Blog 8/21

 

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.  Also, if you are interested in learning more about assistance with your son/daughter learning how to drive please contact Mr. Brunkhorst.  

Director Notes:

Overall, all students have done a great job.  The first day was probably the best day we’ve had for the first day of the year.  All students made it to their classes.  I’ve been impressed with the work that students are doing and the amount of students who are already trying to find places to study and asking for help.  It’s been a great start to the year.  We wanted to remind the families that if you hear something from your son/daughter that concerns you please let your student’s teacher know.  Mrs. Southard for First-Year students, Dr. Manning for Second-Year students, and Mrs. Garnier for 3rd and 4th Year students.  We have had the typical drama in the dorms and we have had several conversations with the students about who to go to in the dorms and during the day.  It can take some time to get everyone to understand where to go for assistance. 

First-Year Students:

University Foundations: Debra Southard  

This week we worked on logging into Plato as well as other apps we use. We watched a video on printing on WePa. Students got familiar with Blackboard and practiced a professional email. Students managed to get to their classes and maneuver the campus. 

Individual Relationships and Health:  Joni Shelton

This week in Health and Relationships we spent some time getting to know one another, assessed Safety Skills, and discussed Personal Safety on campus. We also started talking about relationships, focusing on the difference between acquaintances and friends.

Technology Literacy:  Joni Shelton

This week we spent a lot of time on Google. We focused on Gmail, setting up folders, and sending professional emails. We also talked about Google calendars, and set up folders in Gmail and Google Drive for each class. The big takeaway for students this week, I believe, is that if they cannot connect to UCMO Wifi, restart their devices (shutting the top of the laptop does not turn off the computer, it just goes into sleep mode). Also, students will need to be observant, recognizing whether or not they are in their UCMO Google account or personal Google account.

Career Exploration: Gary Manning

This week the students found out what they will do over the course of the semester.  They also filled out information on their life, so far.  This will help them learn more about their skills and abilities as we go through this course.  They also learned about a collaborative effort with a group of Special Education students in my Transition Class.  Students will be paired with one of these students to do career assessments as part of the class.

Second-Year Students:

Transition Planning I: Gary Manning

Hello and Good Morning!  This week has been a lot about the introduction of the class and what to expect.  We will be using the book “7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens” by Sean Covey.  The students' first assignment in this book was assigned to them.  

We discussed having three goals for the semester.  The students have to develop three goals for themselves.  The goals can be related to school or something personal.  

Internship I: Gary Manning

The students are meeting with their supervisors and starting their internships this week and next week.  This can be a slow process at times.  Some of the locations that the students are interning at are trying to finalize schedules and do professional development for their employees. 

Third-Year Students:

Transition Planning III: Lisa Garnier

So far, we reviewed our syllabus and course objectives and begun discussing the Designing Your Life text. Our goal is to have students consider all the opportunities available in their career fields of interest and to recognize that there is a vast array of job/career options within areas of interest. 

Internship III: Lisa Garnier

Students are applying and interviewing for various positions with plans to have them all in internships by September 1st. 

4th Year Seminar/Portfolio: Lisa Garnier

This class meets once a week. Both 4th year students are beginning their internships, and we are starting to set up budgets using their income from their internships. These students are taking multiple classes for college credit and both are enjoying their classes so far.

Foods and Nutrition: Debra Southard

Each student talked about their experiences in the kitchen. It was determined all have different backgrounds related to cooking. So we are going to start at the beginning. We talked about how the class will work. The privilege of having a food class and where the lab will be this year.  This week we focused on safety in the kitchen and the steps in washing dishes. 

Plato: Debra Southard

Plato was off to a rough start. The way the program is set up the assessments (diagnosis) started on Tuesday.  A couple of students were not able to log on. We will keep working, improving and understanding how it works. 

THRIVE Activities:

Mentor Activities:

The mentor activity was a walk downtown to see the shops and what is available for them to do near campus.  Sorry, we didn’t have any pictures taken for this activity.  We’ll have more for next week’s blog.

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

Important upcoming dates: 

We’ll be sending out a Google form to the students soon on what intramural activities they are interested in.  Then I’ll have sign-up sheets in the new THRIVE lobby for students to sign up for the events.  

Next Mentor Activity:  

Cooking French Toast with Colten, Haylee, and Shayla.  We’ll have our first small group cooking activity.  

UCM Athletics:

Soccer and Volleyball are starting soon.

Get the Red Out- Street Fair before the first game, September 9th.  

Family Weekend - THRIVE Meet n Greet is scheduled for 9:30-11 on September 16th…  more details to follow.

"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."