Opportunity
For Teens

William Davidson
Foundation
board member
steers funding to
underwrite free
Dale Carnegie
Course for teens.

ARI SAMUEL SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

Louis Weinberg, a senior at West
Bloomfield High School, took the Teen
Course as a sophomore and says it
transformed him into an extrovert.

T

fun I was having.”
alking with 17-year-old Louis
Because of testimonials like
Weinberg, a senior at West
those from Weinberg and Hart ⎯
Bloomfield High School, it’s
William Davidson Foundation Board
difficult to imagine a young man
Director Eli Saulson used his ability
blessed with kind eyes and a warm
to steer director-discretionary funds
smile would proclaim himself an
to underwrite a course for
“introvert.”
Jewish teens beginning in
“I was so quiet people
February 2018.
wouldn’t notice me,” he says
“One of our project areas
with a matter-of-factness. “I
at the William Davidson
was shy and didn’t feel com-
Foundation is entrepreneur-
fortable meeting new people
ship,” Saulson says. “The
or have the confidence to
reason I’m championing
walk into a room full of
this is because the growth of
strangers and feel OK.”
electronic communication,
A suggestion from his
Eli Saulson
like text and social media,
father that he consider a
puts our kids at a disadvan-
“public speaking class” was
tage when it comes to interpersonal
neither off-putting nor enticing.
skills and public speaking.”
“My parents really wanted me to
Those skills, Saulson added, are
do it,” Weinstein explains. “I had no
critical to entrepreneurial success
interest but, after I went to the ori-
entation, I decided it was something and the Dale Carnegie Course spe-
I could be interested in; that’s how a cializes in honing both in its partici-
pants. He added that his 89-year-old
lot of people find out about it.”
father was a course graduate in the
The “it” Weinberg references is
1950s and says its standards and
the Dale Carnegie Course, which
benchmarks remain time-tested.
is named for the man whose tome,
The teen course is open to stu-
How to Win Friends and Influence
People, became a must-read for any- dents throughout the community in
grades 8-12. Saulson has provided
one in business, from C-suite execu-
funding for 30 candidates who will
tives to hairbrush salesmen.
go through the eight-week program
Carnegie arguably founded what
on Sundays. The course will be held
has evolved into the genre known
at Frankel Jewish Academy at the
as “self-help,” decades before suc-
Jewish Community Center in West
cessors like Tony Robbins occupied
Bloomfield.
stacks space at bookstores.
Interested applicants may apply
“Whenever I get to talk about
online at frankelja.org/dalecarnegie.
Dale Carnegie, I get really excited,”
says Abby Hart, a 19-year-old sopho- Normally costing $1,000, the inter-
est has understandably been strong.
more at Michigan State University
As of now, about half the spots have
from Rochester. Hart was 15 when
already been filled.
she took the Dale Carnegie Course.
One of those planning on taking
“I was very shy and didn’t know
the class is FJA junior Lilly Kroll of
how to talk to people in a free-
Birmingham. “I think that the skills
flowing way, which is the opposite
of how I view myself after taking the we are going to be taught are valu-
able no matter where in life you are,”
course,” Hart says. “After the first
session I was hooked and, as the ses- Kroll said. “I love the idea of devel-
oping the best version of me and
sions progressed, it got a lot more
hopefully my sister will join me.” •
exciting; I appreciated how much

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December 28 • 2017

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