While in-class academics are undoubtedly the foundation of Sidwell’s curriculum, it is vital to include more life skills seminars into our schedule to ensure students’ personal and professional success. Recognizing this need, Sidwell held a Life Skills Workshop on March 8 which offered a variety of life skills classes hosted by teachers, clubs and students. These classes ranged from learning economic principles to following detailed recipes and decorating cakes. While some courses are more practical than others, all seminars introduce participants to different skills that can be beneficial for students throughout their lives.
With inflation rates and the cost of living on the rise, understanding financial concepts such as budgeting and investing is essential for students to learn. By offering classes like “How to Plan, Budget for, and Book a Vacation” and “Investing 101,” life skills classes effectively prepare students to make informed decisions about their finances. Offering more of these classes on a recurring basis would further benefit students and allow them to deepen their knowledge of these essential skills. If students are not introduced to these concepts now, they will be unable to navigate financial hardships during college and later in life.
Expanding Life Skills Classes will also help build communication skills among students. Effective communication is necessary for networking and meeting new people, but many students may lack the necessary skill sets to express themselves articulately and confidently. Offering more courses like “Give a Presentation” can educate students on various methods of verbalizing their thoughts and opinions and improve self-confidence.
Overall, by offering more Life Skills Classes, students would learn ways to handle unfamiliar and stressful situations for which routine academic courses do not prepare them. This can be seen in the class “What to Do When You Get Pulled Over,” which teaches students how to stay calm and respectful even when getting pulled over on the road, an inevitable situation that can turn anxiety-inducing and possibly dangerous for students if they are unprepared for it. To help manage students’ general anxiety and feelings of being overwhelmed, Sidwell has offered workshops such as “How to Meditate,” which gives students a healthy mechanism to deal with stress. Thus, by offering more frequent life skills classes in conjunction with our academic high school curriculum, Sidwell will be able to equip its students with the knowledge and abilities necessary to succeed after high school.
