Graduating seniors from schools across the region gathered at the Boys and Girls Club at the Plateau for this year’s Thrive 101 seminar to learn essential life skills before embarking on their journeys into adulthood, which according to Joy Clark, Board Chair for BGCP, is essential for them.
“Its purpose is to help seniors after they graduate be resilient. Giving them soft skills like how to introduce yourself, how to introduce a friend to other people, the value of networking, the importance of teamwork, the importance of communicating effectively and the importance of reading body language,” she said.
The students, which came from Blue Ridge Early College, Highlands School and Summit Charter School, were brought into the Boys and Girls Club at the Plateau and intermingled among each other. There, they split between four different groups and were given activities to further develop the necessary skills needed for a post-high school life.
“You don’t take a course to learn these things, but they will make you more successful, they will make you more resilient, giving them situations that they’ve already been through,” Clark said.
Of the four groups, the primary objectives for their individual breakout sessions were represented by four main concepts. One of which included personal management, where students worked on designing their own tote bags with positive messaging. Additionally, via another group session, students focused on interpersonal skills, in which, they learned how to network and small talk.
For the other two groups, they learned to develop effective communication through a group trust activity, in which they would be guided into a room blindfolded by their peers via verbal and non-verbal body language. Lastly, in a group led by Clark herself, students focused on teamwork by solving puzzles without speaking.
“We did obstacle courses, and people were blindfolded, and you had to lead them through it. That was fun. And then there was another one with the puzzles, but you had to work as a team to jump over an electric fence and I thought that was fun,” said Isabella Moody, a senior at Blue Ridge Early College.
For Moody, who is set to graduate this school year, the biggest takeaway from the seminar was communication, which she said helped her better understand how to navigate through the stresses of preparing for college.
“I’ve always known that communication was important, but we had to do a puzzle without talking, so that was difficult, but you had to read everybody and their body language. So, body language, communication, teamwork, especially,” Moody said,
Moody added that the seminar offered the necessary skills needed, especially as she fully prepares for college life in the near future.
“We got to learn how to write thank you letters, and I thought that might not have been fun, but it was super interesting and definitely applicable in the future, because when I need to write thank you notes, people who write recommendation letters for me, and then this too,” she said.
With students taking home a plethora of newly-learned life skills, Clark expressed that she ultimately hopes students learn to develop a sense of self confidence, which is essential for any young adult entering into the adult world.
“We hope the kids self-rely on maybe developing confidence so they can rely on themselves,” she said. Their values, their judgement and confidence in themselves. I suppose this is what all of this leads up to.”