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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 the THRIVE activity calendar or UCM activity calendar.

Classes for Fall Semester:

Most of the students are finished with enrollment for fall classes.

Roommates for Fall Semester (1st-year students only):

We will be getting the students' final roommate selections in the next couple of weeks.  We are finalizing our first-year students for next semester at this time.

Finals and Move-out times…

Students should know when they are taking their finals in their THRIVE and elective classes.  2nd and 3rd-Year students may also have their internships during finals week.  Each student is responsible for checking with their supervisor for work hours.  Dorms close and students will need to be out of the dorms and rooms cleaned by 6 pm on Friday, May 5th.  Students should be receiving a sheet about a week prior to finals week with what is expected of them on room clean up.  They will also have to sign up for a checkout time.  During this time it can be a very anxious time for our students.  Mentors and staff will try to help ensure that the student works with parents on when a good checkout time is.  The CA’s for the floor will have certain times that the students can check out and students will need to be quick on getting this done.  I’ll also be getting with housing to see who has signed up and who hasn’t.  Don’t hesitate to email your child’s THRIVE teacher if you have questions.

First-Year Students:

First-Years out and about campus…

Learning Strategies: Debra Southard  

Monday students worked with their groups and quizzed each other on test questions relating to Chapter 5 on how to take notes in classes. Wednesday students took the test while Mr Brunkhorst read each question to the class. Friday a new topic was introduced on highlighting your textbook. 

Workplace & Community Skills:  Gary Manning

Students are working on revising their resumes Also this week students participated in another job shadowing experience. They are writing their thank you notes to the people they job shadowed and working on their job shadow reflection.  This upcoming week we are working on Cover Letter.  

Daily & Independent Living Skills (DILS):  Joni Shelton

We continued our discussions about being good employees with Workplace issues of how to handle criticism and conflict. We also discussed the differences between Soft Skills and Hard Skills. On Thursday we did a Nearpod activity titled “Thriving on the Job” that summarized what we have discussed. This coming week we will finish up workplace behaviors with a lesson on Communicating with Supervisors and Co-Workers. We will then move on to Personal Safety.

Second-Year Students:

Notes from the Director:

Hello third-year families, We will be setting up individual meetings for students coming back for a third year in the coming week.  Please watch for an email from me with the days/times.

Transition Planning II: Gary Manning

We continue talking about the end of the semester and what the summer may look like for the students.  We would like for all the students to either work, volunteer or do an internship this summer.  Working with vocational rehab can help students with looking for jobs.  

The students were also assigned a video for part of their final.  The video is about what the student has done here at UCM over the past two years.  

Internship II: Gary Manning

We are in the process of filling out job applications and using the students’ professional portfolios to help with the job application.  The students did another workshop at the UCM Career Service Office this week.  The workshop was on cover letter writing.  We will have one more workshop at the Career Service Office before the semester is over.  That workshop will be their mock interview.  

Seth and Austin at their internships…

Personal Finance II: Mrs. Garnier

We looked at stocks and bonds. The students particularly enjoyed watching how stocks performed daily, weekly, monthly, and annually using the finviz.com map. They could see how quickly and how frequently stocks can change value over time to help them understand why stocks are a long-term investment rather than a short-term way to save money. 

Plato: Debra Southard

Students have had a couple of great weeks getting plato completed. I sure hope this continues.

Third-Year Students:

A few of our 3rd Year students watching the game…

Notes from the Director:

Hello third-year families, We will be setting up individual meetings for students coming back for a fourth year in the coming week.  Please watch for an email from me with the days/times.

Transition Planning IV: Mrs. Garnier

We finished our apartment assignment last week. Students did a good job finding apartments near the job they researched and choosing one that they could afford on the salary of the job researched. They learned a lot about how to read a listing and understand what they would be getting for the price. 

Internship IV: Mrs. Garnier

I keep hearing good things and when I visit them, they are all hard at work. 

Foods & Nutrition II: Mrs. Southard

Tuesday students learned how to make fruit smoothies. Students were given different fruit options. Also, students learned how to take a blender apart and wash it. Thursday's lesson centered around discussing the last two recipes and preparing to make beef stroganoff next week. 

THRIVE Activities:

Mentor Activities: This past weekend the students were cooking breakfast for Dinner with Katelyn and Stacy.

THRIVE Softball game last Monday night…  Our last game night is Monday the 10th.  We have a double header, so hopefully, all our students did their homework over the Easter weekend…

Great Job Everyone!!  For more pictures please join our THRIVE Facebook and/or Instagram pages.

Important upcoming dates: 

Next Mentor Activity:  With Easter Weekend, we didn't have an activity. We hope that all of our students enjoyed time with family and friends.

"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."