“Becoming Your Personal Best” offers comprehensive lessons, teaching guide and informational website to educators
“Becoming Your Personal Best: Life Lessons from Olympians and Paralympians” (BYPB), a comprehensive resiliency program, is now available for teachers, coaches and all adults who work with youth with the launch of BecomingYourPersonalBest.org providing access to the free curriculum and teaching guide.
Developed by the United States Olympic & Paralympic Museum in partnership with the Colorado Health Foundation, this first-of-its-kind resiliency program shares the inspiring life stories from Olympians and Paralympians, along with skill-building activities to help young people learn about meeting personal challenges, growing through failure, and developing a positive mindset.
“The USOPM is proud to offer this resource to our Colorado community,” said Phil Lane, U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum’s acting CEO. “We know kids and families are struggling in these chaotic times, and the USOPM wanted to offer support by sharing the incredible resiliency stories of our Olympic and Paralympic athletes through the development of the BYPB program. And, to ensure a wide reach for the program, we are offering free access to the curriculum for all residents, schools, and community organizations in Colorado.”
The curriculum, now accessible on BecomingYourPersonalBest.org, is composed of lesson plans, activities, and 5-7-minute, athlete videos for students in grades 4-12. It is set up in 32 modules with 80 lessons focusing on Self-Identity, Mindset, Problem Solving, Perseverance, Relationships and Confidence.
“We are delighted to have this program ready to reach Colorado’s young people just in time for the start of the school year,” said Dr. Laura Quinn, BYPB Curriculum Director. “BYPB comes out of a collaborative design process with a great team of educators, counselors and youth leaders; it is research informed and designed for accessibility and equity. And what better role models for learning to overcome barriers and work through challenges than Olympians and Paralympians? The need for resiliency education is so great right now, especially with the added challenges brought about by the pandemic, and we’re hearing that this program will be a helpful resource to fill the gap in our youth’s resiliency skills and abilities.”
Olympians and Paralympians featured in the curriculum videos as well as a nine-part part video series that is presently airing Sundays on Rocky Mountain PBS through October 3 include Clarissa Chun (Bronze medal, wrestling // 2012 // 2008), Jim Craig (Gold medal, ice hockey // 1980 “Miracle on Ice”), Dartanyon Crockett (2x Bronze medal //Para judo // 2012 // 2016), Tricia Downing (Para shooting // 2016 // first female paraplegic to compete in Ironman Triathlon), Michelle Dusserre Farrell (Silver medal, gymnast // 1984), Hunter Kemper (4x triathlete // 2000 // 2004 // 2008 // 2012), Letticia Martinez (2x Swimming // 2012 // 2016) and John Register (Silver medal, Para track and field // 2000 // Para swimming // 1996).
BYPB was made possible by generous funding from the Colorado Health Foundation. It was designed with a focus on resiliency skill development for youth and the curriculum can easily be adapted to best fit the needs of educators and students of all backgrounds and abilities.
BYPB staff began hosting Resiliency Huddles and Resiliency Warm-Ups at the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum during the Colorado Grand Opening, highlighting lessons from the curriculum with art, activities and discussions with Olympians and Paralympians. To learn more, and for access to the curriculum and video series, please visit BecomingYourPersonalBest.org. Teachers and youth can follow Becoming Your Personal Best on Facebook and Instagram as well.
