Meet Rebecca Grappo

 

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Rebecca Grappo. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Rebecca below.

Rebecca, so many exciting things to discuss, we can’t wait. Thanks for joining us and we appreciate you sharing your wisdom with our readers. So, maybe we can start by discussing optimism and where your optimism comes from?

When I work with teenagers as they plan for their futures, I talk to them about their hopes, dreams, fears, and how they envision their futures. I really enjoy hearing about how they think, where they see their place in the world, how they care about other humans, what they value, and their desire to make a difference. They give me hope and optimism for our futures – the young people I meet are so bright and optimistic that it helps to keep me that way, too!

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I have the greatest job in the world; I work with students around the world to help them plan their educational futures. By meeting one-on-one with teenagers, I get to know them really well and help them to think through their dreams, goals, and options on how they might reach them. Sometimes they are moving to a new school across the country or internationally, and at other times they are looking at a boarding school that offers them a safe place to learn and feel a part of a community while challenging them academically. Many of my students are applying to college, whether here in the US or internationally, and I help them to plan, track, and manage the application process.

What keeps me motivated and excited to do this work is to see how much these young people care about current events and want to make their mark on the world. Being a part of these conversations inspires me every day.

I also have the privilege of working with my oldest daughter, Michelle, who is a school psychologist. She brings her experience working with students at the intersection of learning differences and social emotional/mental health. Together we make a great team!

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Upon reflection, the most important skills to me are first of all, being a good listener. Really hear what it is that others are telling you and acknowledge their points of view before responding with your own comments. Secondly, I would say that it’s critically important to always remain curious. Ask questions, seek understanding, educate yourself. Lastly, I could not be a consultant without listening skills and curiosity, but people also come to me for my professional expertise. I’ve spent a lifetime accumulating the knowledge, experience, and wisdom that makes me good at what I do. So my advice to young people starting in their careers is to try to cultivate these areas.

What was the most impactful thing your parents did for you?

I am so grateful to my parents for the values they imparted upon me throughout my childhood. They were the most wonderful parents and I wish that I could tell them again how much I appreciate all that they did for me. My mother was a teacher and so education was always a priority in our family. She also taught me to be curious and observe the world around me. Even though we were not a wealthy family, we loved to travel internationally together and that fostered in me a love of adventure from a very young age. My parents also taught me the value of earning what I wanted, whether it was a toy, a book, a bike, my flute, or a trip. I was always responsible for earning my share of what I wanted and then they would contribute the rest – but they firmly believed that I would appreciate whatever it was more if I also had some skin in the game. I appreciate my father, too, for spending time with me as he taught me to do tasks that normally only boys would do back then, like how to mow the lawn, drive a truck, provide care to the farm animals we owned on our ranch, or sell local produce door-to-door. They also gave me the freedom to experience the world outside of our home, including allowing me to spend a summer as an AFS student with a family in Italy we had never met before and during my junior year of college, they supported me studying abroad in Luxembourg.They never filled my head with “what ifs” and instead encouraged me to get out there and take chances. Looking back on it, all of those experiences contributed greatly to me becoming a very self-confident person who believed she could do anything she put her mind to.

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Image Credits

No photo credits – just friends and family took the photos

Left to right –

Rebecca touring IE University in Madrid, Spain
Touring boarding school with school mascot at New Hampton School in New Hampshire
Rebecca with bronze mascot at Kimball Union Academy, New Hampshire
Truly traveling the world for education – sitting with the pilot and navigator after her millionth mile flight on United Airlines –
Promoting RNG International services at a boarding school fair
Rebecca touring the University of San Diego
Rebecca Grappo visiting the University of Glasgow in Scotland

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