Overcoming Obstacles Launches First Annual Life Skills Day

NEW YORK, April 7, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- With the mission to ensure that all young people learn the communication, decision making, and goal setting skills they need to be successful in life, and to help combat the more than one million high school drop outs each year, Overcoming Obstacles, a highly acclaimed Life Skills Education program made available to educators at no cost, is launching the first ever Life Skills Day. 

The inaugural day of celebration, taking place on Tuesday, April 14, 2015, highlights the importance of learning life skills as part of our nation's school curriculum. Educators teaching Overcoming Obstacles report stronger academic achievement, increased graduation rates, better readiness for college and the workforce, and safer school environments.

Teach Life Skills and Change Our World

On Tuesday, April 14, 2015, Overcoming Obstacles is hosting the Teach Life Skills and Change Our World event at the Walter Reade Theater in New York. Bringing together community leaders, educators and journalists, the event will feature the premiere screening of the short documentary, Ripple Effect, followed by a panel discussion moderated by Byron Pitts, Emmy award-winning journalist and co-anchor for ABC News' Nightline.  Panelists include Dr. Maurice Elias, Professor, Rutgers University; Lois Herrera, CEO, Safety & Youth Development, NYC Schools; Hon. Richard W. Riley, Former U.S. Secretary of Education; Anthony Romero, Executive Director, ACLU; and, Dr. John W. Rowe, Former Chairman & CEO, Aetna.

Ripple Effect is a 34-minute documentary, hosted by Peter Coyote that shares the personal accounts of 14 students and 29 educators, administrators and community members whose lives were impacted from the ripple effect of life skills education. Produced by Jill Siegal Chalsty, the driving force behind the award-winning Overcoming Obstacles curriculum, the film encourages education reform through the adoption of life skills education in middle schools and high schools throughout the country.

School-Based Goals Wall Initiative

To drive awareness of these critical life skills, during the month of March, Overcoming Obstacles invited middle and high schools nationwide to participate in its Goals Wall initiative and encouraged students to affix photos, collages, drawings or other symbolic representations of their long or short term goals to a designated campus Goals Wall.  Goal Setting, this year's Life Skills Day theme, is one of the fundamental life skills necessary for success. The Overcoming Obstacles curriculum provides educators with the lessons and activities to teach goal setting and more than twenty additional critical life skills topics to their students. Participating schools were asked to submit photos of their Goals Wall to Overcoming Obstacles by April 8, 2015 for a chance to win $1000.  The winner will be announced on April 14, 2015.

About Overcoming Obstacles

Overcoming Obstacles Life Skills Curriculum is made available to schools at no cost through the Community for Education Foundation.  To date, Overcoming Obstacles has positively impacted the lives of more than three million young people across the country with improved attendance, reduction in school violence, improved behavior and improved graduation rates. In 2013, the National Dropout Prevention Center presented its Crystal Star Award to Overcoming Obstacles for its success in reducing dropout rates across the country.

Media Contact:
Susan Dawson
Overcoming Obstacles
[email protected]
212-406-7488 ext. 133

SOURCE Overcoming Obstacles