Testimonials

The kid-grit curriculum is currently being taught to youth across the country in 25 states, enriching the lives of over 100,000 K-12 students, who are receiving kid-grit social-emotional learning (SEL), activities, and lessons from educators who have participated in training and conference sessions with our team.

From 2018-2021 kid-grit has…

  • Touched 10,000 educators through professional development, and conferences both in-person and over Zoom.
  • Trained over 1,200 educators in a district-wide initiative (Palm Springs Unified School District, CA.) to provide professional development services in the emerging new virtual return-to-school model.
  • Facilitated over 500 virtual professional development workshops to date.
  • Created 25 new content-driven remote learning workshops focused on SEL and human centered learning.
  • Begun to offer monthly FREE SEL sessions for educators around the world.

Explore Our Stories Here

kid-grit

Dr. Katherine Bihr, VP of Programs, TGR Foundation

Mandy Gonzales, English Learner Programs Coordinator,  (Palm Springs USD): How kid-grit Impacts Teachers

Jessica S. – ASCA testimonial

Testimonials ABOUT KID-GRIT CONTENT AND TRAINING

"This training was purely phenomenal. You have it! I am completely wowed and am so happy for our program and for our staff to experience you and kid-grit. We will schedule elementary soon. I am meeting with school admin next week- Buford may want to pilot kid-grit for their new SEL space. Thank you for doing what you do!"

“When enlisted the job of searching for the annual conference speakers for our South Dakota School Age Conference, I worry about meeting the needs of the wide array of attendees. Some have 25 plus years’ experience, and some have been on the job for less than a month.

I attended a kid-grit session at National Afterschool Association Conference, in NYC and was sure I had found the perfect fit for our conference. First Julia and Jeffrey are so relatable and passionate about their work and their new business. And, secondly, their curriculum/philosophy, while building on a buzzword of grit, is fresh and a realistic, holistic approach!

They were more than willing to meet in the hallway after the NAA session and start the process for a trip to South Dakota. The communication was directly with Julia and Jeffrey throughout the whole contracting process. The brainstorming and planning were seamless. The all-day session was so motivating and moving that their breakout sessions the second day were full to capacity.

Those in attendance were so complimentary of the conference, in short due to the kid-grit kick off session on Friday.

I highly recommend attending a session with Jeffrey and Julia AND booking them for your next event, whether it is a dive into the curriculum, seeking prevention education, student assemblies, keynotes or staff wellness coaching you will be blown away.

I sought their professional services first as a keynote for our statewide conference and now I am in communication to bring their holistic approach to my program for the students and my staff’s holistic wellness.”

“The training was very eye opening and informative. The exercises that we practiced had a positive effect on my team and myself. The curriculum was truly based on wellness of the mind and body. The training left me feeling more relaxed and out my mind at ease.”

“In a time and day, with children experiencing trauma at such a high rate, kid-grit has created a curriculum and training to positively impact the mind, body, and soul of students AND staff. This curriculum embodies the future of education.”

“The training set-up, the content, the facilitator – I mean talk about a great and interactive experience! I really enjoyed learning more about the holistic approach when interacting with students, whether in a traditional classroom and/or leadership development setting. kid-grit has provided us with a first-class training experience to better grasp the opportunity we have as educators to impact the lives of our students by utilizing Social Emotional Learning (SEL) strategies, nutrition and wellness that are often missing from traditional education. Big shout-out to Julia and her team!”

“I personally enjoyed the entire training. The trainer’s energy and engagement were outstanding. I learned so much, it re-energized me to want to do it all with my staff and students! Love, love, love!!!! There isn’t one specific session I valued most because I valued the entire training. From the activities, to the share-outs, to the personal stories and to the delivering of the lessons. Amazing! Truthfully honored and thankful to have experienced this training and definitely will empower and share! Thank you!”

“To me, the most valuable take away was that the information was research-based and it also provided opportunities that aren’t normally provided. This training reminded me of why I'm doing what I'm doing with this job and it has given me the motivation to keep pushing through obstacles.”

kid-grit
kid-grit

Staff Wellness Testimonials

“Region 3 Expanded Learning Team would like to thank you Julia and Jeffrey (Kid-Grit) for not only helping us to continue to grow our social generative container in Region 3, but also to help us in a more intentional way take care of our mental and physical well-being. During this time of uncertainty, your workshops provided a safe, restorative and interactive space for our diverse community to share and grow. Because of you, we will be better prepared post COVID -19 and look forward to future partnerships.”

"I reached out to kid-grit to see how their approach could support our English learner students develop stronger social-emotional skill sets while building their mindfulness and grit to further their English proficiency in all four language domains. Not only did this approach meet the needs of our long-term English learner population and newcomers, but it also exceeded my expectations in ways that I did not imagine when we began the process. Julia and her team gave our students a set of skills that they could rely on in any situation to help them feel more confident while boosting their communication and presentation skills. Students connected to school and improved their academic abilities in ways I never would have imagined all while developing a growth mindset."

kid-grit
kid-grit

How Will Students Benefit?

“This was really valuable for me because I learned new ways to connect to struggling students and help build their resilience.”

“It made me reflect on the many social justice issues that revolve around education in general and the impact on students.”

“By having activities that not only build mindfulness, but also culminating events that they can drive to apply their learning.”

“It will help them to cope and deal with issues they may be facing now or in the future.”

“I feel that it will be very relatable to their everyday lives, that kid-grit will help them out of their fixed mindsets and build them to a growth mindset and care for themselves and be able to cope with everyday situations.”

“It's great to have such a passionate, researched high school level, holistic approach serving students.”

kid-grit

TESTIMONIAL FOR DYNAMIC FACILITATOR TIPS

"Learning by doing is the heart of the Dynamic Facilitator Tips professional development. Educators have been tasked with bringing learning to life on a variety of virtual platforms over the past four months due to physical school closures from COVID19. The professional development series not only introduced our teachers to the basics of various virtual platforms but also highlighted and taught teachers how to use engaging websites and resources via Zoom and Google Meets to engage their students at high levels. Real time use of the applications by participants makes all the difference in the world causing every one of our participants to ask why every teacher was not attending. This workshops series impacted the virtual instruction of our teachers more positively than any other professional development we offered during this time."

What teacher training looks like at PSUSD