Fish!

Thank you to Sarah Kolkman, Instructor, for writing today's blog.

Hebrews 10:24 – “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.” NIV

The FISH! Philosophy is inspired by a group of fishmongers from Seattle’s Pike Place Fish Market.  Pikes Place is known for its fun style of business.  They toss fish around as if they were footballs!  Throwing fish is obviously hard work, but despite the cold and harsh conditions, Pikes Place has found a way to harness a positive attitude and have fun at work.  This team is a great example of how you can create a positive atmosphere and workplace that encourages people to do their best and work well as a team. 

FISH! has four unique and applicable principles:

1.      Be There

2.      Make Their Day

3.      Play

4.      Choose Your Attitude

At Shepherds College we put the FISH! principles into action!  As part of our Winter Student Retreat, students experienced FISH! in a very REAL and engaging way.  Through acting activities, teambuilding games, and even some tasty treats, Shepherds College had a fun, “fishy” retreat.

Be There:  Students learned to focus, listen and even empathize with others, such as not texting and talking at the same time.  When you are talking to someone, they need all of you. Setting aside distractions to be fully present is a sign of respect. It improves communication and strengthens relationships.

A local acting company, First Stage, visited Shepherds College and led several activates that helped illustrate “Be There” to students.  Working in groups, students described personal positive traits, focused on positive memories, and sculpted scenarios which demonstrated “I am” statements.

Make Their Day:  Students learned to keep it simple. It can start with smiling at someone you don’t know very well. Turn an everyday encounter into a pleasant experience for someone. Kindness, patience and thoughtfulness will be returned.   Simple gestures of thoughtfulness, thanks and recognition make people feel appreciated and valued. When you make someone else feel good, you feel good too.

First Stage also led exercises on trust, teamwork, and communication.  Students worked together to complete various tasks using their teamwork and communication skills.  They also learned that making someone's day is in the little things we can do every day!

Play: Work made fun gets things done!  Play is not about games or toys; it is about your state of mind. Be creative in your problem solving. Encourage people to think outside the box. How can everyday tasks be made fun and challenging? Play energizes you and the people around you.

Ms. Eakley and Mrs. Anderson led activates that involved a lot of fun and a lot of play.  Students were able to demonstrate creative problem solving in a farm challenge, energize those around them in a game of balloon volleyball, and create their own personal fish tank to take home with them as a reminder to enjoy the day and to simply play!

Choose Your Attitude: If you look for negativity you will be sure to find it.  Students learned to empower themselves to respond to challenges and problems in a constructive and positive way. When you get dressed every morning, ‘put on’ your attitude.  When you get up, decide who you want to "be" today. Ask yourself throughout the day, "What is my attitude right now? Is it helping or hurting the people around me? " Attitudes are contagious. Is yours worth catching? 

Mrs. Cyr and Mrs. Kolkman led students in the Choose Your Attitude session.  Students experienced different situations where they needed to turn a negative attitude into a positive attitude in order to complete different tasks.  Students competed in a marshmallow chopstick race and acted out different attitude emotions (both positive and negative).

When asked what they learned throughout the teaching sessions, students provided very insightful and positive responses:

First year Samantha: “I learned that you can choose to have a good day or a bad day”

First year Mykal:  “Choose your attitude, make a choice. Do the right thing.  Be on time.  Be there.”

First year Jonathan: “I learned about myself and about my attitude and how you can choose to do right or wrong”

First year Amy:  “Be positive and brighten someone’s day”

Second year Joey: “You can make someone’s day by helping them”

Second year Willetta: “I learned how to grow in a community with others and have fun at the same time”

Third year Kati: “I enjoyed the different activities. My favorite activity was the mirror which taught us to be there for people. The other activity I enjoyed was the trust game where one person was peanut butter and the other was jelly. One person had their eyes closed and the other person guided them across the gym.  This taught us to trust one another so we could get the job done and it taught a us how to be nice to one another. “

 

After all the fun and games of our teaching sessions, students continued the fun with a collaborative banquet dinner with Shepherds Ministries, served by our very own Culinary Arts students and decorated by our very own Horticulture students.  Students ate and mingled and continued learning about the FISH! theme by competing in different games such as “Fish in the Movies” and “Beach Volleyball.” 

