Weekly Blog for October 1st

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.

First-Year Students:

University Foundations:

This week we prepared for midterm tests. The students worked in their study groups. We reviewed some key 
terms. We also discussed the many ways students could study for a midterm including making their own 
questions, creating graphic organizers we call mapping and reading over the power points. We did not have 
University Foundations Class on Wednesday due to a meeting a MIPSA Meeting in Columbia. Wednesday 
students had several options in lieu of class time. They could take their relationships test over in OAS, continue 
studying for the UF midterm, work on the discussion board and research classes students might be interested 
in for next semester or work on plato. The test for UF was Friday where the students made their own appoint-
ments and arranged a time to take their test over in OAS. Students are required to use the discussion board 
every week. Students write about their extracurricular activities for the week and they are able to see each 
other’s posts. Students earn 10 points a week. Several students are having trouble remembering to use a capital
letter at the beginning of a sentence and a period at the end. This is a learning process. But since it is midterm 
expectations are increasing and students will not earn credit without a proper sentence. Mrs. Garnier and I 
have reminded students several times consistency is the key.  Students are encouraged to check out edomo.com.
 Several students are not doing this. This week I posted questions that will appear on the midterm.

Daily & Independent Living Skills:

This week the students have been working on their resumes.

Technology Literacy:

Tech spent this week doing PowerPoint presentations. I was very impressed with the detail in them and 
their use of more advanced design elements in their slides. They worked hard and it showed.  Here are 
a few pictures from Monday’s presentations.

Relationships 101:

This week’s topic was Harassment, love, and infatuation. We discussed what behaviors constitute harassment and who decides if it is harassment. We discussed what to do if you feel you are being harassed. The differences between harassment and flirting was also a topic as well as infatuation and love. We reviewed the video from last week and came to a conclusion if you care about someone how you treat them is very important.  

Second-Year Students:

Transition Planning I:

I and Mr. Brunkhorst met with the UCM Career Service office this week.  The career service office is 
going to meet with the second year students in November to discuss interviews and resumes. Further, 
the career service office will discuss with the students on how the Career Service office can help the 
students when the students start applying for jobs.  

- During this week in class, we will be discussing resumes and interviews skills.  We took a week off 
from the 7 Habits book but we will be jumping back into the book with the third habit - Put First Things 
First.

Internship I:

The students are writing a critical analysis paper on their internship.  The paper has to describe three 
different situations during their internship.  The students may utilize the writing center in the library, tutors,
 and mentors to help with this paper.

PLATO:

Students are continuing working on plato. Some students are required to attend mandatory study hall if 
they did not complete their time from the week before. Students took new assessments for the month 
of October. The time they work on assessments is figured in on their total time for the week.

THRIVE Activities:

This weekend the students were able to get their bowling games in. The students also spent some 
time on Sunday getting some decorations completed for the float.  I’ll get some of these posted to 
Facebook later this week and also add some to next week’s blog.

Important upcoming dates:

Special Olympics Bowling-3 of our students participated in bowling.  

Slow-Pitch Softball our students had another game on Wednesday night.  They lost, but it was a 
close game and the students had some great defensive and offensive plays.  We play our next game 
this week. At the moment it is scheduled for 7 pm.

This year THRIVE is a sponsor for the Down Syndrome Guild of Greater Kansas City’s Step up
for Down Syndrome.  The 20th is coming up quickly.  We will be using UCM’s van to transport the 
students to Arrowhead stadium.  We’ll have pictures to show in a few weeks.

Homecoming Weekend is October 27th.  Put it on your calendars.  The students will be participating 
in several different activities during homecoming week.  We will try to make sure they also have some 
academic time. Please ask your student what they have signed up for…  We still have some activities 
that they can do. They will be working on our THRIVE float decorations each week to make sure they 
are ready to go.

Athletics to watch: Women's Volleyball, Cross-Country, and Mules Football start up later this month.

"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."