Training To Go

I had a tough time figuring out what day I wanted to post this blog about Whitney Spence.

I thought about Teacher Tuesday because, even though Miss Spence is a Transporter, she uses her driving time to give life lessons to the students.

I wondered if The Office on Wednesday would be appropriate, but Miss Spence – although she’s considered support staff – doesn’t really have a desk job.

Maybe Friday’s Top Five? I could tell you all the things we love about Miss Spence, but then I’d have to rename the blog Friday’s Top Fifty because five doesn’t really do her justice.

How about Friday Fun?!  Miss Spence is definitely fun!  But she’s so much more than that. You wouldn’t get an accurate picture of Whitney if I focused only on her fun qualities.

Then I thought, “A unique spirit like Whitney really needs her own day,” so I’m giving her today – a Thursday - a day usually left open to write about creative ideas, dedicated to an open, creative person. It fits nicely.

As a Transporter/Job Coach, Miss Spence makes sure our third-year students get to their off-campus internships. But she does so much more than just drive. She fills the time in the car with encouragement and enthusiasm. She provides support and advice. She listens to the radio and books on tape, then talks to the students about the messages the stories and music are sending to the listeners. If the students are struggling in their new positions, Miss Spence will visit them at their jobs to provide assistance.  After she picks them up in the afternoon, she helps them as they write about their internship experiences in their daily journals.

It’s a full job and one far more intricate that her title suggests. Every day she deals with students who are nervous to be learning new skills or taking on new responsibilities. They’re in stressful and unfamiliar situations. They need someone to listen to them and someone to give them advice. They need a consistent person who can help them deal with real-life job-related issues, like calling in sick, co-worker problems and forgotten lunches. They need someone to create a safe and relaxed environment so they can open up and share their worries, set-backs, successes and progress. 

How does Miss Spence manage to do all that? 

She can because God gifted her with the right combination of kindness, compassion, empathy, patience and adaptability. He also threw in a healthy dose of quirky and fun in order to make the long car rides enjoyable!

Next time you’re on campus, come meet Miss Spence. You’ll quickly find out why training on wheels is proving so successful at Shepherds College. 

*On a side note, I just heard that Miss Spence will soon become Mrs. Patton. 

The Shepherds College family extends our heartfelt congratulations to the couple! The gem Jon is marrying is even lovelier than the one on her finger.

 

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

Teacher Tuesday: Getting the Students in SHAPE

As a child, a teenager and even as a young adult, I felt lost and somewhat useless. I wondered, ’what is the point of being me?’

I was the quiet one in a loud, rambunctious family. I felt personality –less.

I was the student who couldn’t do a cartwheel, or a lay-up, or play an instrument, in a classroom filled with talented overachievers. I felt talent-less.

My family was too poor to do much of anything except work and go to school, so I was the girl who never went shopping, never ate at nice restaurants and never traveled, while attending a school filled with wealthy kids from “the subdivision” who did all those things all the time. I felt experience – less.

I married a man with so much enthusiasm and energy for whatever he set his mind to – guitar playing, teaching, preaching, sports, you name it – while I struggled to find a purpose other than keeping my toddlers from climbing up the bookshelves. I felt passion-less.

Please don’t think I walked around feeling sorry for myself – that’s so not me. Instead I just accepted my state of being less and found joy in the rich lives of others. I appreciated their strengths, their talents and their gifts all the more because mine were so lacking, and I made sure I told them often about all the good I saw in their lives. I loved having people over to my house, especially for dinner, so I could spend time with them, hear their stories and share in their experiences from the sidelines.

It wasn’t until I was twenty-five, when I made my decision to grab on tightly to the hand of Christ, that I learned all God’s children are blessed with gifts - spiritual gifts given to us by the Holy Spirit to build His church. I learned that I had the gifts of Encouragement and Hospitality, and the awareness changed the way I thought about myself, it changed the way I behaved, and it changed the way that I served God.

