“THE GEEKS SHALL INHERIT THE EARTH…” (“Popularity, Quirk Theory, and Why Outsiders Thrive After High School”) Lecture by author Alexandra Robbins Thursday, January 26, 2012, 7:00 p.m. Churchill High School Auditorium Sponsored by Winston Churchill High School Educational Foundation, Inc. Talk: “Why Being Excluded Doesn’t Mean There’s Anything Wrong With You” (aka “The Secrets of Popularity”) Exclusion and clique warfare have become so rampant that the media has declared bullying an epidemic. Throngs of students who are not outright bullied are disheartened because it’s getting increasingly more difficult to become an “insider,” to fit into a group, to be accepted as “normal.” Schools struggle to come up with solutions, and even the most beloved parents are met with disbelief when they insist, “This too shall pass.” Adults constantly tell students that it gets better, that the world changes after school, that being “different” will pay off sometime after graduation. But no one is able to explain to them why. In her groundbreaking new book, The Geeks Shall Inherit The Earth: Popularity, Quirk Theory, and Why Outsiders Thrive After High School, New York Times bestselling author Alexandra Robbins explains why. Her reassuring, fascinating lecture based on this book reveals the unexpected reasons that teens label each other and why the qualities that lead students to be excluded are the same qualities that will make them extraordinary adults. Robbins discusses what popularity really means and points out ways that people might unwittingly contribute to students’ social hierarchies. Most important, she offers parents, students, and schools concrete solutions for how to stop worrying about the social hierarchy – and how to change it. Alexandra Robbins, the author of four New York Times bestsellers, has written for several publications, including Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, and The Washington Post. Her books include The Overachievers, a New York Times Editors’ Choice and People magazine Critics’ Choice; Pledged: The Secret Lives of Sororities; and Secrets of the Tomb, about George W. Bush’s secret society Skull and Bones. Her latest book, The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth: Popularity, Quirk Theory, and Why Outsiders Thrive After High School was voted The Best Nonfiction Book of the Year in the 2011 Goodreads Choice Awards, the only people’s choice awards for books. The winner of the 2007 Heartsongs award for contributions to the mental health of children and young adults, Robbins is also a frequent judge for the National MS Society’s Books for a Better Life Awards. She regularly appears on national television on shows such as 60 Minutes, The Today Show, Oprah, The View, CNN News and The Colbert Report. THIS PROGRAM IS PARTIALLY FUNDED BY KAPLAN TEST PREP COMPANY