New International Students -- Concordia University-Saint Paul -- MythBusters: Achieved purpose as a powerful student-instructor connection experience, potential retention tool by building relationships and motivation to persist. First day of class January, 2014, students responded with enthusiasm to story of another world traveler and risk taker. Students identified with the same values, they pointed out were important to Kari Byron from MythBusters. Especially, as a mom and role model.

5. Artist, Thrill-Seeker, and Pro
MythBuster
Kari
Byron
NETFLIX
Collection 8,
7th Episode “Meet Kari Byron”
Top 25
(2nd Section)

6. Who’s Her Biggest Fan?
“On Being a
MythBuster”
Start @ 45 Seconds

7. Kari Byron, from the
Discovery Channel's
"MythBusters," says
"Knowing that I could
fail and still be okay
gave me a lot of
courage."
You'll never know
unless you try, so
remember to be open
to new experiences.
They broaden your
horizons and change
your perspective.
Pro MythBuster
____________________________________________________________________
Do It While You're Young
Try new things
Push Through Failure
Kari Byron
Reach Your Full Potential
Artist, Thrill-Seeker, and Pro
MythBuster

8. Kari Byron is a born tinkerer and explorer.
By the age of 5, she was experimenting on her
sister and using dolls as crash test dummies. Luckily
for her parents, they always caught her right before
her little sister took a ride down a laundry chute or
was the subject of an “around-the-world” attempt
on the playground swings.
Kari has traveled the world and recommends it!
Kari began her career as a sculptor and painter,
holding successful exhibitions leading art galleries
in San Francisco , before finding her dream jobs on
MythBusters on Discovery Channel and for awhile
with Head Rush, where she was able to explore and
experiment to her heart’s content.
Pro MythBuster & …
____________________________________________________________________
Do It While You're Young
Try new things
Push Through Failure
Kari Byron
Reach Your Full Potential
Artist, Thrill-Seeker, and Pro
MythBuster

9. Artist, Thrill-Seeker, and Pro
MythBuster
Kari hosted "Head Rush," a one-hour,
commercial-free program on Science
Channel, made for middle-school students,
but fun for the curious kid of any age. Her
aim was to inspire and excite us about the
wonders of science and show science at
work in our everyday lives.
_____________________________________________________________________
Kari would dive into mathematics,
science, technology, engineering,
natural history and space with
hands-on experiments, video shorts,
viewer questions and answers, games,
and special celebrity visits from other
members of the Discovery TV family.

10. Artist, Thrill-Seeker, and Pro
MythBuster
My new
design to
get around
traffic.
From Kari
Byron's
Twitter feed
@KariByron.

11. Kari Byron
“Turn your fear and doubt
into confidence by taking
action and pushing
through failure”

12. Traveling is such a great way to learn more about
yourself and your place in the world—and the best
time to do it is while you’re in school or
just finishing your formal education.
“Because of my experiences and
what I learned on my travels,
my thinking today has definitely
been broadened and my
appoach to life is more creative
and „outside the box.‟”
Pro MythBuster & …
“I was scared to death to leave my family and
leave my hometown where I had lived my entire
life.”
Do It While You're Young
Travel the World
Push Through Failure
Reach Your Full Potential
Artist, Thrill-Seeker, and Pro
MythBuster

13. I still can’t believe how traveling
and trying new opportunities
has affected me.
Pro MythBuster & …
“When I returned from
my travels, I kept my
curious spirit alive and
decided to try
different jobs that
interested me.”
Learning about other people
and understanding their
perspectives is such an
important part of life.
Do It While You're Young
Travel the World
Push Through Failure
Reach Your Full Potential
Artist, Thrill-Seeker, and Pro
MythBuster

14. I remember times
when I had to deal
with a lot of rejections
and setbacks.
I figured out that no
matter how miserably
I had failed, the
experience wasn’t
going to kill me.
“Knowing that I could
fail and still be okay
gave me a lot of
courage.”
Pro MythBuster & …
Push Through Failure
Do It While You're Young
Push Through Failure
Reach Your Full Potential
Artist, Thrill-Seeker, and Pro
MythBuster

15. Do It While You’re
Young
“I‟ve learned the number one
thing you don‟t want to do is
wish you had done more when
you were younger.”
I’ve known so many people who
have regrets, but by developing
curiosity and courage to step out
of your comfort zone, you can do
and experience so many cool
things.
“One thing that really changed
my life was surrounding myself
with people who inspired me.”
Pro MythBuster & …
Do It While You’re Young
Push Through Failure
Reach Your Full Potential
Artist, Thrill-Seeker, and Pro
MythBuster

16. Pro MythBuster & …
Do It While You're Young
Push Through Failure
Reach Your Full Potential
Artist, Thrill-Seeker, and Pro
MythBuster
Pro MythBuster
& a Parent…
Kari lives in the
San Francisco Bay
Area with her
husband and
one-year old
daughter, while
working on the
MythBusters
show.

