THRIVE-Week 4/13 Blog

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.  

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.  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): 

Students were asked to complete a stress test to determine their level of stress. It was decided everyone is STRESSED!  Dr. Manning reviewed even good events that can cause stress. There was a good conversation about the coronavirus and about 911 and how both of those stressed the whole country. Discussion on Wednesday included good and bad activities people do to relieve stress. Friday class centered around  Mr. Brunkhorst’s discussion about what the students have learned about themselves since they have been working on Missouri Connections.

Learning Strategies (Mrs. Southard): 

Chapter 8 marking your textbook was discussed. Covered was how to pick out the important information in paragraphs. Explained what a comprehensive test would cover. Our final will be a chapter test. Friday outline for chapter 8 was due. All students attended class this week. 

Personal Math (Mrs. Garnier): 

We have been learning about credit, credit cards, installment credit, and revolving credit. We covered the difference between debit cards and credit cards with an emphasis on how using debit cards is spending our own money while using credit cards is spending borrowed money. The extreme difference in interest rates on installment loans vs credit cards really got their attention. We talked about how using credit cards for emergencies only is the best practice to avoid extreme debt. They asked really good questions and I think they are gaining a pretty good understanding of debit vs credit.

Second-Year Students:

Transition Planning II (Dr. Manning):  

Students were asked to complete a stress test to determine their level of stress. It was decided everyone is STRESSED!  We reviewed even good events that can cause stress. There was a good conversation about the coronavirus and about the 9/11 event and how both of those stressed the whole country. Discussion on Wednesday included good and bad activities people do to relieve stress.  We discussed your personality and experiences that can help you with stressful situations and how you deal with stress.  

Internship II:  

The students are doing an excellent job of using YouTube videos to research careers that they are interested in.  Some of the videos can relate to any career that may be chosen. Further, some of the videos may change your mind in pursuing a career in the profession.  

PLATO (Mrs. Southard): 

Last week we had a couple of students that did not complete their Plato. They were emailed and students worked hard to complete it. 

THRIVE Activities:

This week our students continued to amaze us with their cooking skills.  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 just posted that the graduation ceremony will be held on August 1st. Please mark your calendars. I've already started to plan for the celebration after the graduation ceremony. I'll continue to keep you updated.  Please monitor your emails.

"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."