Personal leadership development is needed for EVERYONE – that is Reaching Higher’s cause. 

The skills taught in our personal leadership development courses – public speaking, overcoming limiting beliefs and self-confidence – are skills everyone needs, and yet these are skills that aren’t taught in a traditional classroom.

That is where Reaching Higher comes in – and, our 2023 Fall Gala.

As a non-profit, the majority of our general funding is a result of our annual events, with the gala being the largest contributor. We depend on the funds raised at our gala to support the ongoing efforts to bring a transformative curriculum to everyone. 

We are pleased to

What is “personal leadership development”? That is what Reaching Higher is all about, but what does it really mean?

Personal leadership development means taking stock of your own life and asking yourself what is working well and what isn’t. It is realizing that within each of us is the potential to do and be anything we set our minds to, and to achieve anything for which we are willing to work relentlessly. Personal leadership means you stop waiting for other people to change, you stop waiting for your circumstances to change, and YOU make the changes you need to make for your life to be happy and successful — you even define what success personally means to you.

As a teacher, a principal, and a Reaching Higher instructor I have seen over and over again

Reaching Higher’s curriculum of personal leadership development should be in every school in the state – and I have seen firsthand the reasons why.

Reaching Higher teaches the necessary soft skills that are not taught in a traditional classroom setting, yet these are the skills that are going to help your student go farther in the classroom and their chosen career. These skills will set them apart to teachers and employers long after Reaching Higher graduation day.

My son started middle school last year and my daughter will be starting middle school this year. The stories my son has told me, and the struggles I have seen his peers face, make me see how vitally important Reaching Higher is to the next generation.

They struggle with confidence, they strugg

In a world that is constantly evolving, the need for strong and visionary leaders is paramount. Traditionally, leadership development programs have catered to professionals and adults. However, Reaching Higher, a groundbreaking leadership development class for students is breaking the mold by empowering young individuals to reach their full potential before becoming adults. This life-changing program aims to impact our world and shape the future by providing personal leadership development and coaching to youth. Over the last three years, Reaching Higher has had a profound impact on our students at Pinckney Community Schools.

The best way to understand the impact that Reaching Higher has on students is to read personal quotes from Pinckney Community High School students who have

Our minds are constantly going.

In Reaching Higher for our Positive Life Choices session, we share the famous quote:
“Watch Your Thoughts,
They Become Words,
Watch Your Words,
They Become Actions,
Watch your Actions,
They become Habits,
Watch your Habits,
They become Character,
Watch your Character,
For it Becomes Your Destiny.”

It all starts with our thoughts. Our thoughts influence our words and choices which leads to
what action we will take. Over time, we have built a habit, either good or bad. Therefore, the
choices we make each day are the ones that shape our future.
It’s the small choices, the everyday choic

Like carrying a weight that gets heavier by the day, living in a state of fear is unhealthy and damaging to both a person’s mental and physical health. But moving beyond a fear state is easier said than done. Being aware of fear is the first step to freedom – and I battle it everyday.

My daughter Emma was born almost 11 years ago to the day of this publication with an omphalocele – a birth defect that caused nearly all of her core organs to be born in a sac outside her body. While I had always been a nervous and anxious person, this diagnosis was the straw that broke the camel’s back – everything I had been running from throughout my life finally came to fruition. The worries, the what-ifs, the unknowns that I had perpetuated in my head since I was a

What is a limiting belief? It is the voice inside you that says “I am too fat, too stupid, too tall, too short, too different” and “no one likes me, I can’t do it, why should I even try?”  Limiting beliefs are dream killers. In fact, since limiting beliefs can stop someone from even trying, they can kill a dream before it even has a CHANCE to succeed.

My limiting beliefs growing up often centered around my weight. I’ve always been big (I am 6’6” and over 300 pounds) and I have almost always been overweight. For me, this meant I didn’t want to change for gym, I didn’t want to participate in swim class, I felt I could not really compete in sports, I was sure that I was hideous, and I was never completely comfortable in my o

Learning to navigate life can be very difficult for middle school and high school students. We often have high expectations for teenagers socially, emotionally and academically, yet we don’t always equip them with the tools necessary to be the kind of leaders that we desire them to become. South Lyon Community Schools understands the value in providing extra leadership training for our students, and that is why they are providing and supporting Reaching Higher classes that run twice a year at both middle schools and both high schools in the district. 

Reaching Higher is a Michigan-based nonprofit organization that provides personal leadership training that motivates, inspires and prepares students to succeed and to reach their full potential.

In Reaching Higher, we just did a session on setting goals in our adult virtual class.

In January, everybody sets goals for themselves — their resolutions. But Jan. 13, the second Friday in January, is known as National Quitters Day — can you believe that? It’s the day when most people give up their New Year’s resolutions.

