Speakers: Katie. Ave. Ava. Mary Katherine. Ellie
Ava: Hi, I'm Ava and I have been in coaching for 3.5 years now. Ok.
Ava: I first heard about coaching through my dad who was also a coach for Southwestern. He informed me of all of the amazing things that coaching has to offer. And I feel like it was at a time in my life where I really needed some guidance. And these past 3.5 years have been so great. I feel like I've learned so much about not only myself but just how to navigate just high school in general. And then like now just college, like I'm going into college. So it was really great to be able to have someone to turn to when I need it to just like, navigate all of like the college application process and just like things like that. And honestly, like, it's been the best experience so far and I'm so glad I did it.
Ava: Throughout my time in coaching, I've honestly learned so much about not only myself but just how to prioritize life. I feel like I wasn't the same person. I was 3.5 years ago. I've grown so much as a person, I've learned how to set goals, prioritize tasks, how to use my time, how to pull myself out of a rut. But I would say my favorite thing that I've gained out of coaching so far, it would just be my confidence. I feel like my confidence has grown so much. I feel like a completely different person and I'm so grateful for it.
Ava: My coach Whitney is one of my favorite people in the world. I love her so much. She's helped me so much just throughout the past three years, navigate high school and just the whole college application process. And I really couldn't ask for anyone better. She's so kind. She's so welcoming. She's funny. She's really everything that I would want in a coach. And I initially went into coaching, not really knowing what the whole thing would be like, just not knowing what the coaches would be like. And she welcomed me with open arms and it was just so great to have that and I hope to have her as long as I can.
Ava: If I were to give any advice to anyone joining student coaching, I would just say be open and honest about it because your coaches will help you. They care about you, they love you and they just want to see you succeed. And I've seen that throughout my experience with my coach Whitney and they really truly do want what's best for you. So go into it with an open mind and you're gonna gain amazing things from it.
Mary Katherine: Hi, I'm Mary Katherine King and I've been doing coaching for about five years.
Mary Katherine: I think one of the most important things I've learned during coaching is definitely like awareness, not only with yourself but like with other around you and knowing that they're also going through stuff. So you can't just have only like your POV, you also need to put yourself in other people's shoes so you can sympathize with them.
Mary Katherine: I absolutely love my coach. Um She's just truly amazing, so kind and humble and really honest with me and honest when I'm like, need someone to like, point me in a certain direction and she's really helped me open my eyes to like mistakes I may have been making or bring me do stuff another way that might be more beneficial.
Mary Katherine: I would definitely say come to coaching with an open mind and just a will to like, learn and change your ways in life.
Ellie: Hi, my name is Ellie Waibel. I'm from the Dayton, Ohio area and I've been in coaching for about three years.
Ellie: So it was kind of just to improve my high school experience. I was doing sports at the time so it was to kind of manage the stress and to manage my schedule and just to kind of help me grow throughout my high school experience. And then I was also thinking about my college experience, what I wanted in terms of college admission outcomes. So that was another main reason that I wanted to join student coaching is because I knew that they could help me with that.
Ellie: But I think that the most important thing that I've learned is how to deal with the different stresses that come into your life and how to a approach them and b how to address them and how to figure out, hey, is this something that's important or is it just whatever and then it isn't as important to me as I thought it was.
Ellie: My coach is very fun. She has a lot of enthusiasm, which is good. I think that she's a pretty good fit for me. I can be a little shy sometimes. So I think Whitney kind of helps me, like, come out of my shell. She encourages me to feel things which is good because I like to think more than I like to feel.
Ellie: The advice that I would give to someone who wanted to join or was thinking about joining. Student coaching would be to not be scared to fully put yourself in the full process. So don't be scared to tell your coach stuff. Don't be scared to tell them what you're really feeling, to tell them what you worry about the most or what's bothering you or what are some hard things that are in your life just because the student coaches can really help you grow through those experiences.
Katie: My name is Katie McCain and I've been in coaching for about four years now.
Katie: The main reason I ended up joining student coaching was because during COVID, I was having a really rough time with balancing my academic life and social life. And so coaching really helped me to find more of a balance there.
Katie: I think the most important thing that I've learned from coaching is honestly emotional intelligence, especially surrounding anger because it was something that Whitney told me a long time ago and it really stuck with me and I carry it with me in a lot of like the situations that I face now is that when you are angry with someone, you are giving them your peace, you are giving them power. And when you're mad at someone, that's the last thing you ever wanna do. And so honestly, through coaching, I've learned a lot of, I've gotten a lot of more emotional intelligence and also I'm able to manage my emotions a little bit better. Like I don't let somebody take all
Katie: My coach Whitney is wonderful. She always tells me how it is like I could be having like a complete total breakdown and she like, she grounds me. She has me stop the spiral. We talk, we talk it through. Honestly, Whitney has helped me in so many ways with dealing with my problems. She's, I've learned a lot about how to like have conflict in a good and healthy way as opposed to just like very blunt and unkind. Whitney is really wonderful and when I have problems and I come to her, I always leave feeling like much more at peace with the problem itself and like I have better solutions so that it will, I can solve the problem. I always feel like when I go to Whitney with the problem, she gives me all the tools I need to solve it.
Katie: My advice to someone who is considering doing coaching is do your homework because a lot of the times the homework is, it's there for a reason and it does help you to grow. When I, when I do the homework, I, I can see noticeable changes. Like at one point, my homework was to practice gratitude and that I was a happier person when I was doing that. And I feel like coaching gives you so many tools and like it's, it's given to you as homework. Like you should do this on your own. Like this is a tool, use it on your own. And if you don't actually use it, it's not gonna help. So using the tools that they give you, using your homework, it does help you to grow.
Ave: Hi, I'm Ave Ferguson and I was in coaching from, I wanna say July of 22 to September of 2023 with Miss Whitney Armstrong.
Ave: I would say the most important lesson that I learned in coaching is that the sky is the limit. And the only one who can determine what you can and can't do is yourself. But sometimes you gotta just cut yourself a little bit of slack and just remember I'm human and sometimes it's all you can be.
Ave: I thought that my coach, Miss Whitney was amazing. She was such a safe place for me to openly ask questions and we get to laugh together about all sorts of different topics. And she even came to support me in two shows that I performed in throughout our coaching session. So I would really recommend her.
Ave: I would say, make sure that it's the right point in your life for Southwestern coaching. If you really honestly want to 100% use this awesome tool to the best of your ability. And I would say, carry these lessons with you kind of as you go about your life and never forget them.
