Relationships Are Powerful By Paul Heilker: Chapter Summary

Introduction;

“Relationships are powerful.”

-Cyrus Brown, Tedx Talk Tacoma 2013

Cyrus Brown is not only a calculus teacher at Tacoma School of the Arts, but a strong believer in creating a better education system. He believes students do not learn through test taking, but through creating relationships with your peers. By creating these connections with people you are now able to become a more empathetic deep thinker who wants to make a community worth growing in, not just in the classroom, but in life as well.

Problem;

Our dorm rooms are meant to create a comfortable community for our students, but they are not being used in that way. If you took one day to observe the space in which students lived, you would notice a lack of empathy from

Heilker conveys the concept on how exploring different genres, and ways of living, force people to become something more, and technically

Western Washington University, like most colleges, have a summer orientation for their incoming students. Western and other colleges can create a workshop at their orientations teaching the new students why community is so important to a learning environment. These workshops can be taught by the volunteers who are already deciding to work and teach at summer orientations. We shouldn’t just stop there, only teaching a concept once isn’t going to stick with people. Resident directors, and advisors should instill these ideas at their stack/dorm meetings. Making a commitment for pushing their residents in their dorms to meet new people and value the ones they live