THRIVE Blog for Week 4/20

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.  

I’m going to start out this week’s blog with some pictures of our students on the campus.  Enjoying time on UCM’s campus.

DIrector Notes: 

We will keep families posted on any new developments involving our campus and the coronavirus.  We found out this week that the university has rescheduled graduation for August 1st.  We’ll keep 2nd-year families updated.  We are also still working from home until May 17th.  I’m sure emails and Facebook will be good methods of keeping up with any changes.  

Facebook and Google Hangouts have been the way to communicate over the last few weeks.  We’ve been really impressed with the students’ ability to accept change and learn new skills.  (Parents you, too.  We couldn’t have done this without you. Please keep the Facebook posts coming.  

First-Year Students:

Workplace & Community Skills (Mrs. Southard & Dr. Manning): 

This week's topic was soft skills.  Students participated in a lecture about the basic skills needed in all jobs. Students had some good questions about internships for next year. The final for the workplace will be for each student to demonstrate the ability to answer questions in a mock interview. Students are encouraged to practice their responses.

Learning Strategies (Mrs. Southard): 

 Students took an online test for Chapter 8. The test was open for about 36 hours. Students could take it as many times as they wanted and the top score was recorded. We talked a few times this week about getting organized for study week. Students were encouraged to find out when their finals are scheduled. Also what type of questions and what their tests would cover would be helpful.  Students took notes using Notability about different levels of questions. Discussed were essay questions: making sure they answer each part of the question. Also stressed was reading the questions more than once on a test and never leaving any blank. Sometimes one small word can change an answer.

Personal Math (Mrs. Garnier):

This week we wrapped up our unit on credit by learning about credit scores, credit reports, and creditworthiness. Don’t be surprised if they ask to look up their credit reports or credit scores just to see if they have them. Some of them are responsible for their own cell phone bills, so they may have a credit report and even a score. We discussed what it means to be creditworthy and what lenders look for when deciding whether or not to issue credit to someone. We’ve also discussed the final exam which will be a multiple-choice test on Blackboard consisting of 20-25 questions. I hope to have a study guide posted on Blackboard early next week so students can begin preparing for the final.

Second-Year Students:

Transition Planning II (Dr. Manning): 

We started to discuss what their exit interview may look like during finals week.  The exit interview consists of what their two years have been like in the THRIVE program and a student at UCM.  The interview usually takes around 45 minutes.  The interview is with the THRIVE staff and other UCM staff that are involved with the THRIVE program.  

Internship II: 

We are discussing networking and how your network may help you in the job hunt.  The students sometimes do not realize how big their network has become over the two years that they have been at UCM.  Not only the network within the THRIVE program but all the individuals they have met all over campus.  This network involves professors, other UCM students, co-workers at internships, supervisors, organizations that they may be involved in.  Further, their network involves their parents, relatives and individuals from their hometown.  

PLATO (Mrs. Southard): 

Most students are doing well with Plato. A few second years struggle to complete their time from the previous week. 

THRIVE Activities:

This week we went back to show some of our students on campus.  There were more on Facebook, as well.  We also had some artists.  There are lots more on the Facebook page.

Important upcoming dates:

2nd-year Families: 

In the coming months, we’ll have some updates for 2nd-year graduation and activities.  At this time, the university has announced that graduation is now scheduled for August 1st.  I’ve begun the process of scheduling a room for our celebration after the graduation ceremony.  Please make sure and put this date on your calendar.   Please monitor your emails.  I’ve heard of no other updates at this time.

1st-year Families: 

In the coming weeks, I will be sending out a packet via email for families to fill out and return by June 1st. Dr. Manning will also be emailing families next Falls room assignments and a list to help you stay on track this summer. I'll also be working on scheduling next year's early move-in items and agenda.

"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."