Laurah Amy Hagen

At seventeen, I noticed something very suspicious about the students at my artsy-fartsy high school: They had a passion, and were confident enough to pursure it. That guy who wore leather pants to prom and wanted to be a rock star? He got signed to Atlantic records. That girl who aspired to become a neurosurgeon? She started her residency this year.

I looked at this creative energy and wondered what was going on. Was it the artsy environment that allowed such young people to identify their skills and passions, and find the determination to follow through on them? Were the students gifted in some special way? Was it something in the water?

Luckily, in my psych 101 textbook, I discovered a footnote that has led me to an answer. I read a blurb (Literally, a footnote... this was 2002.) about a new field called Positive Psychology, which focused on what was going right with people, and how to do more of it. I studied all the "fun" stuff. For example, how motivation actually increases when we're working hard to achieve personally selected goals, without the use of external rewards. And speaking of goals...how to craft ones that we're likely to follow through on, and how to set ourselves up for success using timelines and feedback.

After working at a boarding school with some of the most amazing, hard-working students on earth, I decided to pursue a master's in experiential ed and start teaching these valuable concepts. I've done some writing, some teaching, and some life and leadership coaching.

Recently, I settled into a Career Advisor position at Northern Arizona University. I love helping students identify their talents and interests, and find hands-on opportunities to develop them through work, extracurricular, and internship experience. I'm excited about the big-picture goals for our team, and working together to create a comprehensive career development program for our campus. At the moment, my pet project is rewriting our training resources: The new website content will be launched early this summer, and the new Career Guide for students will be out in September 2013.

Thanks for reading. Please feel free to send your resume my way for feedback, or bug me with an idea about a challenge you want to take on or career idea to brainstorm...I seriously love that kind of stuff!

Kind regards,

Laurah