Help Your Teen Build Skills That Matter Most

When your teen understands their skills, interests, and strengths, they’re able to set goals and uncover relevant college and career options. Join us to learn how parents can help teens reflect on their strengths, build skills, and connect coursework, activities, AP® courses, assessments, internships, and other experiences to future opportunities. We’ll discuss how skills develop over time and how families can support exploration without pressuring teens to have everything figured out. Get your questions answered and leave with practical ways to help your teen build confidence and see new possibilities. 

Register now to attend live and engage in the real-time chat and to receive a recording afterwards. 

Meet Our Speakers

Ellen Galinsky
President of Families and Work Institute

Ellen Galinsky is President of Families and Work Institute and serves as senior research advisor to AASA, the School Superintendents Association. She was the co-lead of the October 2025 AASA Summit, Real Skills for Real Life, and is currently piloting modules she created on Real Skills for nationwide distribution to school districts. She’s also partnering with John Hopkins International Arts + Mind Lab on the Youth Voice on Arts and Thriving project. Previous jobs include Chief Science Officer at the Bezos Family Foundation and faculty at Bank Street College. She was one of the key founders of the work-life field and was elected president of the Work and Family Researchers Network (2022-2026), which gave her a lifetime achievement award in 2022 and established an award in her name in 2018. She’s also the author of the best-selling Mind in the Making on early learning. Her new book on adolescence, the award-winning The Breakthrough Years was called a “masterpiece” by Dr. Dan Siegel. She’s the author of 90 books/research reports and 360 articles for books, journals, magazines, and the Web.

Ellen Galinsky was the parent expert on Mister Rogers Talks With Parents TV Series and was an elected president of NAEYC.

Dan Gonzalez
Executive Director & General Manager, Teamship

Dan Gonzalez is General Manager of Teamship at College Board. He previously co-founded and served as CEO of District C, which created Teamship — a reimagined internship where teams of students solve real problems for real businesses. District C was acquired by College Board in early 2026. Since Teamship's launch, more than 12,000 students have worked with over 800 businesses across the country. Before District C, Dan studied engineering at Dartmouth College, taught high school physics, and later became president of Manhattan Prep, a national leader in test preparation, shortly after the company joined Kaplan.

Kenton Gardinier
Co-founder, Givefinity

Kenton Gardinier is the co-founder of Givefinity, an AI-powered platform helping people turn volunteer service into a meaningful record of their experiences, skills, and impact. With more than 25 years of experience, Kenton focuses on growth and product strategy and is passionate about helping young people recognize how service builds real-world skills and creates stronger pathways to education, careers, and community impact.

Marcy Boyd
Teacher, York High School, NY

Marcy Boyd is a career educator and educational consultant with degrees in Mathematics, Computer Science, Cybersecurity, and Animal Science. She currently teaches in western New York, where her courses include Math, AP Computer Science Principles, AP Cybersecurity, and AP Networking. Marcy is the mother of four adult children.

"You don't know what you don't know," Marcy says. "Take that chance. Draw on your interests, strengths, and skills to further your learning." She believes every subject you try teaches you something — what you love, what you don't, and how that shapes your next decision.