2/2 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.  Please refer to the THRIVE activity calendar or UCM activity calendar to keep updated on what's coming up.  Also, if you want to learn more about assistance with your son/daughter learning how to drive please contact Mr. Brunkhorst.  

Director Notes: 

Update on Scholarships:

We have worked with the students’ MyCentral to make sure that they have “Opted In” for scholarships.  This should enable them to automatically be put into our THRIVE scholarships.  However, to increase their chances of getting one of our needs-based scholarships, please make sure you work with them to fill in the new essay component that helps explain how they are financing their education.  We will rely on this information to help us know who needs the scholarship and how much.  We have experienced a drop in one of our main donors, so the following years, we may not have as much money to send our students.  You will also notice that some of the scholarships are for 1st-2nd year students and some are for 3rd/4th year students.  We did this to try to even out the available scholarships for each group.  Please make sure your son/daughter works with you on the essay component to ensure all information is there.  Plus, there is a word count on the essay, so please make sure it has enough information…  Thank you and good luck to everyone.

Spring 2026 Open House:

We had a cold but good open house this past Monday.  Our first virtual open house was in the morning, and then some came to tour the campus in the afternoon.

Job Shadow coming up for First-Year students:

First-year students will also be getting ready for their first job shadow soon.  This will give them some ideas as to what the job is like and help them find out what internship possibilities they might have.  

WAY TO GO!!!

Rec Center Activities:

We have the sign up sheets for the Rec Center activities in the THRIVE Lobby…

First-Year Students:

Foods & Nutrition I: Joni Shelton  

First-Year students passed their Food Handler’s Test!!

A bit of studying...

Workplace & Community Skills: Gary Manning & Mrs. Shetton

This week, we started discussing job shadows for the semester.  Our first job shadow will be in a couple of weeks.  When the students job shadow at their locations, they need to dress appropriately, have good body language, and not utilize their phones/technology.  We have suggested to the students to make sure that they wear appropriate clothes for a job shadow.  We do not expect them to spend a lot of money on new clothes, but the student may need to start thinking about professional clothes that they may need.  

 

Daily & Independent Living Skills (DILS):  Mrs. Swainston

This week, we are using some of our skills in real-world situations.  Students made sure they had emergency information that could be accessed even if the screen is locked, with information about medications, medical conditions, allergies, and emergency contacts.  If they have asked about insurance information or Primary Care Physicians, that would be why.  

We have been working on nutrition and SMART goals.  Today, we worked with reading food labels and making healthy choices based on the labels.

Second-Year Students:

Transition Planning II: Gary Manning

The student had to write about their short-term goals from the time they graduated in May until September.  Some students wrote about getting a job, getting ready to come back to UCM as a third-year student, looking for an apartment, and transportation.  

Internship I: Gary Manning

The students are doing a wonderful job at their internship.  They are staying very busy between internships, classes, meetings, and school work.  Sometimes we have to have a discussion about time management and having balance in our lives.  Further, we have to have discussions on expectations from having an internship/job, and what those expectations are.  We may not like some of our duties at our internships, but the expectation is that we will work to our best ability and not complain

Jules helping at the Food Pantry…

Personal Finance I:  Lisa Garnier

We had a collaborative lesson on calculating trade-offs when budgeting. Ms. Tara Williams’s UCM Special Education for Math Teachers class came down and worked with students on math skills. The students worked in groups led by a student from the Special Education for Math Teachers class. They were given three scenarios where they were given the amount each person in each scenario earned, then students had to figure out how much money would need to be saved and how long it would take to save it for the specific purchases in the scenarios. It was a great success, and the students from my class and Ms. Williams learned a lot.

Third-Year Students:

Transition Planning IV: Lisa Garnier

We spent time learning about budgeting for transportation, including factors that influence the type of transportation used and the costs of different modes of transportation. For instance, having your own car costs more than just the monthly car payments. We talked about budgeting for gas, repairs, maintenance, insurance, registration fees, and taxes. 

Internship IV: Lisa Garnier

Everything is on track, and students are working hard.

Fourth-Year Students:

Senior Portfolio II: Lisa Garnier

We did not meet last week, as it was our THRIVE Spring Open House that day.

Internship VI: Lisa Garnier

Students are already working hard!

Plato: 

Students have been making progress towards completing their 60 minutes in each subject area each week. I have been discussing with the students that, in addition to completing 60 minutes each week, this semester I will be looking at the quality of their work as well as the quantity. I will check which lessons students have mastered, then have them redo the lesson to achieve mastery.

THRIVE Activities:

Mentor Activities: 

Pickleball with Cooper at Ellis Field, Saturday at 3 pm.

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

Important upcoming dates:   

Next year’s Interviews are coming up in February- Students will have online or group work for their THRIVE classes so that the team can be involved in the interviews.

THRIVE Scholarships should be up and ready for you to apply for.  Please also don’t forget to update your FAFSA early this year.  There is a new setup for scholarships.  Staff will be helping the students get started, but parents are encouraged to help with the financial need essay.  This will help get scholarships out.

Next Mentor Activity:  

Here are the upcoming activities that the mentors will be doing…  

Pizza Party with Caitlyn…

UCM Athletics:

Basketball is in full swing with both Mules and Jennies playing games on Thursdays and Saturdays.  

"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."