The Right People. The Right Room. Real Opportunity.
What I Wish I Learned in School
One evening, a full room, and ten people who built something. Now on film.
Families from 32 schools claimed every seat in a barn in Glen Rock, Pennsylvania. Ten local owners and professionals each answered one question: what do you wish someone had told you in high school? Then the students asked them anything.
Proximity No. 1 · Thursday, October 8, 2026 · Glen Rock, Pennsylvania
Watch Proximity No. 1
Nick's opening, nine short talks, and twenty-five minutes of student questions with every speaker up front. Jump straight to anyone below.
Watch the full evening1 hour 32 minutes
Filmed and edited by Focus Point Creative. Every talk is also its own video in our YouTube playlist.
The Talks
What do you wish someone had told you in high school? Here is who stood up to answer it, in the order they spoke.
October 8, 2026
A barn in Glen Rock, every seat taken, and speakers who stayed afterward to keep the conversation going.





Photos by Focus Point Creative and Ron Schuman of Midnight Mirage Media.
Who It Is For
Grades nine through twelve, roughly ages fourteen to eighteen. It does not matter whether your student already knows what they want to do. Most of them do not, and that is exactly the point.
How an Evening Works
One after another, a few minutes each. No slides, no polish, no career-day script. Just the one thing they wish someone had told them in high school, said out loud to a room of teenagers.
Twenty-five minutes with every speaker up front at once. Students set the questions. This is the part that matters most, and it is why the talks are kept short.
These are local owners, not visiting speakers. Students can walk up, shake a hand, and start a conversation with someone who has actually built the thing.
We collect canned goods or non-perishables for the Hampstead Little Free Pantry, and nearly everyone brings one. Walking in having already contributed something sets the tone for the whole evening.
For Parents
If there is something you want to know that is not answered below, email nick@proximityprep.com and you will get a response.
Questions
It is being planned now. The date, place and lineup are not set yet.
The list hears first. Add your email and you will get the details before they are posted here or on social. No. 1 filled up and ended with a waitlist, so it is worth being early.
No. Watch the film at the top of this page, then join the list. No. 1 was the first room, not the only one, and every evening will bring a different lineup.
Yes. The whole evening was filmed and is posted on this page and in our YouTube playlist, with a chapter for every speaker so you can jump straight to a talk.
The evenings themselves are still in person only. They are not streamed live and there is no way to attend remotely, because the point is a small room where a student can put a hand up, ask an owner something a little awkward, and then walk over and shake that person's hand afterward. The film comes after.
The film is framed on the speakers. You hear the students' questions, but the cameras face the stage.
The photos from the night do include students, and every student at No. 1 had a waiver signed by a parent or guardian.
No student is ever named on this site, in the film's titles, or on our social accounts. If you would like a photo of your student taken down, email nick@proximityprep.com and it will be removed.
High school students in grades nine through twelve, roughly ages fourteen to eighteen, along with their parents or guardians.
Younger siblings are not a good fit for these evenings. The conversation is aimed squarely at students who are close enough to graduation for it to feel real.
We do have events and programs for younger students in the works. If that is your family, email us and we will let you know as soon as something is ready for them.
No, but we strongly encourage it. Students may attend on their own.
Because seating is limited, we ask that each student bring no more than one parent or family member as their guest. We would rather fill the room with students than with families, and holding to one guest each is what makes that possible. If that creates a real problem for your family, email us and we will do what we can.
If your student is coming without you, we ask that a parent or guardian completes the registration so we have a contact for that evening, and that you arrange drop off and pick up rather than having your student arrive on their own.
Parents who do attend sit in the same room for the whole ninety minutes, including the question and answer session.
Join the list first. When registration for No. 2 opens, the list gets the link before it is posted anywhere else.
Registering is a request, not an instant seat. Nick reads every registration himself and emails you back to confirm. That is on purpose. This is a small room with high school students in it, and we would rather know exactly who is coming.
Once you are confirmed, you get an email from Nick with the exact address and everything you need for that evening. If you are confirmed and then cannot make it, reply to that email so we can offer the seat to another family.
No. 1 was held on a private, restored property in Glen Rock, Pennsylvania. Addresses are never posted publicly. The address goes out by email once Nick has confirmed your spot, along with a map link and parking directions.
There is someone at the gate checking names, so please arrive under the name you registered with, and use the map link we send rather than searching for the venue.
If anyone in your party has a mobility, hearing, vision or other access need, email us before the event and we will make arrangements for you.
Nick Collins is the point of contact for every evening and can be reached at nick@proximityprep.com. His phone number is included in your registration confirmation.
Adults from the Proximity network are present throughout, including every speaker. Students are never on their own in a separate space, and the entire event takes place in one room over ninety minutes.
We use it only to contact you about Proximity events, and to keep a record of which evenings your student has attended. We do not sell it, rent it, share it with the speakers, or pass it to anyone else.
If you want your information removed at any point, email nick@proximityprep.com and it will be deleted.
Yes. Every student who attended is logged as having been at Proximity No. 1, and each student gets a card to keep track of the evenings they have attended.
Over time that becomes a real track record. A young person who has spent evenings in rooms with business owners, asking questions, has something specific to point to when they are sitting with a coach, applying somewhere, or talking to an employer. It is a milestone marker, and it is meant to build momentum.
These records are private. We do not publish a list of students anywhere, and we do not share names without a parent asking us to.
No. Admission is genuinely free. We collect canned goods or non-perishables for the Hampstead Little Free Pantry and would love you to bring one, but nobody is turned away over it.
Proximity does run a longer paid program, and if that ever becomes relevant to your family we will talk about it in person, on a different day. It is never pitched from the stage.
Questions, and a canned good or non-perishable for the pantry if you can.
Bring a notepad and something to write with. Nick asks every student to do this. People are going to say things worth writing down, and almost nobody remembers them a week later without it.
There is no dress code. It is a casual evening, not an interview.
Get Involved
Built something? The most successful people we know all say the same thing: I wish I'd had access to this earlier. If you want to open a door for the next generation by speaking at a future evening, hosting a visit, or mentoring a student, let's talk.
Parking and traffic, working the gate, seating people, setting up and breaking down. No. 1 ran well because good people gave up a Thursday evening, and No. 2 will need them too.
Follow Along
Clips from No. 1, speaker news, and everything leading up to No. 2 gets posted first on social.
Prefer email? Join the No. 2 list and skip the algorithm.
Proximity changes perspective.
Perspective builds confidence.
Confidence changes lives.
So. Do you want them in the next room?