3/31 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: 

Softball season started last week.  Our game tonight has been changed to next Monday.  So next Monday, the 7th, we will play a double header.  We will play at 6 pm and at 7 pm.

Students finished up their 2nd job shadow experience this last week.

Graduation: Was emailed to our graduates’ families last week. Thank you to those who have already filled out the Google form that was sent to families on how many might be attending. This helps us plan the food we need. We also measured for Caps/Gowns last week, so I'll have them in my office until the week we do some group pictures.

First-Year Students:

Foods & Nutrition I: Debra Southard  

We are working on getting all topics covered. Monday, we finished up the Blueberry muffins. Wednesday, we discussed foods that are nutrient-dense, and students were assigned two Kahoots: one on nutrients and one on quick breads. We also premeasured the dry ingredients. Friday, the first group made homemade biscuits.  Making biscuits is a foundational baking skill where students practice measuring ingredients, work on fine motor skills, grate frozen butter, folding over the dough to make it flaky, and using a biscuit cutter.

Workplace & Community Skills: Gary Manning & Mrs. Southard

Students are working on revising their resumes.  Also, this week, students participated in another job shadowing experience. They are writing their thank you notes to the people they job shadowed and working on their job shadow reflection.  This upcoming week, we are working on the Cover Letter.  

Learning what they might do working with the athletic equipment department.

Daily & Independent Living Skills (DILS):  Joni Shelton

On Tuesday, we visited the UCM Career and Life Design’s Professional Clothing Studio. Staff shared information on how students can pick out professional clothing items (4 per month for free), how to dress professionally, and how to care for professional clothing items. On Thursday, we continued our discussion about workplace behavior with another NearPod lesson, “Thriving on the Job”.

Second-Year Students:

Transition Planning II: Gary Manning

 We continue talking about the end of the semester and what the summer may look like for the students.  We would like all the students to either work, volunteer, or do an internship this summer.  Working with vocational rehab can help students look for jobs.  

The students will also be assigned a video for part of their final.  The video is about what the student has done here at UCM over the past two years.  

Internship I: Gary Manning

We are in the process of filling out job applications and using the students’ professional portfolios to help with the job application.  The students did another workshop at the UCM Career Service Office this week.  The workshop was on cover letter writing.  We will have two more workshops at the Career Service Office before the semester is over.  The last workshop will be their mock interview.  Please help your student to be prepared for this interview.  The students will have access to certain questions for the interview.

Personal Finance I:  Lisa Garnier

We continued work on banking with a focus on savings and savings accounts. Students learned about the difference between checking and savings accounts, what a savings account is, different types of savings accounts, and how to make a savings plan.

Third-Year Students:

Transition Planning IV: Lisa Garnier

We continued our work on reading job postings, finding job postings, and analyzing job postings. 

Internship IV: Lisa Garnier

Students are doing well. We are getting ready to update resumes, and students are completing their internship self-evaluations.

THRIVE Activities:

Mentor Activities: 

Lucian and the students had a Game Night set up for last Friday night at 7 pm…

We’ll have pictures later…

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

Important upcoming dates:   

Next Mentor Activity:  

Next week we have rock painting with Shanne…

UCM Athletics:

Baseball season is well on its way.  I hope that the weather becomes more spring-like 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 owner's.  This blog does not contain any content that 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."