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Dan Miscisco is a
passionate man. His greatest passion is motivational
learning and listening to him talk about the subject,
it's hard not to be affected by his enthusiasm. In an
interview he pitches forward across the table,
punctuating his words with flailing hands, his intense
blue eyes boring holes. At one point he sits back and
apologises for his enthusiasm. "I get a little excited,"
he sys. Miscisco, a teacher at Norgate community school,
is the founder of Futurekids, motivational learning
camps for children in grades five to eight. The summer
camps are designed to show kids that education doesn't
have to be boring. "My task is to get young people
excited about learning. You have to make it an
adventure." The one-week summer camps aim to build
children's self-confidence and life skills in a positive
and supportive climate, Miscisco says. "I'm a firm
believer that if you exert effort you should get
acknowledgement." He relies on a repertoire of gimmicks,
props, and prizes to reward kids for their participation
in class. Miscisco throws himself wholeheartedly into
everything he does and he expects the people around him
to do the same. "I tell the kids, 'If you're not going
to do a good job of something, don't do it at all.
Otherwise you'll just practicing being sloppy."' The
North Shore teacher and speaker spends around 15 hours
a day running 20 camps a week. In addition to FutureKids,
which he started in 1990, Miscisco has been running
children's summer sports camps for 25 years. "I don't
think a moment goes by in the summer that I'm not
thinking about the camps," he says. Despite the growing
demand for Miscisco's camps, the man who started it all
says this may be his last year. |
Camp Offers Life Skills
Personal growth for young people is the focus of a
series of summer camps in the Lower Mainland. The city
educators - UBC lecturer Bernie Krynowsky and North
Vancouver teacher and motivational speaker Dan Miscisco
- who have founded Future Success Enrichment Camps to
raise self-esteem and encourage a range of skills from
time-management to leadership and money know-how in
youth. In small group sessions based on age (elementary,
junior-high, and senior high school age) students are
exposed to life skills, social skills including manners,
speaking and organizational skills and positive,
constructive attitudes. "We have fun - and activities
are powerful and realistic," Krynowsky adds. |
