Posts by Harriet Turk

I tried on one of my two piece bathing suits today. Not the one with the little skirt—the one with the bikini bottoms. I’ve been working out. Andrew and I are going to Hawaii—why not live dangerously and wear a true bikini? Andrew walks into my room unannounced and screams, “Mom, what the heck?!? No…

Andrew was standing in my lap, flying his “dinosaur bird” around my head in giant, erratic swoops. I was on the phone with a prospective client, trying my best not to sound like I was under attack by a prehistoric beast. Wearing the same black turtleneck I’d worn the day before (and slept in), I…

There were so many things I wanted to do as a mom: so many crafts, so many cute ways to serve food, so many scrapbooks to document Andrew’s life…so many things I’ve never done. Andrew never liked to color. He rarely wanted to make a craft. Many times, I tried coming to the kitchen armed…

Several months ago, a new meeting planner asked me to justify my fee. She couldn’t understand why my fee was so much. In fact, she let me know in no uncertain terms that someone else from the community had offered to speak to her students for free. I understood. For 10 years, I planned conferences,…

These past few months have been so busy and also so rewarding.  I’ve traveled to Texas, Nevada, Mississippi, and Pennsylvania, and worked with different groups with different issues. The one common goal is their love for students and student activities.  Funding has been cut so much that some programs have been eliminated.  However, what hasn’t…

Last week I worked in Mississippi for the MS Office of Highway Safety and the MS Student Advisory Board, (SAB). This group of 23 students had no idea who I was—just that I was a consultant coming in (as they prepared for their statewide Club Officer Training), to tell them what they were doing wrong.…

Every summer, I have a wonderful time in Maine. I speak for two annual conferences, Aroostook Teen Leadership Conference (ATLC) and the Down East Teen Leadership Conference (DETLC) Every July, I can’t wait to explore the Northern and the Down East regions of Maine. While I love the scenery, the massive trees, the beautiful water,…

Recently, I had the privilege to present at two People to People conferences. One was at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and the other in New York at Columbia University. Every year, I’m amazed at the quality of students who attend these conferences. I often wonder if I’m “smart enough” to impart any wisdom! Not…