WhyTry and Friday Night Live
Get started with WhyTry by registering for one of the upcoming WhyTry Introductory Training events below!
WhyTry is not just a toolkit for using with your Friday Night Live groups; it’s also an approach to building caring relationships and motivating the youth you serve.
Training is the key to having success with WhyTry!
To effectively follow the WhyTry Approach, our introductory training will help you follow some of these best practices for leading discussions, teaching, and facilitating activities that engage youth and help make the work you do more relevant to them.
WhyTry Introductory (Level 1) Training October 30th – Sacramento
Sacramento – 8:30 am – 3:30 pm
Holiday Inn Sacramento Downtown Area
300 J Street
Sacramento, CA 95814
WhyTry Introductory (Level 1) Training November 14th – Los Angeles
Los Angeles, – 8:30 am – 3:30 pm
WhyTry Introductory (Level 1) Training November 16-17th – Virtual
Virtual (online) – 8:00 am – 12:00 pm
WhyTry Introductory (Level 1) Training December 7th-8th – Virtual
Virtual (online) – 8:00 am – 12:00 pm
Already registered for one of these training events? Your next steps are to begin exploring the program toolkit!
Once you have registered for a training date, you can get started exploring the program materials and toolkit right now! Watch this video for some suggestions on where to begin.
More information about WhyTry
Watch this brief overview of The WhyTry Program, toolkit, and materials to see how they can work for you!
What Separates WhyTry
From other programs & tools
The WhyTry Program
WhyTry is a flexible toolkit and curriculum for K-12 teachers and counselors. It provides simple, hands-on strategies and resources to help motivate the unmotivated student, support students with trauma, improve engagement, and increase academic success. The idea is straightforward: teach life skills and resilience to youth in a way they can understand and remember.
10 WhyTry Learning Units
The WhyTry curriculum utilizes a series of
ten visual analogies that teach essential
life skills including:
- Decision-making
- Positive self-esteem
- Emotional regulation
- Having a resilient mindset
- Peer influence & relationships
- Problem-solving
- Hard work & Determination
- Responsibility and expectations
- Relationship building
- Self-efficacy
Engaging Activities
For each WhyTry unit, we have multiple activities that range from simple object lessons to group activities and group movement activities. Each activity includes detailed facilitator instructions and example processing questions to help tie the activity back to the principle being taught in the visual metaphor and the key skills focused on in each unit. These activities are so powerful for creating group engagement and building relationships with your youth.
The Power of Visual Metaphors
One of the most unique things about WhyTry is how we use visual metaphors to teach these important principles to students in a way they can understand and remember. The powerful thing about using this visual approach is the way it takes abstract concepts and puts them into a context through the use of a metaphor that youth can understand. It essentially creates a language for facilitators to communicate the relevance of these things.