First Tee — Metro Atlanta | Teen Summit

Empowering local teens with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to thrive in all areas of life. Through interactive breakout sessions focused on mental health and leadership, conflict resolution, financial literacy, and STEAM, participants will engage with real-world topics that support both personal and professional growth.

Meet Your Keynote Speaker
Before Teen Summit, take 60 seconds to meet Ricky Kalmon and get a preview of the interactive mindset experience you’ll be part of.

2026 Teen Summit Breakout sessions and engagements — created by you, for you — will include:

Previous Teen Summit Breakout Rooms

“Seven Principles of Persuasion”
Goal: Enhance teens’ communication and presentation skills by introducing them to the fundamental principles of persuasion. Expected Outcome: Participants will develop better persuasion techniques, boosting their confidence in public speaking and influencing others.

“Entrepreneurship and Branding”
Goal: Inspire and educate teens on building and marketing their own brands by learning from successful local entrepreneurs. Expected Outcome: Teens will gain insights into the creative process of entrepreneurship, understand how to establish their unique identities in the market, and feel motivated to pursue their own business ventures.

“Understanding Mental Health”
Teens, we hear you loud and clear! Access to mental health discussions and formats has been a consistent request so this session is just for you! In this room, we discuss what mental health is, how it affects us and how to best take care of our own mental health on a regular basis. Led by Mia Bishop, LAPC, NCC with Atlanta Center for Self Compassion, this informative and interactive session addresses one of the most pressing concerns for today’s teens.

“Creating Your Own Path”
A discussion on how leaning into one’s passions can lead to a life full of purpose and ultimately, happiness. We’ll present the stories of individuals who are doing that right now and will give insight into how the next generation can do it for themselves. The road isn’t always easy, but participants will hear just how rewarding creating their own path can be for their own lives!

“College, Frfr”
Adults constantly encourage our young people to go to college, but what is college really like? It can’t be the same way it was for the adults who graduated 20+ years ago, can it? In this session, current college students and recent graduates discuss academic workload and expectations as well as the social aspects of campus life (how to balance the freedom and responsibility of being a college student, how to network, how to talk with professors, what are the things they wished they knew about college while they were still in high school.) Our panelists will share all perspectives on college, for real for real, to help prepare our teens now.

“Getting and Keeping The Bag”
We all want the bag, but how do we keep the bag, and how do we keep the bag growing the way we want it?  This session is about raising our teens Financial Literacy. Let’s set a baseline of understanding certain definitions, learn more about banking & budgeting, while we touch on credit & investing. Led by Ashley Clark, CEO of Sense 2 Cents, this session is set to be engaging and informative!

“Teen Talk Live” (Vent Session)
As a teen, there are certain things that you probably hold in…this is the room to let it out! Led by Charlette Hodge, LPC, NCC with Open Dialog Coaching and Counseling, this session will be a safe space for teens to explore emotions while we introduce therapeutic models, interventions & strategies to help reduce mental health concerns in a group coaching environment. Teens will be asked to submit questions and topics for discussion and exploration upon entry into this room, so that the most pressing issues can be really flushed out and have the deepest impact possible.