So, my message today is don’t quit on you and don’t quit on your goals. My tagline in life is “better your best.” You know how you better your best? You take one day at a time. You set a new intention and a new goal for that day.

By the way, don’t say you had a cheat day because cheating is not a good word, it’s loaded with guilt.

This is my dry January, but I have trea

Have you given up on setting New Year resolutions and making goals? 

Upon a quick Google search, below are some common results about New Year’s resolutions…

• 38.5 percent of U.S. adults set New Year’s resolutions every year.
• 43 percent of all people expect to give up on their resolution goals by February.
• Only 9 percent successfully keep their New Year’s resolutions.

Let’s move from New Year’s resolutions to goal-setting…

• 80 percent of Americans don’t have goals.
• Of the 20 percent who say they have goals, less than 4 percent write them down,

So why don&rsqu

I want you to think of about a time when you were grateful or someone that you were grateful for. It only takes a minute to think about that gratitude and you know what, your heart opens up. You feel more alive, and you feel connected. That is what gratitude does.

Gratitude comes from within us. When you practice gratitude, your world, the way you see the world changes and you change inside. It’s powerful!

I started a gratitude practice a year and half ago. In my life I have had a lot of uncertain devastation that has happened that I didn’t expect. I realized in my thoughts, because we teach positive thinking in Reaching Higher, that often I woke up fearful and at night I would go to bed sometimes with fear. I realized that I was waiting for th

When you ask others to recall a significant moment in their lives, I would expect you to hear about wedding days, first dates, births of babies, first days at a new job, perhaps graduating from college. Like most, I recall all those significant days very clearly and with a lot of joy. However, I decided to write about something a little different – my last day of school as a middle school principal.

I was the principal of Hartland Middle School at Ore Creek, in Hartland, Mich., for 20 years (and the assistant principal for four years before that). I was there when the school was designed and built. I had access to the architects and builders and was able to have some input into the type of school we wanted. We wanted natural light in every classroo

Do you feel like a “miracle”? Interesting questions, isn’t it? It is also the title of our first class in the Reaching Higher 4 Youth program – “You ARE a Miracle.” Let’s explore what we mean by that.

In Reaching Higher, we believe that everyone is meant to live a life of passion, confidence and purpose – truly living and not merely surviving. We also know that many obstacles can get in our way and make us feel unworthy, or less than others, and certainly not at all like a miracle.  However, this fundamental principle, that ALL PEOPLE deserve a life filled with joy and purpose, and that every person has value beyond measure, is the foundation for all the following lessons.

It can be hard to feel like you are a miracle when you

Recently, I attended a work conference where I was surrounded by empowering leaders who shared some impactful quotes. One message stood out that resonated with my journey: “Feel fear but go anyways.”

You know when you’re driving down the road, lost in the mundane of your day-to-day, listening to music and focused on getting to your destination? But then, suddenly, you almost drive right through that big, red stop sign that appeared out of nowhere? That’s fear — the stop sign that forces you to slam down on the brakes.

The thing is, although fear can’t be ignored, it can also be the green light prompting you to push down on the pedal and move forward. Fear is designed to halt, but it can also propel.

Leadership — one of my favorite topics. Why? Because our world, our country, companies,
communities, schools and families depend on good leadership. I have coached leaders for more than 30 years and have seen the good, the bad and the ugly (movie reference, not about looks).
My business tag line is “Helping you BETTER YOUR BEST.”

Here are a few leadership definitions:

Leadership is organizing a group of people to achieve a common goal. Leadership is helping believe in a better tomorrow or better outcome than you have today.

I love that one.

As a Reaching Higher Instructor for adults this is what the course does — it brings out the leader in individuals to believe in tomorrow, themsel

One of our core beliefs at Reaching Higher is that we believe leaders lead their lives by thinking critically for themselves versus being led or swayed through life by the “majority or crowd.” This means that we believe true leaders have integrity – they do what they know is right even when it is hard, even when no one is watching, even when it may be so much easier in the short term to do something else.

As a middle school principal myself for 20 years, I was faced with these decisions almost daily. How do I decide “the right thing to do”? Should it be what is best for the teachers? For the parents? For my boss? What was easiest for me?

I decided early on in my career that I would base all my decisions on what I believed w

Stepping into a Reaching Higher leadership class is stepping into a space where you begin to strengthen your self-confidence. It starts with having the courage to be vulnerable, by opening up and allowing yourself to be truly who you are.

Each week in a Reaching Higher class, students have the opportunity to speak in front of the class and share a leadership challenge they worked on. For the student, getting up in front of their peers, mentors and instructors takes a great deal of courage – but that’s when the growth happens. They feel seen, understood and respected.

The class runs for two hours each week for a total of eight weeks, ending with a graduation during which the student shares the impact the program has had on them personal

Do you believe we keep learning? Do you think someone can be too old, too young, or too “different” to learn and grow? Well, one of the core beliefs in Reaching Higher is that the personal leadership principles we teach are important for youth, adults, proven leaders, people who are struggling, and everyone in between.