How I wish I could have taken Miss Houk’s Ambassador class when I was younger!

Miss Houk spends up to six weeks teaching the 2^nd year students about their S.H.A.P.E. – Spiritual Gifts, Heart Passions, Abilities, Personality and Experiences. They will explore and learn how God crafted them as individuals on purpose and for purpose.

Last week, the students opened their Ambassador class with prayer, along with Miss Kellie, a volunteer from Cedarville University.

Miss Houk then had them review the definition of ambassador and what an ambassador does.

An Ambassador is a follower of Christ who stands between God and the world to communicate the message of the Gospel.

They learned that an ambassador:

Loves Others

Knows others

Prays for others

Encourages others

And serves others

To introduce the idea of figuring out their spiritual gifts, Mrs. Harvey read the Max Lucado story, A Hat for Ivan, to the students.  

In the story, when Ivan was about to turn 10 years old, he knew his father, the town’s hat maker, would present him with a hat made just for him based on what he “really loves to do.”  Everyone in town was so excited for him that they all made hats for him of what they were passionate about.  But, of course, none of the hats fit well at all. 

By the time Ivan got home he was overwhelmed with everyone’s expectations - until he heard the voice of his father assuring Ivan that he knew him best and would make the perfect hat, one that would suit him exactly.

Many of the students tried on hats to illustrate the story.

Miss Houk even passed out gifts she had purchased and wrapped for every student in her class. She chose each gift based on what she saw as the individual’s spiritual gifts:

Christi plays sports and enjoys being a part of a team. Miss Houk sees in her the gift of encouragement. Christi received a bottle of Gatorade!

Joe helps others and fixes things. Miss Houk thinks he has the gift of serving so she bought him a roll of duct tape.

Lindsay loves to journal and read. Miss Houk sees that she has the gift of encouragement so she bought Lindsay “Chicken Soup for the Christian Soul.”

Christian is good at organizing resources and people to accomplish tasks, but he also likes to serve others. Miss Houk feels he has the gifts of both serving and leading so she bought him a pair of clapping hands.

Josh enjoys helping others. Miss Houk thought a pair of camo gloves would represent his gift of serving well.

Bethany is so good at sharing the Gospel and praying for others! Her spiritual gift is evangelism. She received a $100,000 candy bar because God’s Word is so valuable!

Nicole is our gift giver. She received two candy bars – one to keep and one to give away so she can use her gift of giving.

Miranda is caring and enjoys encouraging others on her basketball team. Miss Houk sees in her the gifts of serving and encouragement so she picked out a basketball wash cloth for her.

Katy is a problem solver who likes to build others up. Miss Houk sees she has the gift of encouragement so she purchased a puzzle of a horse and included the instructions to work with another person to solve the puzzle together and encourage them in the process.

Dallas hosts other guys for dinner. He can use Miss Houk’s gift of a manly cookbook to use his gift of hospitality!

Donovan loves to bring laughter wherever he goes. What an encouragement to others! Miss Houk gave him Laffy Taffy and told him to share the jokes with his classmates.

Daniela serves one of our residents at lunch. It brings her a lot of joy. Miss Houk asked her to use her spiritual gift of serving to host someone for dinner and then use her new dish towel to clean up.

Sean is always using his mind to solve problems – his own and others. He shows a gift of service, so Miss Houk gave him a puzzle book to challenge his mind and asked him to work with others to solve the puzzles.

A leader is known for “lighting” the way, and Brian is good at providing direction to others in order to get tasks accomplished.  Miss Houk thought a flashlight would illuminate his spiritual gift of leadership.

I know from personal experience what a blessing it is to recognize your spiritual gifts. It’s knowledge that will give you direction, a sense of your worth through the eyes of your Father, and purpose in life – all valuable qualities to take along on your journey toward Appropriate Independence™.

 

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

The Office: Thoughts on Ai and Work

Written by Brian Canright, Lead Recruiter and Transition Coordinator for Shepherds College



In this blog, I will focus on the first two principles of Appropriate Independence.

