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Learn it
Each month's resiliency characteristic is introduced in clear, child-friendly language.
Resiliency in action
Resiliency, Woven Into Every Workshop
Resiliency coaching isn't a separate program. It's the thread running through everything we teach.
Credentialed Resiliency Florida Coach serving Clay County families · Founder & Executive Director, the STEM Network, Inc.
CredentialResiliency Florida Certified Coach
ProgramFLDOE Resiliency Program
A lived habit
Built into the way children learn together.
While kids build, fail, rebuild, and collaborate, they're practicing resiliency characteristics — not as a separate lesson, but as a lived habit.
We would love to implement this model as a way to further bring the resiliency program into the community — partnering with the district to give each month's characteristic a lived, hands-on home beyond the workshop.
One characteristic, every touchpoint
Learn it. Practice it. Live it.
Each month, one resiliency characteristic moves from a shared idea to something children can recognize in their own choices, teamwork, and growth.
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Practice it
Children put the characteristic to work during hands-on STEM activities and team challenges.
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Live it
Children are recognized for living the characteristic through their choices, effort, and care for others.
Where it shows up
Across the whole village.
The same monthly characteristic can travel with families across programs — familiar enough to remember, flexible enough to use in real life.
Workshops & labs
Coach-led moments connect real build experiences — a failed prototype, peer feedback, a group decision — to resiliency in action.
STEAM Team (Jan–May 2027)
Weekly characteristic integration carries through hands-on learning across the program season.
Mission 001 (Dec 19, 2026)
Children meet resiliency through the day's STEM experiences and hands-on moments of trying, adapting, and working together.
Family Fun Nights
Family challenges and games create a warm, shared way to practice each month's characteristic together.
The Village Post — “Resiliency Corner”
A monthly feature brings the characteristic home with a daily-life example, a family activity, and a student spotlight.
Walking alongside the district
A community partner for resilient minds.
“Resilient Minds, Thriving Classrooms” is bringing well-deserved attention to student wellbeing. the STEM Network, Inc. would be honored to help carry that momentum into community workshops, family nights, and gatherings where the characteristics get lived out loud.
The Resiliency Library
Eleven characteristics. One village.
Florida's official resiliency characteristics — each one with a plain-language definition and a hands-on classroom activity from Coach Dom's monthly visits. Pick a card, try the activity, and watch the characteristic come alive.
Honesty
October spotlight"Honesty means you tell the truth — even when the truth is 'I messed up' or 'I don't know.'"
🧪 The Honest Test: Build something, then test it in front of everyone. If it breaks, you say what really happened — no hiding, no blaming the table. The bravest "mine broke because…" gets the biggest cheer.
Citizenship
"Citizenship means you take care of your community — your classroom, your school, your neighborhood. It belongs to everybody, so everybody helps."
🧪 The Village Fix: Walk the room (or the school garden) and find one real problem — trash, a wobbly shelf, a messy corner. Teams design a fix and pitch it like engineers. Best pitch gets built on the next visit.
Critical Thinking & Problem Solving
"Critical thinking means you don't just guess — you look close, ask why, and figure it out."
🧪 The Mystery Box: A sealed box with something rattling inside. No opening it. Kids can shake it, weigh it, listen — then write down their best guess and their EVIDENCE. Open it at the end. Best evidence wins, not best guess.
Empathy
"Empathy means you try to feel what someone else is feeling — you put yourself in their shoes for a minute."
🧪 The User Interview: Before building, each kid interviews a partner: "What's something that's hard for you?" Then they build something small FOR that person. At the end: did you build what THEY needed, or what YOU wanted?
Gratitude
"Gratitude means you notice the good stuff — and you say it out loud."
🧪 The Thank-You Build: Everybody builds something tiny, then gives it to someone in the room with one sentence about why they're thankful for them. Grandparents and caretakers count double — they're the village.
Grit
"Grit means you keep going when it's hard — like when your tower falls and you build it again, smarter this time."
🧪 The Wobble Tower: Build the tallest tower you can from 20 cups. Then knock it down and rebuild it three times. Each round, name one thing you changed. The tower isn't the point — the rebuilding is.
Mentorship
"Mentorship means you help someone get better at something — you don't do it for them, you show them how."
🧪 Teach-Back: The older kids (or the fastest finishers) teach one step of the build to someone who hasn't done it yet. Rule: your hands stay behind your back — words only. That's what real teaching feels like.
Perseverance
"Perseverance means you keep trying even when it's hard — you don't stop at the first 'this isn't working.'"
🧪 The Paper Bridge: Build a bridge from one sheet of paper that holds 10 pennies. It'll collapse. That's round one. Rebuild it three times — each time, change ONE thing. The bridge that holds wins, but everybody who rebuilt wins bigger.
Responsibility
"Responsibility means the job is yours — you do what you said you'd do, and you take care of what's yours."
🧪 Lab Captain: Each kid gets one job for the whole build (materials keeper, time watcher, cleanup chief). At the end, captains report out: what did you take care of today?
Responsible Decision-Making
"Responsible decision-making means you think before you choose — what happens next, and who does it affect?"
🧪 The Fork in the Road: Give each table a build challenge with TWO ways to solve it (fast and wobbly, or slow and strong). Before anyone touches materials, the table votes and says WHY. Then build it and see if the "why" held up.
Self-Awareness & Self-Management
"Self-awareness means you notice what you're feeling. Self-management means you choose what to do about it."
🧪 The Pause Button: Before the build starts, everybody picks a "pause signal" — hands on head, deep breath, whatever feels right. Mid-build, when frustration hits, anyone can call "pause" and the whole table takes 10 seconds. Then back to building.
The eleven characteristic names are Florida's official Resiliency education standards. Definitions and classroom activities are original to The STEM Network, Inc. Posters, the reading list, and real stories link out to Resiliency Florida's official resources — go explore the source.
For schools & district leaders
Request a Resiliency Coach
Send a booking request in under a minute. Every visit is personally confirmed by Coach Dom — and availability is limited each month, so the calendar you see is the real one.
Now booking: the 2nd & 4th Fridays of each month.
30 minutes
Staff Reset
A 30-minute reset for your team — practical resiliency tools your staff can use the same day they learn them.
30 minutes · solo or 1-hour blocks
Classroom Visit
Coach Dom joins your campus for the day — same school, back-to-back classroom visits. An extra hand in the room, help with activity prep, and grade-appropriate resiliency games built around the characteristic of the month.
Custom · 2 weeks' notice
Major Campus Event
Field days, family nights, testing-season support — bring resiliency coaching to your big day. Request at least two weeks ahead.
Planning a major campus event?
Tell us about your event — the date, your campus, and what kind of support you're picturing. Requests need at least two weeks' lead time so we can do it right.
Request event supportBooking requests only — Coach Dom personally confirms every visit. Limited availability each month.
Bring resiliency into your corner of the community
Do you want to become a resiliency coach?
If this work speaks to you, learning more is a beautiful place to begin. Clay County's volunteer process helps caring community members take the next practical step toward supporting children and families.
Start with the OneClay volunteer application
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Level 1 clearanceThe minimum clearance required to begin.
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Level 2 clearanceThe preferred clearance for broader volunteer opportunities.
Good to know: Level 1 clearance is required at minimum; Level 2 clearance is preferred.