Dean of Education, Angela Houk, commented on the service roles our students provided for the banquet dinner: “I enjoyed seeing how the students put into practice the third principle of Appropriate Independence - empowered to serve. The students served Catalyst clients as they prepared food, served the meal, and cleaned up from the dinner.  It was a great time of both being part of a community and fun. It's great to see students having fun while serving others.”

On Friday, students got a real treat.  We spent the entire day at Shedd Aquarium!  The highlights of the visit were a 4D movie and an Aquatic show. 

 To top it all off, Giordonas Pizza was our dinner destination.  It was a delectable, deep-dish treat for our staff and students who were able to attend!

First year NeeDow:  “Shedd aquarium was great because I got to see different kinds of fish. I learned a lot about what kinds of fish we have in this world. “

Second year Olya: “What I enjoyed the most about the retreat was getting to know the first years a little bit more”

Second year Abby: “I liked the different themes because they apply to our everyday life”

Throughout the retreat students put the four FISH! principles (Be There, Make Their Day, Play, and Choose Your Attitude) into action in order to build stronger relationships with their peers and their community.  Just like the fishmongers from Seattle’s Pike Place Fish Market, students and staff enjoyed turning hard work into a fun and positive experience!

FISH! Resource

http://www.amazon.com/Fish-Remarkable-Morale-Improve-Results/dp/0340819804/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=8-3&qid=1425507248

First Stage Acting Group

http://www.firststage.org/

 



Shepherds College - Guiding Your Transition to Appropriate Independence. Please visit us at www.shepherdscollege.edu.

The Shepherds Greenhouse - Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

Thank you to Owen Lackey, Lead Instructor, Horticulture, for writing today's blog.

Nearly four decades ago, Shepherds found itself in an era of transition as enrolled children began to become young adults. A few conversations at Shepherds Home and School were soon purposed toward discovering new and challenging educational activities. Added activities would enhance care and vocational programs for residents. During this era, queries and contacts were extended to friends and families of the ministry in order to include them in the process.  One contact in particular took root quickly, resulting in a growing, lively branch of the ministry.

Shepherds greenhouse program began in the late 1970’s with the gift of a working greenhouse from a generous family desiring to assist Shepherds in its ministry purpose. This first 2,000 sq. ft. greenhouse served its function in giving Shepherds a lively, living workplace in which to enjoy plants, get dirty and wet, and work toward productive outcomes!

A campus will often grow and prosper, and, in 1990, the greenhouse location on Shepherds campus proved to be a valuable spot for building expansion. Relocation was planned, but the original family that provided the greenhouse decided that it was time to bless Shepherds again, this time with a larger, state-of-the-art steel structure. 

This structure has served Shepherds Ministries very well over the past 25 years. It has been home base for the grounds and greenhouse crews of Shepherds clients who have worked to decorate and care for the campus. Many classes and individual clients have spent time transplanting and potting-up plants for sale or installations on campus each spring. At 3,600 sq. ft., the space provided adequate growing room for spring seasonal bedding sales, vegetable garden starts, perennial divisions, and specialty plant storage.

Seven years ago, Shepherds College opened its doors to begin ministering to the educational and vocational preparation needs of young adults with intellectual disabilities who would benefit from its help. The two primary vocational tracks for students were Culinary Arts and Horticulture. As the College has grown, it has been a great privilege to turn over more and more greenhouse lab space to meet the needs of Horticulture students for active learning space. As a result, the Horticulture students and staff now operate the greenhouse, while Shepherds campus and its grounds crew still enjoy the advantages of growing space, right on campus. 