Created on and For A Purpose… 

For me, life has been a process of awakening to the diverse and expansive nature of God’s activity in the world, corresponding with an ever emerging clarity on how my unique set of strengths can be developed and concentrated to join Him.  The journey of self-discovery has been, and I assume will continue to be, arduous. As Sir Ken Robinson has stated, 

“Human resources are like natural resources; they're often buried deep. You have to go looking for them; they're not just lying around on the surface. You have to create the circumstances where they show themselves.”

I’ve learned a lot about myself by not fitting in, failing, enduring difficult circumstances, and by doing a thousand things I didn’t like doing, for thousands of hours I would have preferred to be doing something else. But through those experiences I’ve learned just as much about who God has made me and what he has created me for. There is always something to learn from every experience. 

The greatest single factor influencing my decision to return to Shepherds College in this new role was a clearer sense of vocation and identity forged through a diversity of life experiences. 

Individuals for Community 

“Human communities depend upon a diversity of talent not a singular conception of ability” – Sir Ken Robinson

In Robert Bellah’s book, Habits of the Heart, he describes “expressive individualism” as the primary contributor to our culture’s lack of “capacity to imagine a social fabric that would hold individuals together.” His proposal for transformation is to “re-appropriate the idea of vocation or calling, a return in a new way to the idea of work as a contribution to the good of all and not merely as a means to one’s own achievement.”

 Tim Keller in his book, Every Good Endeavor, describes vocation as work “re-imagined as a mission of service to something beyond merely our own interests. Thinking of work mainly as a means of self-fulfillment, and self-realization slowly crushes a person and undermines society itself.”

 

There is dignity and value in every good work. For example, when I think about the roles people play here at Shepherds College, and I consider how each role plays a part of the whole, one of the most essential responsibilities is to sanitize the door handles, dining room, kitchen and bathrooms to prevent the spread of germs and microbes. In so doing, the employees in domestics literally save lives; seriously! Does that fit the criteria of a vocation? Absolutely! 

Each uniquely designed student at Shepherds College possesses a set of qualities, strengths and abilities which are intended to contribute to the distinctive character of their communities. They have been undergoing this process for three years, and it will continue for a lifetime. 

I encourage them to learn from every experience.

I hope they see the work they do (whether paid or voluntary) as a calling to contribute to their communities in a meaningful, God-glorifying way.

And I hope they experience the fulfillment that comes with doing something of such great importance. 

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

Teacher Tuesday: Guess Who?

Right now, we’re in the middle of another snow storm in our corner of Wisconsin. 

It’s beautiful - but I’m at work, and eventually I’ll have to drive home in it, and I’m a bit on edge thinking about the “very hazardous or impossible” driving conditions they posted on the National Weather Service this morning.

So today – because extreme nervousness is not conducive to clear thinking or great writing – I’m going to keep it light and fluffy.

During the T.E.A.M. retreat, the students played a game called “Guess the Staff.”  They had to figure out who the staff are from childhood or teenage pictures. I’m not convinced that all of these pictures are of the “younger years,” but the students had fun getting to know their teachers and res life staff better, and the game was successful.

Below, I’ve posted the youthful pictures of several of our staff members. They’ve all had pictures posted in previous blogs so everyone has a chance at guessing correctly even if you’ve never been on campus. I have a gift pack of Seroogy’s candy bars for the first person to guess all eleven pictures correctly. To be fair, teachers and students shouldn’t submit answers, because they know them all already.

Please post your guesses in the comments. Have fun!

1.

It's the guy on the right.

2. 

3.

4.

5.

It's the clog-wearing cutie on the left.

6.

7.

Who is the runner?

8.

This one got a bit distorted, but you're trying to guess the woman in the middle.

9.

This is a tricky one! Check out the pitcher!

 10.

Back row - 5th person from the left.

11.

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