Week 4/11 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.  To keep updated on what’s coming up please refer to your students or UCM activity calendar.

Notes from the Director:

Our team is gearing up for next year.  Dr. Manning has been enrolling students in classes.  They were asked to pick 5 classes that they’d like to take from the catalog and put them in order of preference.   

DORM Update for next Fall/Spring: 

In the past month, THRIVE staff learned that Ellis Dining hall was going to be remodeled next Spring semester.  While we are happy that the dining hall is getting some additions we learned that the dining hall choices were going to be on the other side of campus.  With this in mind THRIVE staff and Housing began to contemplate an option for our students.  Todd Dining hall is on the other side of campus just SouthWest of the Union.  

  

After careful consideration, the THRIVE Staff and Housing have decided to move the THRIVE Hall for next year’s fall and spring semesters.  Due to the remodel the other options for students for dining were on the other side of campus.  This creates concern during the winter months, especially, for students to have to walk to the other side of campus during inclement weather.  So, next fall/spring the students and mentors will be moved to South Yeater.  This is right next to the Todd Dining hall and creates a better climate for our students during the Ellis dining hall remodel.  S. Yeater has an elevator and multiple locations for the students to lounge or study on the ground floor, first floor, and third floor of the complex.  We are still interviewing for next year’s first-year students.  Once we finalize the new students we’ll be able to finalize our roommate selections.  We typically let students know this a couple of weeks before the spring semester ends.

We will still maintain mentor coverage where our students are located.  We understand that this is a new location for our students.  We’ll plan on taking the current first-year students on a tour of S. Yeater in the coming weeks.  We were excited to be able to keep everyone in the same building and closer to a dining hall during this time.  THRIVE will move back to the Ellis Complex after the remodel of Ellis is finished, we hope in time for the fall/spring of 2023/24 school year.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.

First-Year Students:

Workplace & Community Skills - (Mrs. Southard and Dr. Manning): 

This week we worked on cover letters. Students finished up their third job shadowing and wrote about three places they would like to do their internships in the fall. 

Learning Strategies- (Mrs. Southard)

Students were handed out their tests from Chapter 8. We took a self-quiz to determine if they study well. All were encouraged to see the link between how much they studied and their score on their tests. Friday each student presented in class information about what they have learned in college related to studying for tests. 

Daily & Independent Living Skills (DILS)-  (Mrs. Garnier)

This week we covered credit. We discussed the difference between credit and debit cards. One student brilliantly referred to credit cards as loan cards. Our focus was on the intelligent use of credit be it in the form of credit cards or conventional loans such as mortgage and auto loans. Timely payments, not overspending, and the advantages and disadvantages of credit were discussed at length.

First-Year students at their job shadows…

Second-Year Students:

Transition Planning II: (Dr. Manning)

We have been discussing what the students can do this summer on how they continue to develop their responsibility and independence.  This includes doing activities on their own, with their families and friends.  Further, we want the students to try and get jobs over the summer, volunteer or do an internship.  It is important that the student and families continue to use vocational rehab and outside resources to help the students.  

Students bright and early on Monday morning.  They met with the Career Services office.

 

Internship II:  (Dr. Manning)

The students met with the UCM Career Service Office on Monday.  The students and the staff discussed interview skills and dressing professionally for an interview.  The students continue working on their cover letters and resumes in class.  

Plato- (Mrs. Southard)  

Students did well completing plato last week. I believe students are managing their time and completing it. Just a few more weeks to go. 

THRIVE Activities: 

We hopefully will have our second softball game tonight.  I’ll keep you posted on Facebook if things change.  I’ll also try to get pictures online in a couple of days after the game.  Here are some pictures from last week’s game.  Great shirts were given to our team by Mammoth Sports and Wooly Farms Foundation!!  Thank you!!  We also had a few parents join us on a cold night.  Thank you parents for coming and joining in the fun.

Mentor Activities: 

The next mentor activity was Saturday.  Movie night with Paige… The pictures below…

Just a reminder that the pictures posted on the blog are typically just a sample of what is on Facebook.  So, if you want to see more and keep more updated, please go to our Facebook page - UCM-THRIVE.

Important upcoming dates:

We’ll have softball games on Monday nights at 7 pm until April 11th, depending on rain-outs.  Then we’ll see if we make tournament play.  

"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."