Don't Quit! Use Grit! (6th-8th grade)

This performance is based on Grant Overstake's acclaimed young adult novel, MAGGIE VAULTS OVER THE MOON and its gritty heroine, Maggie Steele, a gutsy Kansas farm girl who pours her broken heart into the daring and sometimes dangerous sport of pole-vaulting.

A laptop, internet connection and projector with speakers are requested.

The core message of the program is based on The Partnership for 21st Century Skills, which ranks Flexibility, consisting of perseverance, resiliency and courage (aka Grit) as the #1 Life Skill required for success.

The program features real-life people, such as Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein and Abraham Lincoln, along with Michael Jordan, Steve Jobs, and Oprah Winfrey, who we regard as great today, but were once considered failures.

"The message I want students to take away from the program is that it takes perseverance and grit to become really good at anything that's worth doing," Overstake said. "In fact, it's impossible to become really great at something without failing, time and time again."

Artist: Grant Overstake

"[T]he concepts of self-control, delayed gratification and perseverance are more important now than ever before. Today's youth deserve adults in their lives who will not only teach them these concepts but will model these skills in their daily lives. Mr. Overstake does an amazing job of introducing "Grit" to both students and staff alike. I highly recommend his program to each and every school and staff."

Mr. Mike Meyer, M.Ed.; Social Studies/Science Teacher, Team Leader, Holy Savior Catholic Academy

"...one of the most successful [assembly programs] we had in years."

C. Jones, School Counselor, Beech Elementary