Motivation & Inspiration

Welcome! This is a curated page that provides motivational and inspirational videos, spoken word poetry, TedTalks, Podcasts, etc. to support you in your academic & personal journey. Enjoy exploring what resonates with you!

Rather than putting pressure on finding one thing that you love, we've got 4 easy exercises that will help you figure out the things that you like! From there, you can start building a life—and even a career!—around those interests.

• Podcast: Mustangs in the Field - Milwaukie High School counselor, Roberto Aguilar,  brings MHS Alumni to the microphone for a discussion that explores personal identities, overcoming obstacles, and lessons learned along the way to their career goals.

• Podcast: On Being with Krista Tippett What does it mean to be human? How do we want to live? And who will we be to each other? Each week a new discovery about the immensity of our lives.

• Podcast: Free Your Energy with Sylvester McNutt inspired by the quest to learn about human behaviors, poetic language that gives us clarity, and healing modalities that heal us holistically. 

• Podcast: Unpacking the College Application Process - Producer Rosabelle Heine delves into the college application process, looking at the factors that determine whether or not you get into your dream school, what admission directors seek in applicants, and how high school students can avoid burnout. 

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• Documentary: Why Not Us? RoadTrip Nation  -  Follows the journeys of four first-generation college students as they road trip across the county.

• Documentary: Tell Them We Are Rising: The History of HBCUs in America 

• Free Meditation App for better sleep, stress relief, and anxiety: Insight Timer

• Website and Popular Videos: SoulPancake - Content that encourages open-hearted dialogue about what it means to be human. It uses storytelling as a way to reimagine better futures, as a way to explore the ways we all seek connection, hope, truth, identity, and purpose. 

• Spoken Word: High School Training Ground - Malcolm London

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• Ted Talk: The Danger of the Single Story - Novelist Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice -- and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding.

• Ted Talk: The Untapped Genius that Could Change Science for the Better - Jedidah Isler shares the story of how she became the first black woman to earn a PhD in astrophysics from Yale -- and her deep belief in the value of diversity to science and other STEM fields. "Do not think for one minute that because you are who you are, you cannot be who you imagine yourself to be," she says. "Hold fast to those dreams and let them carry you into a world you can't even imagine."