Blog - Week 1/20

THRIVE Director Notes

Posts on this Blog will be directed to help families see what is going on in our THRIVE Program.  Items discussed on the Blog have already occurred. To keep updated on what’s coming up please refer to your students or UCM activity calendar.

First-Year Students:

Workplace & Community Skills: Taught by Dr. Manning and Mrs. Southard. Monday Dr. Manning went over somethings to know for the new semester.

• How to email professors
• Where classes are located
• What to do if you miss a class
• Sit up front in your non-THRIVE class
• Being proactive 
• Blackboard assignment due Wednesday

Learning Strategies: We continued discussion on Monday about starting the semester. 

Self Defense class for women starts Feb 10. This is free to all students. We discussed how to sign up and where it is located. Also discussed was goal setting. Each student was asked to have a personal goal in mind when they come to see Mrs. Southard this week.  Wednesday students were reminded what will be due Thursday and Friday. Mrs. Southard asked if anyone needed help getting their computers to read plato or other textbooks to them. Organization was a big topic this week. Cleaning out notebooks and clearing off desktop as well has labeling assignments. Students will be expected to keep their own to-do list. We will not be using class time all semester to complete that. It will be the student's responsibility to do that. 

Personal Math: We are discussing goal-setting, in particular, financial goal setting. The students and I (Mrs. Garnier) are setting at least one SMART goal for the semester that involves money. It could be saving for a trip, a video game, a new phone, etc. It could even be a health goal where we assess how much money can be saved by eating out less (this is one of my goals for the semester). The students have already had several “Aha!” moments regarding money. For instance, we calculated how much money it would cost to have a soda after school every weekday for a month (5 weekdays x 4 weeks/month x $1.25/soda = $125.00). Reactions tho this ranged from “Seriously?” to “WHOA” to “Holy Cow!” This should be a fun project!

Second-Year Students:

Transition Planning II:  We are discussing wants and needs in a monthly budget.  The students have a job that pays them $23,000 per year.  The students have to decide on what type of apartment, transportation, utility bills, cell phones, entertainment and etc... I do not think the students realize how much individuals pay on cell phones, rent, food, bills and etc..

Internship II: Students are doing well at their internships.  They are learning new skills from the previous semester.  When individuals learn new skills this can be challenging and frustrating but it is rewarding.  The students continue to work on being proactive with their schedules. They are very busy with their internships, classes, meetings, studying and social life.  Time management is essential for a college student.    

Here are a few pictures of the students in their internships.  Dr. Manning had them starting early and they were working hard.

PLATO: Students did not have new assessments for January. Students had just completed December assessments before they left for winter break. 

THRIVE Activities:

Sam had them cook their own breakfast!!  It looks like they had some great food! And they do clean up, too!!

There are more pictures on our Facebook Page: 

Important upcoming dates:

Interviews for next year’s cohort of 2022:  Just FYI for parents.  During the first week of February and the last week of February, we’ll be having our family interviews for next year’s cohort.  During this time some THRIVE classes may not meet. If we schedule an interview during class time the students will have group classwork to do during this week.  The teachers will make sure that the students are aware and each group will meet during the days that their class would’ve met. 

Athletics to watch:  Men’s and Women’s Basketball games are on.  UCM Mules Wrestling also has some matches in the coming weeks.  Towards the middle of March, the Baseball team will also start their games. 

In addition, the students can participate in Intramural Athletics: Students will need to watch the back table for any upcoming activities.

"This blog is a programming blog written by the director and staff of the THRIVE Program on the University of Central Missouri campus.  This blog doesn't accept any form of cash advertising, sponsorship, or paid topic insertions. 

The views and ideas expressed on this blog are purely the blog owners.  This blog does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest.  We are simply telling you what we plan to do in our program and using the blog to help spread what we are doing on a weekly basis."