After being inspired at an EASTCon25 breakout session about soft skills, Reagan realized that her peers had none. She also noticed her peers couldn't look up from their phones and experience the world around them. She decided she would change that.
Reagan contacted the woman who had led that breakout session, Amy Bates, an event strategist who at the time worked for Avad3, the event production company EAST students will recognize from Conference. Together, the two of them developed a curriculum of soft skills, all with the goal to give kids the skills to make eye contact with the world around them, instead of burying themselves in a screen.
Amy and Reagan piloted those lessons in our ESMS EAST classroom and used that experience and feedback to create Reagan's Look Up University Workbook, which is now freely available to parents and educators who need a structured, kid-friendly approach to building soft skills and setting boundaries around technology.
Reagan learned the process of following a passion through to a project with a defined product, and the skill of communicating unpleasant truths to groups of her peers. Students of Look Up University learn about soft skills, simulate real world challenges, complete self-evaluations, and earn badges on their way to being confident and competent communicators. Go to https://esms-east.vercel.app/luu, download or print your copy, and start growing your soft skills today!