The Horticulture students of Shepherds College enjoy a three year experience in the various aspects of a career in the Green Industry. They are involved in vegetable gardening and small-greenhouse growing of tender crops. They also participate in grounds care, teaming up with the grounds crew in campus work. The spring brings an active, aggressive push toward filling our larger greenhouse, so there is a lot of work happening there! Third year students are then given opportunity to fine tune their skills in local “green” businesses, serving as interns in their work areas for four days a week.

This year, once again, the Shepherds College Greenhouse will be opening its doors to community opportunity.

Shepherds College Greenhouse will be open to the public each Friday and Saturday for the month of May and also Memorial Day. Horticulture students will be available to sell the 30,000 plants that they have been involved in raising. As a part of their training, they will be involved as sales staff, sharing their Horticulture knowledge with the public and learning the ins and outs of customer service!

Plant materials for sale will include:

·         Bedding plants for yard and garden

·         Vegetable plants

·         Perennials

·         Hanging baskets

·         Hanging bags

·         Custom potting will be available, performed by our students

·         A rental program will continue offering large planters (24”) for June delivery to a local site.

Greenhouse hours will be restricted to five hours per day in order to match student availability. Hours will be as follows:

·         Friday, May 1, 8, 15, 22, and 29 from noon to 5pm

·         Saturday, May 2, 9, 16, 23 and 30 from 9 am to 2 pm

·         We will be open on Memorial Day from 9 am to 2 pm

 

We hope to see all of our local friends at the Plant Sale! Call 262-878-5620 ext. 6423 with any questions.

Shepherds College - Guiding Your Transition to Appropriate Independence. Please visit us at www.shepherdscollege.edu.

Ministry in Residential Life

Mr. Kasprzak

Thank you to Zak Kasprzak, Residential Life Faculty, for writing today's blog.

Working in Residential Life can be a challenging, yet rewarding role.  Throughout the few years the students are here at Shepherds College, we get to see a lot of growth in them.  However, that also means that we get to see right where they are at before that growth takes place.  Our students fall at many different points on the spectrum of abilities and independence when they first arrive, but regardless of the initial level of capability or the pace at which each student advances, growth is always the common denominator.

Aside from the growth we see academically, vocationally, and socially, it is incredibly rewarding to watch the people we work with come to new realizations of who they are and who they were created to be.  Although I will most likely not have the opportunity to see the continued progress of many of these students after they leave Shepherds College, witnessing important milestones in their lives is by far the best part of my job.  I have worked with students who are passionate about their faith, as well as students who are still trying to figure out exactly what they believe, but regardless of where students are at on their own spiritual journeys, it is important that they have opportunities to grow and mature regularly.  Whether that be talking with a student one on one or praying with each other during group meetings, these experiences help to shape us into what God has intended us to be.

One of my goals as a member of the Res Life team is to help the students I work with put the Biblical knowledge they acquire into action so that they may know God, not just know about God.  Practically speaking, this is a constant challenge for myself and just about every other Christian I know, but thank God that He longs for us and desperately desires for us to know Him personally.  Sounds like it should be simple then, right?

Well… one of the biggest challenges I face is how to help these students connect spiritual truth with spiritual depth.  It is not too difficult to memorize facts about someone, but building and maintaining a relationship can be hard work.  Now let's attempt to do that with someone who we can't visibly see, physically touch, or audibly hear aside from supernatural circumstances.  That’s a hard concept to wrap our minds around, much less put into action.  Every day we face a new fork in the road, but fortunately we are not on this journey alone and can figure things out together.

Though challenges in life will always exist, great accomplishments would be meaningless without them.  Our students face struggles and successes day after day, and through it all, continue to grow into the exact people that God has designed them to be.  And let’s not pretend this growth is completely one-sided; they’re teaching me new things about patience, love, and understanding every single day.


Shepherds College - Guiding Your Transition to Appropriate Independence. Please visit us at www.shepherdscollege.edu.