17. Artist, Thrill-Seeker, and Pro
MythBuster
Becoming a Mom
“Holy crap. I am a
mom!”
That is seriously what I was
thinking as the dust settled
around me from shooting a .50
caliber rifle. On my first
experiment back from maternity
leave, I found myself perched on a
hill in a rock quarry aiming a
huge firearm at a remotecontrolled SUV covered in phone
books.
________________________________________________
But how come I still felt like me?
I figured once you become a
mom, you settled down …
________________________________________________
I guess a lot of people thought
the same.
…
The first reaction I usually got to
the news of my impending little
one was, “Your life is about to
change. You won’t be jumping
out of any more planes.” Or, “Are
you still going to work at
MythBusters?”

18. Artist, Thrill-Seeker, and Pro
MythBuster

19. Artist, Thrill-Seeker, and Pro
MythBuster
“You will take less risks as a
mom,” everyone told me. What?!
I am still me. I don’t hold back
from doing daring things. Of
course I still jump out of planes!
________________________________________________
“In the end, you have to respect yourself and come to like
yourself.”
Even though I will have to eat live bugs this season and
possibly handle poop, I am not fazed.
I still do exciting, daredevil, and wild things — but now I do
them so that my little girl will know that a mommy can distinguish
between a C4 and an ANFO explosion.
http://www.wired.com/geekmom/2010/10/kari-byron-from-mythbuster-to-mom/
What really changed was that my
everyday life has become a
profoundly blissful experience. I
get just as excited about peek-aboo as I do about counting down
an explosion. But how come I still
felt like me?
________________________________________________
If I want my daughter to be an
adventurous independent
woman who doesn’t shy away
from new experiences, I will
have to be that woman too.

20. Reach Your Full Potential
What are Your Guiding Principles?
Who’s Your Biggest Fan?
What Motivates You?
Who Inspires You?
Kari says her “biggest fan” is
her father, what about you?

21. Where are
you going?

22. Name Card “Tent”
 PRINT your name on
right side
 Draw or Write on Left
Side a Unique or
Surprising Fact about
You
(I’ve heard a student at Concordia)
“Have baby camels at

23. Journal #1 – “Now Tell Us Your Story”
Your journal response should be thoughtful, organized, well-developed, and written in
edited standard written English (ESWE).
Journals are required to be at least 300 words in length. Each question response should be at least one paragraph.
(Refer to the rubric for more clarification on grading.)
 You‟ve Met Kari Byron from Mythbusters.
You Heard Her Story - Now Tell Us Your Story!
College is a time when you can write YOUR story. For your first College Transitions Journal, please write
a minimum of three paragraphs describing all of the following:
Tell us how you got here. What is your story prior to CSP? For example, what did you do? Where did you
go to school? What kinds of “messages” did you receive from parents, peers, siblings, teachers, and/or
coaches about your success? In essence, what made you YOU?
Then, tell us who you plan to be now that you are in college. For example, will you be a student who
avoids challenges, dislikes effort, and wilts in the face of adversity? Or will you be a go-getter, who thrives
on challenge, persists even when things get difficult, and accomplishes more than might have been
expected of you. Are you going to rewrite your life or edit it to become the person you want to be?
Tell us about your future goals. What are your intentions for the future? Where do you see yourself in five
years? Ten? For example, what sort of job will you have? Family? Ambitions? How do you plan to “give
back” (appreciate) for the blessing (some think of this as good fortune or God’s Will) that got you this far?

24. All images in this presentation were accessed by utilizing
Google Images and are used for educational purposes onl
under the Fair Use Law and the TEACH Act.
To my knowledge all images were
obtained and accessed legally.
Produced by
Jessica Ayub
Adjunct Term Faculty
Concordia University-Saint Paul
January 13, 2014