Through the University counseling center, students can work to achieve “GRIT.”

Whether you are familiar with the 1969 version, the 2010 remake, or neither, the popular Western movie True Grit serves up a line throughout the film that has become iconic for more than one reason. Mattie Ross, a young girl trying to avenge her father’s death with the help of an aging U.S. Marshall, epitomizes this line, as she repeatedly exclaims that she wants someone with ‘true grit’.

True GRIT has now come to Bowling Green. The GRIT Challenge is a series of monthly challenges and fun tasks that can increase students’ GRIT Factor. For example, there is “Because I said I would,” a worldwide social movement that focuses on committing to the promises people have made for to themselves.

Focus on academic goals, commitment to at least one long-term goal and discipline make up the GRIT formula for success. However, this principle is meant not just apply to success in school, but to success in all aspects of life.

But first, grit needs to be defined.

In an April 2013 TED Talk, a psychology professor at the University of Pennsylvania named Angela Duckworth discussed the foremost predictor of success among Chicago public schoolchildren she’d studied, some in dreadful financial and social situations.

“It wasn’t talent or brains,” she said during the talk. “It wasn’t social intelligence. It wasn’t good looks. It wasn’t physical health. It wasn’t IQ. It was grit.”

Duckworth defined grit as “a passion and perseverance for very long-term goals.”

She explained, “Grit is having stamina. It’s living life as a marathon, not a sprint.”

Hosted by the counseling center, the University is currently offering students the opportunity to showcase their own grit.

Stefani Hathaway, a psychologist at the counseling center, describes the program as a way for students to form their own individualized goals while keeping the integral components of the plan.

“GRIT here is a way for students to start thinking about where they see themselves not only through their college years, but also where they see themselves in the future,” says Hathaway.

Some challenges offered might include anything from learning how to do something fun and new like juggling or simply learning to relax. Students can enter the GRIT challenge at bgsu.edu/grit or contact the counseling center.