Our middle school students enjoyed our 11th SPA TALKS speaker, Scott B. Sonnon, on Thursday, September 28th. He addressed the school’s core commitment of ENGAGE in the latest SPA Talk series (A Platform Where Ideas and Inspiration are Shared).
The speaker series strives to have local professionals invest in our students to remind them that our school’s Core Commitments can be put into action in their lives. For our students at St. Paul’s Academy, the concept of I will engage… means the following: Embrace life with its joy and frustrations. Connect with family, friends, classmates, colleagues, and people around the world. Tackle problems and challenges – intellectual, practical, spiritual, and social. Discipline yourself, knowing that accomplishment and academic rigor require resilience and persistence. Act upon your convictions with courage and with kindness. Embrace leadership opportunities of all kinds.
In his particular talk, students and audience members were inspired to think about their life balance and habit-forming behavior. A grandma in the audience mentioned that she felt the content was very kid-friendly, while still encouraging everyone in the room to think about their lifestyle and how it relates to the function of their brain in connection to neuroscience.
Scott talked about his career with the United States Military Special Operations Forces, his role as a Human Performance Scientist, and what he knows about how habits affect the brain’s ability to function. He was willing to be vulnerable and to share from his own life story about resilience and what he has unpacked about the brain: personally, in his career, and as an athlete.
For example, in simple terms, Scott shared about the Anatomy and Function Areas of the Brain.
He explained through images on a PowerPoint the importance of how the brain is affected and is always in relationship with the body. He gave helpful tips about how sleep helps us to regain clarity, the value of taking breaks and getting rest, and the necessity of exercise every day to avoid brain burnouts. One of the powerful statements he made in his presentation was the following: “Your brain is shaped how you move, breathe, exercise, eat and sleep (as a result, so are your thoughts and emotions).”
Several students and staff expressed that they found his delivery to be direct, clear, and appropriate for the timing of the year, as students are reconfirming habits and sleeping patterns. Sofia F. an 8th grader commented, “I liked how he connected facts with real-life examples or stories. I learned how exercising affects and helps learning.”
He even talked about how one’s posture affects signals to their brain.
As a school community we are in the process of developing our back-to-school routines, so his talk was relative and meaningful. “He gave tips about adopting useful habits that we could successfully apply to our lives. You could tell he wanted to share. Our school is lucky that he came to share with us,” said 7th grade student Scarlet C.
As he recapped what he shared during the talk he informing the audience that when they get lost or overwhelmed, just remember…
Finally, he reiterated to the audience that we all have the potential to improve if we remain like a boat and tack back and forth between our brain and body.
Again, we are so thankful to all of our speakers that donate their time to invest in our kids and community.
