Humanity Launch works to help teachers, students be seen, heard

Two longtime educators are seeking to start a movement, and they need high school students to help them advance it.

Kim Bartling and Gregg Talcott taught together years ago at O’Gorman High School. In the intervening period, he spent 19 of his 37 years in education as lead principal at Brandon Valley High School. She taught at the University of Sioux Falls for 14 years and teaches critical thinking and classroom management to teachers in Belize, Central America.

Now, they have reunited with The Humanity Launch, a building-culture company that primarily focuses on education and has plans to assist businesses, Bartling said.

During Talcott’s tenure as a teacher, coach and administrator, he has seen multiple changes in the dynamics of families and children, she said. Bartling brings her personal experience as a mother and a background in education and a theater company dedicated to social change and empowering women.

In its first year of operation, The Humanity Launch has served as an education consultant with multiple school districts. The interactive retreats give teachers the language and tools to use in their classrooms and with each other, Bartling said.

“Our goal is to remind them why they went into teaching in the first place,” said Bartling, who cites lecturer, author and podcast host Brené Brown as an influence. “What we do is serious, but we don’t take ourselves seriously. We make the different modules with teachers super fun.”

The Humanity Launch also offers retreats for students. These are not the typical assemblies that keep students in their seats, she said.

“Our messaging primarily revolves around inclusion and their social media presence such as bullying and being respectful, how are you using it and are you using too much of it,” she said. “Mental health is huge. We talk about ‘how do you ask for help?’ We talk about being kind to one another and how to plug into somebody you haven’t talked to in a long time, how to find someone else interesting, how to do follow-up questions. When you’re working with kids, it’s all about working with one another.”

Bartling calls these retreats “the most rewarding thing I’ve done in my cumulative years in education.” In some schools, she and Talcott work with juniors and seniors in the morning and then freshmen and sophomores in the afternoon. For those sessions, seniors interested in reaching out are encouraged to participate with the underclassmen.

In smaller schools, all four grades participate together, and in the afternoon, seniors help with the middle school students.

“We saw how this really changed the seniors, and we thought, we need something more,” Bartling said.

In April and May, The Humanity Launch conducted senior retreats at 13 schools in five weeks. Members of the senior class go off-site, and over a seven-hour day, they cover a variety of topics. That includes learning how to say goodbye in a healthy manner, who to thank, who to make amends with, considering their legacies and how to be successful in their first year out of high school. That includes entering the workforce, starting college or vocational schools and the military.

Bartling and Talcott asked the students one important question: What’s the one thing you’re scared of? They learned the graduating students worried about not feeling sure of themselves, how to make connections with new people, how to handle their own finances, how to ask for help.

The success of those programs led Bartling and Talcott to decide to expand again.

“We said, OK, we need to start this earlier,” Bartling said. “We’re starting a movement. Kids will go back to their schools and start things and celebrate success on all levels.”

The first Student Leadership Academy for seniors who will graduate in 2023 will run from 1 p.m. Aug. 1 to 1 p.m. Aug. 3 at Augustana University. They will leave with the skills needed to return to their communities in South Dakota and southwest Minnesota and make necessary changes, Bartling said.

The event will include speakers, activities, volunteer opportunities at the St. Francis House and outings.

Cost is $50 with corporate sponsors signed on for 80 percent of the cost, Bartling said. Lodging for two nights in single dorm rooms, all meals, snacks and activity expenses are included in the cost.

“All students will go back to their communities with a plan for the future,” Bartling said. “This is how they will become leaders.”

The Humanity Launch is working to help teachers and students be seen and heard, she said. Issues that have surfaced in recent years have been divisive, and the COVID pandemic isolated people.

“It’s time to come back together, and we want to teach people to do that in a healthy manner,” Bartling said.

To register for the Student Leadership Academy, use the QR code or visit this link. The deadline is July 22.