On Sunday, February 11th at 3:00 pm, Purnell was featured in a 1 1/2 hour show on WLIW produced by and starring leadership expert and author Marcus Buckingham. Marcus Buckingham is an international best selling author and speaker on leadership. After growing interested in Purnell because of our work with building on student strengths, he visited the School in early December and filmed for two days. Two segments produced from that shoot are featured in the PBS show entitled Go Put Your Strengths to Work.
The partnership between Marcus Buckingham and Purnell began back in October when forty students wrote Mr. Buckingham letters after viewing his dvd series, Trombone Player Wanted. The series is a part of Purnell's unique Affinities Program course which is designed to help students discover and build upon their strengths. The girls felt that Mr. Buckingham spoke directly to them and in their letters invited him to visit campus.
Having spent his career consulting with Fortune 500 companies about how to find and maximize the strengths of their employees, Mr. Buckingham was intrigued by a school devoted to capitalizing on both student and teacher strengths. Eager to see a community approach to developing strengths, in the first week of December he came to Purnell.
Accompanied by a film crew from electronics retailer Best Buy, Mr. Buckingham spent two days on campus exploring the Purnell experience. He spoke to the students at morning meeting where he saw a senior speech and an Affinities Wednesday presentation. He attended an Affinities class, met with faculty and interviewed Head of School Jenifer Fox and a group of students about life in a "strengths-based" school.
In January, a group of students traveled to Minneapolis for the filming of the rest of the PBS show at the historic Guthrie Theater. After the show, they were invited backstage to meet with Best Buy executives and local press.
The show will air across the rest of the country later this year. Stay tuned for more details.
