According to a recent openIDEO challenge:

“This year, U.S. public high schools recorded a graduation rate of 83.2 percent, the highest number ever in recorded history. As these students transition into the American workforce, they’re likely to have four job changes in less than 10 years. Of those jobs, two billion will disappear by 2030—that’s approximately 50 percent of employment opportunities today.”

In a world where this is the context for education, students need to learn a set of tools and mindsets that helps them adapt and develop new capacities.

Toward this end, REDI Lab students worked with Jay Mays and Daniel Reskin from Pitch Lab today with the goal of learning how to present ideas more effectively using techniques from the world of stand-up comedy. Pitch Lab believes that a great presentation is all about delivery, just like a great comedy performance and Mays and Reskin spend a lot of time helping entrepreneurs learn how to pitch ideas in a clear, entertaining and unforgettable way.

Today, students played a few rounds of comedy karaoke to learn how to adapt the strategies of successful comedians to the presentations they will be making in a few weeks. Like many of the lessons that students learn at Colorado Academy, they have long term value to prepare young people for more than just college.

Plus, we all need more humor in our lives so a dose of comedy is always good!

Article originally published via Paul Kim on Colorado Academy News