Success stories
DAVID NEWTON'S SUCCESS STORY
David Newton, Engineering Research Psychologist, Federal Aviation Administration Civil Aerospace Medical Institute.
David Newton was diagnosed with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) at an early age and attended a school for children with learning differences. While in 7th grade, David began math tutoring with Sherry Erickson. In his senior year of high school, he enrolled in the Skills for Success program developed by Sherry Erickson.
David is now 31 years old and recently purchased his own condo. He is also in the process of getting his Doctorate while performing research for the FAA at his day job. To put it succinctly, David has his life on track and he’s exactly where he wants to be.
How Has Skills for Success Helped You?
“The Skills for Success program primed me to think a lot about the skills you don’t learn in your high school curriculum. Such life skills as:
- How to make money
- How to self-advocate
- How to keep safe
- How to budget
- How to save for retirement
As a high school student, you may not have the opportunity to use these skills right away, but you will eventually encounter situations in life where the need quickly arises. Because you’ve already gone through those steps mentally in the program—your brain instantly gets reprimed, and you can jump right back into the thought process you learned in the program.
After I graduated college, I started a full-time job and was immediately able to go back into the mindset and apply the skills that I learned in the program. Things that were buried in my memory immediately came back to the surface, and I knew exactly what I needed to do.
The Skills for Success program gave me the tools I needed for real-world situations, such as budgeting, taxes, and investing.”
How Has What You Learned Benefitted You in Life?
“The program greatly improved my self-confidence and ability to act and think independently. By having all this knowledge given to me by the program, I did not feel like I was stumbling around in the dark after graduating high school and college.
There have also been certain points in my life when some aspects of the program became immediately relevant. It made me feel like I was more on top of things and less likely to seek advice from people who may not give great advice or have my best interests in mind.”
What Was the Skills for Success Program Like?
“When I initially went through the program, it was in a different context than it’s currently set up. I went through a one-on-one program over the course of a month or so, and Sherry sat down with me and covered individual topics.
However, she tried not to be the sole source of information—she has a vast network of experts, such as finance professionals and other people with different backgrounds who are specialists in their fields. Sherry will bring that person in during different phases of the program so they can provide expert advice.
I like the Skills for Success program because it’s not just Sherry lecturing or telling me, “this is what you need to do.” It’s collaborative and she presents hypothetical problems that I worked with her to solve. Periodically, an expert would come in and provide valuable advice.
The program is diverse, reciprocal, and engaging. It kept me on my toes, as it’s an active form of learning instead of the traditional, lecture style of learning you typically encounter in a college class.
I come from a close-knit family and have a few aging family members. The skills I learned have allowed me to provide my relatives with the support they need. For example, older adults are often vulnerable to financial scams, and I have used what I learned in the program to reduce my relatives’ risk of getting manipulated by scammers.”
TIA STRONG'S SUCCESS STORY
Tia A. Strong, MS, LPC, NCC, CSAT-C
Board Certified Counselor
Clinical Therapist
"I have known and taken instruction provided by Sherry for over a decade and throughout that time as well as long after I have found much success in my life. She is not only an effective teacher, but also a powerful motivator and champion of her students. It was her own effective and successful approach to an independent livelihood that led me to take her “Skills for Success” course. Often, whether it be our families, our education, or society, we are not taught the vital ways of how to navigate essential proponents of living. Her skills course not only meets this need, but provides a solid foundation to learn how to thrive. Just in taking this course, you are engaging in one of the most fundamental keys to success - investing in yourself."
