YOUTH INITIATIVE HIGH SCHOOL

Waldorf Initiative in Viroqua, Wisconsin, USA

 

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Senior Life Skills

Fall 2006

Coordinator: Jacob Hundt

 

The focus of this semester of Life Skills will be on researching and applying for colleges and other post-high school opportunities and seeking out and applying for scholarships.

1. The first major task we have will be to plan out this Fall’s senior college tour, which will take place during the week of October 23-27.  To start things off, I am proposing that we visit the following schools on this trip:

1.  UW-Madison 2.  Ripon College 3.  Lawrence University (Appleton)

4.  University of Chicago 5.  School of the Art Institute of Chicago

6.  Shimer College and the Illinois Institute of Technology (Share a campus in Chicago)

Other possibilities for this trip include:

a.  UW-Richland, UW-Milwaukee, UW-Green Bay, etc. b.  Madison Area Technical College

c.  East-West Institute of Oriental Healing Arts d.  Beloit College

e.  Alverno College (Milwaukee) f.  Marquette University (Milwaukee)

g.  Earlham College (Indiana) h.  Northwestern University (Chicago area)

i.  The School for Designing a Society (Champaign-Urbana, IL)

j.  University of Illinois (Champaign-Urbana) k. University of Notre Dame (Indiana)

l.  Milwaukee School of Engineering m.  (your suggestion here)

I would like each person in the class to some brief research on a couple of these schools and to report back to the class so that we can make a decision and I can start scheduling visits.

2.  This class will work on building an excellent college application, making the most of the unique features of being YIHS student.  Specifically, we will work on making a comprehensive and professional-looking resumé, writing a gripping and informative personal statement for college applications, and on putting together a rich and beautiful portfolio of student work.

3.  With these materials in hand, each student will apply to at least one college or other post-college program.  To do this we will research and discuss different kinds of colleges and universities, including those not on our college tour, and other opportunities such as AmeriCorps, WWOOF, Camphill communities, and more.

4.  Finally, using free online scholarship search programs, such as fastweb.com and others, we will research the many different scholarship opportunities available and actively apply to several of them.  Each year, many thousands of dollars of scholarship money go unclaimed because no one applies.  We won’t let that happen to us!

Participation in this class is voluntary, although I expect students to stick with the class once we have started.  Once a month the class will meet with the rest of the students and faculty to discuss issues in the life and administration of the school.

  
     
 

Life Skills

(Mixed Grades)

Coordinator: Donna Simmons

 

This year the weekly Life Skills sessions are organized somewhat differently than in the past. This year, the two weekly sessions will meet at the same time - Jacob will carry one class, and I will carry the other.

 

Jacob will mainly be focused on college-related themes such as tests and essays and such - so his sessions are mainly for 11th and 12th graders. My sessions are therefore for the 9th and 10th grade - however, upper class persons are most welcome to join us if they choose.


As with last year, I don't regard these sessions as classes per se - there'll be no attendance, no little tap on the shoulder in the hall for those who don't turn up (though one might get the occasional raised eye-brow). Like last year, students who do not wish to attend may have a study hall.


This Fall we're going to be very loose in what we do. My main goal in facilitating these Life Skills sessions is to create a safe and friendly space for students to bring concerns and questions to the group. I have some ideas for topics and don't want to completely float away in a free-for-all, but if students have particular issues they want to discuss, we will make time for them in the schedule.


In our first session on 5 September, I will go over my ideas with the students and we'll come up with a general plan for the semester.


In the Spring I plan on bringing in someone to lead sessions on first aid. More details on this will follow as they become known... We will also address larger issues of health and well-being, topics touched on last Spring during our conversations on substance abuse, sex and related issues.


My plan is to develop a two year Life Skills curriculum - thus next Fall (2007) we will once again pick up on the topics of sexuality, relationships and substance abuse. Of course, I wouldn't be surprised if some off these things don't come up this year in the course of our conversations!


As a last note, I want to remind everyone that for me the most important aspect of these sessions was the trust and respect which we created together. I was so moved during so many of our conversations last Spring - the openness of the students was wonderful and I felt awed by the depth of the sharing during several conversations. I want to ensure that we continue to strengthen this relationship.


Please - if any parent, teacher, student or member of the larger community would like to contact me with any questions or concerns about the Life Skills sessions, please feel free to get in touch.