Dreaming Big and Taking Moonshots: Madison Prinzen’s P3

Madison Prinzen is a recent graduate from Lakehead University in Orillia. She has worked with A Kids Guide to Canada and interns for the Digital Human Library (DHL). Madi presented on technology tools that foster virtual connection for this year’s MADPD. Her presentation will be featured on the MADPD Spotlight Series in March. In her presentation, she made the essential point that, “Geography should not be barrier,” and the DHL is such a powerful tool for nurturing local, national and global connections.

Madi is passionately engaged in pursuing her dream career in education. She loves to teach, inspire, and build relationships with others in many aspects of her community. She likes to show students that mistakes help us learn, and that we are better together. Madi wants learners to believe they can do anything and promotes Moonshot Thinking. Madi is guided by a relentless focus and is a self proclaimed dreamer. She is very motivated to pursue her dreams in all aspects of life, but she sometimes feels her dreams are impractical and is happy to “be brought down to reality.” Her words reminded me of the quote below:

When preparing for her P3, Madison found a few songs that resonated. She said, “It was quite the process,” but that she, “...narrowed it down to a few good ones…” Madi’s nostalgic song was the one that she and her husband danced to at their wedding three years ago. She describes her life as a bit of a fairy tale, marrying her best friend whom she has known since childhood. A couple’s first dance song is nostalgic by nature, but in the bustle of their wedding, Madi describes it as, “...that one moment where it was probably the first one in our wedding that felt like just us.” That is one of her greatest memories, and this song has become a celebrated wedding song. Referring to the lyrics, Madi said that she and her husband, who is also her rock, “...haven’t stopped trying, and honestly, he has never stopped opening my door, and he very much still gets my heart racing all of the time.” Here is Safetysuit with the wedding version of Never Stop Trying:

Madi’s identity song can be traced to her upbringing. She explained how her ice time turned from spins to shooting the puck in, and she quoted many of the song lyrics as personal narrative. Madi shared that she, also, grew up watching hockey with her daddy on Saturday nights but added that their hockey watching was, “...more like every night.” Another lyric refers to dad tying up skates. That hockey connection is something special she has with her father. In referring to the song title, Madison realized in hindsight just how much she could relate. Here is Dean Brody’s Canadian Girl:

Madi’s motivational song comes from a recent film. “I love this movie…I don't know if it was the fact that we’re educators, and we live this life of inclusiveness and diversity and accepting differences...” Watching it with her mother, who is also an educator, was an emotional experience. She is a self-proclaimed dreamer. Madi reflected on a conversation with Sarah Lalonde on her podcast, Que Sarah, Sarah, saying, ‘If we don’t have students think outside the box and reach really high, then were are not going to have any creators or innovators. They need to be able to think differently, and they need to be able to generate new ideas….We need to be encouraging them to reach high.” This song certainly reflects this ideal, and she refers to the real life protagonist PT Barnum who persevered for the realization of all of his dreams. Madi doesn’t feel that dreamers are encouraged enough in our society adding, “We should be able to dream and reach for the stars.” Here is A Million Dreams from the film The Greatest Showman:

Madison Prinzen is just beginning her career in education, and she hopes to do many things including encourage others. She aspires to build thinking classrooms full of confident, creative change makers. Through her Professional Learning Network (PLN), Madi feels empowered, and she wants to empower 21st century learners to be risk takers who have empathy, flexibility and who find courage to be the best they can be. If you want to reach out to Madi, you can find her on Twitter.