” Aloysia Jean of the 6 Gods cohort shared after the training. In that passing on of the PeerForward Summer Workshop experience, Coaches-in-Training are becoming part of a decades-long tradition of Peer Leader growth, learning, and transformation. Their work not only inspires our young leaders, it changes lives. We can’t wait to see these Coaches-in-Training shine at our upcoming 2020 Summer Workshops!
