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

Director Notes:

The past few weeks have gone quickly.  It seems like just yesterday that families came and moved the students into the dorms.  The students are settling in and learning what college is about.  After some of the students went home for the first time, we heard from some families about some of the positive changes that they had seen.  This is great news about how the students are learning and adjusting to being more independent.  

The weekend of the 15th and 16th of September will be family weekend.  We will have our first home football game and the university will also have some family events.  We hope that you will be able to come and enjoy some of the activities.  THRIVE will also have some activities for you.  We will have a Family Meet N Greet from 9;30-11 on Saturday the 16th.  Then after a bit of a visit, the families and students can help decorate the THRIVE float for homecoming.  From 9-11 on Saturday the 16th, the Mentors will have things set up for you to decorate for our float.  This was one of the events that families had fun with the last two years.  We hope that we will see you there.

First-Year Students:

University Foundations: Debra Southard  

We covered chapter one this week. Some of the topics included how high school and college are different. Also the advantages of being in college. Students were all sent an email with chapter one to save on their computer in a folder. Students learned how to get their computer to read courseware Plato to them. And every week reminded about drama. How to stop it, ignore it, and the purpose that they are here in THRIVE. 

Individual Relationships and Health:  Joni Shelton

This week we discussed communication skills focusing on Listening. 

Technology Literacy:  Joni Shelton

This week we focused on safety. Email safety, being aware of phishing, viruses, and scams, Internet Safety, paying attention to what we are sharing, our digital footprints, and Social Media safety, setting up Privacy settings, and controlling who can see our information.

Career Exploration: Gary Manning

We started to discuss goals and what the student may be interested in.  The students are working on the Missouri Connection.  The first assignment in Missouri Connect was an interest profile.  This gives the students and THRIVE staff an idea of what the student is interested in and what the student may want to pursue in classes

A little studying in the “Blue” room:

Second-Year Students:

Transition Planning I: Gary Manning

We continue to discuss the students' SMART goals for the semester.  Within that discussion, the students are figuring out how to accomplish their goals.  Are there resources they need to utilize to accomplish the goals? How can they be independent and responsible to accomplish the goals?  What are the positive and negative consequences as you make choices to accomplish these goals?  Unfortunately, sometimes we have to fail at our goals at first and learn from their failures to be able to accomplish our goals in the future. 

Foods and Nutrition: Debra Southard

Monday was a holiday. Wednesday we prepared for our first lab. Friday half the class made homemade macaroni and cheese while the other half worked on a jamboard. Next Monday we will switch. Mrs. Garnier supervised the jamboards.

Internship I: Gary Manning

The students are realizing that having a job may take away from being able to do other activities.  The students just cannot go to their jobs so they can go do other things.  This is hard for the students to understand at times and frustrating for the students.  We try to make their internships as realistic as possible in having a job.  Some of our students have never had a job and where they are responsible for going to their jobs and working at the job.  Again, this is a learning experience for the students.  Further, the students are learning at their internship, they may be doing tasks that they do not want to do or the students do the same tasks a lot.  As we discuss in class this can be a normal event at a job but you can still learn from this.  

Just Hangin Out:

Third-Year Students:

Transition Planning III: Lisa Garnier

I have been very impressed with my 3rd year students’ evaluations of their workview and lifeview. They are thinking more deeply about what they want their lives to look like and recognizing that there is no one straight path to their goals. They are also learning that it’s okay for goals to change along the way. They are starting to see that there are many ways to do a job they love without starting at the top or having the “dream position.” One example of this we talked about is wanting to work in healthcare. Being a doctor may not be achievable, but being a nurse, or even a CNA can achieve that goal. We are slowly but surely broadening perspectives.

Internship III: Lisa Garnier

Students are hard at work! So far, I’m hearing good things! In the next few weeks, we will begin discussing opportunities for the Spring semester so that everyone is set to go when we get back in January.

4th Year Seminar/Portfolio: Lisa Garnier

We are budgeting! Real spending plans and budget goals based on real income from internships and other sources. Families, I encourage you to look over your student’s budgets and help me make sure they are as realistic as possible. We will be doing a new budget each month and making adjustments as necessary based on spending habits. Students are keeping a spending log/expense tracker this month beginning on Sept. 1 and end on Sept. 30. During this time, they are supposed to be tracking every penny they spend, so we can make realistic adjustments to their proposed budgets. 

Plato: Debra Southard

First years need to slow down answering questions and set a timer. 

THRIVE Activities:

THRIVE Softball Team: 

We have enough players to play softball again this semester.  It looks like our games will start next week.  I haven’t received the exact days yet, but it looks like the next four Wednesday nights we will have students and mentors on the field.  I’ll share the dates/times on Facebook for those families that would like to come.  If your student has signed up, we have asked that they bring their gloves so we have enough for everyone to play who wants to.  Then parents/families try to make sure your student gets any work done over the weekend.  

Mentor Activities:

The mentor activity was a  cooking activity, Smoothies.  Here are the pictures.  It looks like it was a hit.

 

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

Important upcoming dates: 

We sent out a Google form to the students on what intramural activities they were interested in.  We now have signup sheets in the THRIVE Lobby for Softball, Tennis-Singles, Flag Football, and Disc Golf.  We have a team for Softball!  There is still some room for more players but the mentors will be starting practices soon.  We have some extra gloves, but if the students have some at home, we’ve asked that they bring them.  When we get dates, I will post them here and also on Facebook.  We love to have families that are close come and watch the students.  

We still have Disc Golf, Tennis and 7 on 7 flag football sign-up sheets out.  

Next Mentor Activity:  

Painting with the mentors for Homecoming… Family Weekend, so the families are invited to help paint our FLOAT!

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.

IT looks like the students had lots of participation this weekend…

"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."