Skills for Life
The start of the second semester marks the end of three-and-a-half years working toward the goal of getting into college for seniors. Most applications are in, and if you don’t know where you are going yet, you will find out soon. At many schools, seniors see this last semester as a period to glide through until summer, and then they are off to college. Grace Church School is trying to fill this time with, not only our regular interesting courses but, new Wednesday workshops aimed towards seniors.
The school has introduced new workshops this year to ease the transition to college focused on life skills that seniors may need living alone. There are eight weeks of this course every Wednesday from 2:10pm to 3:20pm. Ms. Laurence describes that, “It is a part of GCS’ mission to prepare kids to be successful once they leave,” and these workshops contribute to that. Through all the years at GCS, Ms. Laurence says students have been, “Academically, socially, and emotionally prepared” for the future. To curate the classes, Ms. Laurence asked a parent committee for suggestions and feedback. Parents volunteered to teach classes, including a nutritionist and a college professor. She felt strongly about certain topics including: personal safety, reporting sex harassment, and the danger of substance abuse. Many of these were things she felt she didn’t receive enough information about until after college.
One student said that he would like to take workshops that will lead to “Immediate results,” that can be used in daily life. Some examples of the workshops are: How to Organize Your Finances, Reporting Sexual Harassment/ Consent & Coercion, and To Greek or not to Greek: That is the Question! When asked if these workshops were effective, another student said that, “There was a real purpose to what we were learning.” Conversely, one student said that the workshops were repetitive and that topics such as sexual harassment and healthy relationships were often done multiple times and could get boring. While some students seem to have the view that these workshops are uninteresting, others feel even more prepared for the future as a result of these workshops focusing on life skills.