Take me for example. I started teaching Reaching Higher to students at Hartland Middle School when I was in my late 40s. I was an educator for many years. I had taught English and Social Studies and GED preparation classes, I had been an assistant principal in Redford and then in Hartland, and at this point I had been a principal for about 15 years. What could I possibly learn from a personal leadership development course I was

Being your authentic self is easier said than done, but so worth it.  

What does “being authentic” mean to you? Most people would likely say it means “being yourself, being genuine, not fake.” Throughout the Reaching Higher course, we encourage individuals to bring their best authentic selves to school, to their job, with their families, friends, and peers. 

Why?  

Because as Oscar Wilde once said, “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”  

In our very first Reaching Higher session we read the “Paint Brush” poem together (excerpt):

“I keep my paint brush with me wherever I may go, in case

Did you know…

It’s estimated that a week’s worth of The New York Times contains more information than the average person was likely to come across in a lifetime in the 18th century.  

• In 1900, human knowledge doubled every 100 years.  
• In 1945, human knowledge doubled every 25 years.  
• In 2014, human knowledge doubled every 13 months. 
• In 2020, human knowledge doubles every 12 hours!

These are mind-boggling statistics. For me, it begs the question: should our ever-expanding knowledge change how we lead? 

“Beware of the barrenness of a busy life.&rdq

After surviving a life-altering car crash, our founder, Susie Dahlmann, sought coaching guidance that would change the course of her life. Today, we share how Susie’s tragedy formed Reaching Higher, including our cause to reach youth and everyone.   

Susie had been a successful second-grade teacher for years – then tragedy struck. Susie’s vehicle was involved in a crash that propelled Susie head-first through the windshield. When she woke up in the hospital from a coma, the doctor told Susie she was severely brain damaged. As a result, Susie held on to the limiting belief she was now left “stupid.” 

After one month of recovery, Susie returned to the classroom. She said, “being scared to death that I wasn&r

Does your future seem bright? Are you filled with positive hope for the future of our world? One of our core beliefs at Reaching Higher is that we believe our future can be positively impacted by reaching youth with personal leadership development opportunities, such as our Reaching Higher 4 Youth (RH4Youth) program. We believe personal leadership development is a powerful, transformative journey that today’s young people need more than ever.

As a middle school principal for 20 years in Hartland, Mich., I saw firsthand what happened when young people stopped believing in themselves – grades dropped, attendance plummeted and behavioral issues increased. We as caring adults seemed powerless to help. We tried rewards, punishments, meetings – all so

Have you ever wondered what prevents us from accomplishing more and being more? I sure have – and discovered for me, it’s me! 

I say this as I have to intentionally fight the tendency of making life more complex than it should be. If the tendency to add complexity wins, I find myself feeling less in control and sometimes even powerless. It is a state where I’m directing my energy toward things which are unable to foster a positive outcome. This thought frames today’s blog, Reaching Higher’s Leadership Belief statement of:

— We believe “simple” can be very powerful and shouldn’t be confused with easy.

If you search the term “leader” on the Internet, an endless list of opinions will pop up explaining what leadership is. With such an overwhelming amount of information, it’s no wonder some people resist the label of leader. Today, we will share with you what leadership means to US.

We believe leadership isn’t a formula or title, but are foundational principles which to build one’s life off of. Let’s start with what leadership isn’t. Just because someone possesses a leadership title, doesn’t mean they are a leader. Why? Let me answer this with a follow-up question for you to consider: have you ever been positively influenced and inspired by someone who lacked integrity or were unable to “lead&rdq

Welcome to our second blog, featuring Reaching Higher’s belief statements. So you may be wondering: are belief statements really needed in addition to our Vision, Mission and Core Values? Our response: a resounding YES! Let us share with you our why.  

In our first blog, we discussed Reaching Higher’s Guiding Stars, which are comprised of our Core Values, Vision and Mission. These Core Values outline what we believe about ALL  individuals, while our Vision and Mission communicate our desired impact on both the individual and the world. However, these statements alone don’t tell you ANYTHING about our beliefs regarding leadership. 

Our Belief Statements act as

Reaching Higher is launching our leadership blog. With this new initiative, we hope to encourage and inspire individuals on their journey to reach their potential. Whether you are a Reaching Higher program graduate, or are new to Reaching Higher with a desire to grow, we hope this blog will serve you and offer guidance as you continue your journey.    

Today, we invite you to get to know us deeper as we share our core and cause – what we call our “Guiding Stars.” They outline What We Do, Why We Do It and How We Do It. The culmination of these Guiding Stars, coupled with our Belief Statements, together represent our Cause. 

Why name our blog &ldq