9/26 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 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: 

In the coming weeks, students will be asked to choose the top 5 classes that they would like to take in the Spring.  Then staff will look to see what classes fit in their schedule and then discuss how each fits in their person-centered plan.  It would be a good idea to get with them in the next couple of weeks to see what they have thought about.  The team then goes and talks to the teachers about the class and makes sure they know about our THRIVE program.  Then 2nd-, 3rd-, and 4th year students will be starting to think about their Spring semester internships.  

Fall Break coming up October 12th and 13th.   This year UCM has added a fall break to the students' calendar.  This means that there will be no classes on October 12th and 13th.  Offices will also be closed on the 13th, so staff won’t be on campus.  I wanted to make sure parents had seen this on the calendar and could discuss this with the students.  I will be sending out a form to the students late next week to help staff and mentors plan for that weekend.  Please talk to your student about this break.  There will also be no study hall on Wednesday the 11th.

Homecoming week October 16th through 22nd: This year’s Homecoming theme is “Peace, Love, and Mules”.  Thanks to the help of all the families at Family Weekend our float is about finished.  Students worked on finishing it up last weekend.  They will have opportunities to help with our Spirit Window, Blood Drive, and Bowling team, and will walk in the parade on Saturday morning the 21st.  After the parade, they will be able to enjoy activities downtown and the Mules Football game against Emporia State.  We’d love to see lots of families come to this great event.  The Mules are playing well and came within a point of beating Pitt State a few weeks back.  Let’s fill the stands…

First-Year Students:

University Foundations: Debra Southard  

We are finishing up chapter 3 on time management. We covered what time stealers are. Working in the study room ( I call it the blue room because it has blue chairs). How staying focused during the day can help students stay on track. Also staying out of the dorms during the day would help. There are a lot of distractions in the dorms, video games, television, and naps!

This is the student's job. I encourage you to stay in the academic building during the school day. 

Individual Relationships and Health:  Joni Shelton

This week we focused on Conflict Resolution, common causes, reactions, and strategies to deal with conflict. We also reviewed lessons from the beginning of the semester to date with a midterm study guide, logs and reflection paragraphs, and class discussions.

Technology Literacy:  Joni Shelton

We had a busy week, students completed a Google Scavenger hunt, wrote a letter to their future selves in Google Docs, and researched and imputed information about personal budgets into an Excel spreadsheet. We also reviewed the steps to save documents as PDFs and how to use Adobe Reader. This was accompanied by the discussion that some learn better by reading material and viewing presentations, some learn better by listening to lectures and hearing material read through Adobe Reader, and some learn better through doing the assignments and projects. Therefore we provide opportunities for all three ways of learning.

Career Exploration: Gary Manning

This week they will look over their results of the Career Cluster and go more in-depth into the top 6 clusters, what else will they find that might interest them?  They will find 2-3 other jobs/careers that might interest them in each of their top clusters.  This will help them find other backup plans that might be viable options for them.  

Second-Year Students:

Transition Planning I: Gary Manning

We are discussing getting outside our comfort zones and trying new things.  This is hard for some of us as individuals.  We like being secure and comfortable.  We have had a student try out for the talent show on campus and we have another student going to run the color run on campus.  Further, we are discussing things we cannot control and why do we let these things bother us.  We can control our attitude and how we try our best but we cannot control what other individuals do.  

Foods and Nutrition: Debra Southard

This week was pumpkin funnel cakes. It wasn't my favorite but I don't want to push my taste on the students. I heard a student say this is pancake batter. So that was great to hear them thinking about what else they could make with the recipe.

Game Day!

Internship I: Gary Manning

We are almost at mid-term and that means the students and supervisors are starting to fill out internship progress reports.  The students have to fill one out on themselves to help with self-reflection and then we compare the student’s one to their supervisor’s report.  This helps the students to learn, grow, and work on professional skills. 

Third-Year Students:

Transition Planning III: Lisa Garnier

We are continuing to work through the Designing Your Life text. They are currently identifying the activities during their day and rating their levels of engagement and energy during these activities. The goal is to recognize which activities they find truly interesting and enjoyable and the energy levels of these activities (whether they feel energized or drained during and after them). We are also continuing to refine our 168-hour time management worksheets.

Internship III: Lisa Garnier

Students are doing well, and we are beginning to discuss options for the Spring semester.

4th Year Seminar/Portfolio: Lisa Garnier

We continue to monitor monthly budgets and will be reviewing their expenses for the month of September soon. They were tasked with recording every time they buy something: cost, item, need or want. We have also begun learning how to create cover letters tailored to specific job postings. 

Plato: Debra Southard:

I believe that the first years are getting the hang of Plato! 

THRIVE Activities:

THRIVE Softball Team: 

A little fun at Softball Practice…

I wasn’t at this game and didn’t see any pictures this week…

Mentor Activities:

The mentor activity was going to the Black Out game.  What a group…

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

Important upcoming dates: .  

UCM Homecoming Week is October 16th through 22. This year’s theme is “Peace, Love, and Mules.” There will be activities throughout the week and sign-up sheets will go out in the next week or so.  Many times these activities include Spirit Window, Donation Creation, Pep Rally/Cheer Contest, Bowling Tournament, and the parade.  On Saturday it starts early with the Parade, then the Mules Football game.  THRIVE will have a float and the students will walk in the parade.  We also have had some of our 3rd & 4th Years go with the W-ils bus in the past.  We are still working out that detail.  It’s a great time and we suggest if you have the weekend free to join your son/daughter at this event.

Next Mentor Activity:  

Next week is our Fall break.  We are seeing how many students we will be having and then plan an activity.  The mentors have planned a Tye Dying event for Friday afternoon from 4-6 for the students who are on campus.  We will also attempt to make enough for all students to wear during the Homecoming Parade.

UCM Athletics:

Soccer and Volleyball are starting soon.

"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."