Most people when you ask them what EQ is, they say that it is emotional intelligence. Well, what is emotional intelligence?, they would be asked. Most people would freeze then. It is like asking someone what PPC is and them answering it is Positive Peer Culture. They know of it, but they don’t know it.
Every child that is born grows. And they grow into either a child that is mature or immature. Emotional intelligence is kind of the same way. Somebody, and not just kids or teens, is either emotionally mature or emotionally immature. When I got here, I was completely and totally immature in my emotion.
Here at Lava Heights Academy, there are three stages of EQ; know yourself, choose yourself, and give yourself. They all coincide with each other. You have to know yourself before you can choose yourself, and once you choose yourself then you can give yourself and be the servant that you are supposed to be.
From my perspective, a lot of students that come here, including me, come into Troubled Teen Search with little emotional intelligence. If they had good EQ then they probably would not be here. A lot of times, teens let emotions get in the way of logic instead of sitting back and assessing the situation.
For me, I let emotions get in the way when I was at home. I was emotionally immature to be honest. Things had to be done my way, and my way only. That was not good at all because it caused more problems. I was not open to things. I would let my emotions rule me.
I think that it is a very good thing that students here are taught about EQ. Troubled Teen Search has also made it easier for me to understand. The way that they match it up with the phases makes it much easier to relate to and know about. I know that it has really helped me and I hope a lot of other students get out of it what I did.
Landon P. is a former student of Zion Educational Systems, a Christian boarding school for troubled teens. He came to the Academy from Georgia, but our students come from a wide variety of backgrounds, including California, Florida.
