IUP-Punxsy offers soft skills program for PAHS juniors
PUNXSUTAWNEY — Juniors from Punxsutawney Area High School learned how to be more professional in work and in their lives through a program at IUP-Punxsutawney on Friday.
Rich Muth, director of regional campuses, and other members of the IUP faculty facilitated sessions on soft skills at IUP-Punxsutawney campus.
The program was conducted in partnership with the Punxsutawney Area School District, which bused high school juniors to the campus.
The five topics creating the session rotation were:
• Conflict resolution and teamwork.
• Expanding your in-group.
• Communications and body language.
• Interviewing and other professionalism skills.
• Designing your life. Dr. Tammy Manko, IUP, taught a session on the “Powerful Effects of Body Language.”
Understanding the importance of basic soft skills will give you an edge in life, starting with your next teacher or first job interview or interaction with any other individual or group, organizers said.
Soft skills include how you present yourself, knowing how others may interrupt your body language, knowing how to best resolve conflict, building your in-group (unconscious bias and cultural intelligence), knowing how to effectively communicate your message and understanding a problem from everyone’s perspective so you can contribute to the solution.
Manko said that fidgeting gives off body language signals.
She said some examples include twirling hair; tapping foot or feet; shaking/swinging legs; and tapping/drumming/ clicking fingers or objects such as pens or pencils.
The students also had the opportunity to participate in the sessions by acting out their body language.
The program was sponsored by IUP-Punxsutawney, Punxsutawney Regional Development Corporation and Punxsutawney Area High School.