Collegiate athletes are accustomed to strategic planning to succeed in their athletic endeavors. However, according to the NCAA: More than 480,000 compete as NCAA athletes, and just a select few approx. less than 2% within each sport move on to compete at the professional or Olympic level and will go pro in something other than sports. Placing an increased importance on pouring a solid academic foundation is imperative for sustainable success. Eric Gerbens is the Assistant Director of Student-Athlete Support Services at Eastern Michigan University. His passion is helping student-athletes, realize their academic, professional, and personal goals. Gerbens says: “I love what I do! Something good is about to happen.” He joined me this week to tell me more. For general information visit: https://www.emich.edu/ Email: [email protected] For more information: https://emueagles.com/ Facebook: @emuathletics Twitter: @EMUAthletics Instagram: @emuathletics YouTube: @emuathletics

As a non-traditional student pursuing medicine, Camille Roney was fortunate enough. to stumble through her first few years of school with mediocre grades. “It took me years to figure out how to learn, and I love sharing what I know with other students.” She completely turned her grades around to achieve straight A's while juggling motherhood, multiple volunteer positions, research, and building a home while only spending about 1/4 of the time she used to study. She started a blog entailed the Learning Mom as a community of support for women in similar circumstances. She joined me this week to tell me more.  For more information: https://thelearningmom.net/Instagram: ​ @thelearningmom

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a growth rate of 17 percent by 2020 for special ed teachers of all student ages. The greatest growth – 21 percent – is predicted for special ed teachers from preschool level through elementary school, with a 20-percent growth rate predicted at the middle school level. This growth rate compares favorably to the 17-percent increase predicted for general education teachers of kindergarten through middle school. The slowest growth for special ed teachers is at the high school level, which the BLS projects at seven percent, identical to the predicted rate for high school general education teachers. Considering this expected increased in manpower within the field, what is the greatest area of emphasis which needs to be taught to these incoming professionals to ensure maximum level of value to the students there intended to serve? Tim Swenson is an Assistant Professor of Health & Human Performance at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. Swenson is passionate about providing students with disabilities opportunities to be physically active, as well as teaching physical education and teacher education majors about adapted or special physical education. He joined me this week to share his experience in the field. Email: [email protected]  Twitter: @SwensontTim

Experience is a great teacher of knowledge and can act as an accelerant in determining how you want to make the most impact in life. For James McWalter over the last year and ½ he’s chosen to add his voice and expertise towards the fight to bring awareness to the effects of climate change. Currently, he is working on a startup to decarbonize food supply chains. He also hosts the Carbotnic Podcast where he has long-form conversations with experts in cleantech. In the past he was the founder of Hale, a personal training marketplace. Additionally, he was Director of Operations at Respondent, a market research marketplace and Director of Business Development and employee #1 at Hello Vera, an AI chatbot startup acquired by a tech giant. Before that, he sold data to US quantitative hedge funds and portfolio analytics tools to EMEA asset and sovereign wealth managers. He grew up on an organic farm in Co. Mayo Ireland, and in the suburbia of upstate New York. He’s worked as a butcher, a cook, and in forestry management. He has a MLitt in Philosophy from St Andrews and a BA in Philosophy/Psychology from NUI, Galway.He joined me this week to tell me more. Twitter: @james_mcwalter Follow the Podcast: https://carbotnic.com/ LinkedIn: @JamesMcWalter

Deleveloping players of great leadership, character, personal and professional accountability if you ask Andrew Heath what gets him excited to get out of bed in the morning, there is a good chance he’d give you this very answer. As a professional basketball coach, Andrew  has developed players domestically and internationally at all levels. His main objective is to use his extensive experience as a player and coach to produce results and help you achieve your goals. He joined me this week to tell me how he works to inspire basketball players of all ages both on and off the court. For more information: https://www.andrewheathbasketball.com/ Instagram: @andrewheathbasketball Facebook: andrewheathbasketball Learn more: https://www.ball2books.com/

NFL draft fever is certainly in the air with anticipation alive and well. Its almost here.  It’s the NFL version of Christmas in April.  Its time to give the people what they want.  A deep dive NFL Draft preview. For this I turned to a Dexter Henry.  He is   a sports video journalist from Brooklyn, NY with over 15 years of professional experience. He has worked for various outlets including the New York Post, New York Daily News, ESPN Deportes, New York Giants, the News 12 Networks, The Props Network and Accuweather. We also took some time to dabble in his real passion his love of NBA basketball.  Let’s talk sports. Twitter: @DHenryTV YouTube: @Backpack Broadcasting Subscribe: @AHTTPODCAST

For over 20 years, Jill Wilk’s practice has focused on supporting client achievement, and implementing performance and training strategies for small and mid-sized businesses. With a focus on leadership development, she partners with businesses and individuals in diverse industries, seamlessly integrating concrete action plans while instilling a collaborative culture. She joined me this week to tell me more.  For more information https://soundadvicewomen.com/  Email: [email protected]

Your work should fit into your life, not the other way around Life is too short to live for retirement and just tolerate 40+ of our precious years. That's why Jay Bahadur walked away from his lucrative, but unfulfilling careers a pharmacist. He  didn't think he  had the skills to do anything else, and he didn't even know what he  wanted, but this wasn't it. Your work should fit into your life, not the other way around. I help people find fulfilling work, even if they have no idea where to start. He started the Evacuate The Office to help people who are engaged by thoughts like: “I feel like I’m wasting the best years of my life.” “Do I really have to wait until I retire to do the things I want to do?” “Is life really this boring?” He joined me this week to tell me more.   For more information: https://evacuatetheoffice.com/  Email: [email protected]

According to the Dyslexia Center of Utah: One in five students, or 15-20% of the population, has a language-based learning disability. Dyslexia is the most common of the language-based learning disabilities. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 38% of all fourth grade students are “below basic” reading skills. They are at or below the 40th percentile for their age group. · Nationwide 20% of the elementary school population is struggling with reading Therefore, what’s the best solution to address this problem?  Dr. Nathan Clemens is an Associate Professor, Department of Special Education at the University of Texas. His research and teaching focuses on improving instruction, intervention, and assessment for children and adolescents with dyslexia and other forms of reading difficulties. More specifically he studies children’s development of word reading skills in early elementary school (and how difficulties with word reading skills arise), reading comprehension among older students, improving educators' and researchers' use of assessment data to better understand their students’ unique needs and progress. Overall, he conducts research to better understand interventions, key practices, and assessments that are effective for students with the most intensive learning difficulties. He joined me this week to discuss Dyslexia in greater detail and the progress were making to address and serve students better.  Email: [email protected] Twitter: @DrNathanClemens

Building a strong foundation on which to stand starts with having a place to lay your head. For Chris Lento, he’s a Rocket Scientist turned Real Estate Investor. Whose passionate about the role that well managed, well maintained economic housing can play in helping to alleviate the current housing crises for middle and low income families. He is the managing member of EM Capital LLC and has over 16 years of experience in multifamily real estate investing. Chris is focused on acquiring commercial multifamily apartment complexes in markets across the country that exhibit positive growth trends. He joined me this week to discuss how he hopes his time in Real Estate, helps put families on the pathway towards prosperity one multifamily project at a time.  For more information: https://www.emcapitalgroup.com    LinkedIn: @EMCapital LLC Email: [email protected]