TJ and soft skills

[Anonymous]

My DC is smart but socially quiet and stays in the background. How is TJ grads in terms of developing soft skills such as communication and leadership? Does the focus on STEM take away from all around development? Parents of TJ grads or current students please share

[Anonymous]

Parent of current student. I don't know of anything that they do that would help nurture leadership or communication skills other than the group work projects and the presentations.

However, my socially quiet student has become more outgoing because there are possibly (probably?) more introverted students at TJ than at our base school. So it has given them a bit more space to speak up on their terms.

[Anonymous]

Parent of a grad. My kid is a quiet introvert, but honestly TJ gave them a chance to step up and take on leadership roles bc they were in areas they were interested in (and my not have had at base - looking at you 8th period clubs). They are still a quiet introvert, but with a great STEM education from TJ and doing well now. I think if nothing else, TJ gave them a self esteem boost that it's ok to be smart.

[Anonymous]

TJ turns quiet, nerdy introverts into confident, capable leaders. Over 130 clubs and countless leadership, coordination, and officer roles to fill. Many opportunities for nerds to step up, and they take on the challenge without hesitation. Many of the competition/contest events, holiday celebrations, and the flagship iNite organized by TJ Namaste student group, are all managed by nerds with many hundreds of participants and are organized with impressive professionalism.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DC is smart but socially quiet and stays in the background. How is TJ grads in terms of developing soft skills such as communication and leadership? Does the focus on STEM take away from all around development? Parents of TJ grads or current students please share

Honestly it's a bit of the opposite for a lot of stem centric kids. The highly social kids are frequently brought kids that coasted through a normal curriculum that have to devote a lot more time on studies at TJ and take a step back socially to take 3 steps forward academically. Some of the kids that are doing math and science on their own just because they like it finds a community of like minded kids and they can really blossom socially.

[Anonymous]

Soft skills are largely innate, not provided by school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Soft skills are largely innate, not provided by school

I agree some people are blessed with having pretty natural soft skills and/or their parents have them so they mirror them well. But I disagree you're stuck with the genes you've drawn. I'm another parent that has seen an introverted kid really blossom at TJ becuase she feels more comfortable there than she did at the base school and so volunteers for stuff more and is more engaged in ECs.

Band is what she's found that has let her hone soft skills over the past few years - like the iNite and other events, TJ is really big on letting the kids step into leadership roles vs adult volunteers just running stuff together with teachers. Maybe this is the case at other HS too. Either way, it gives kids lots of opportunities to practice soft skills.- That plus the environment is useful, particularly for those introverted kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DC is smart but socially quiet and stays in the background. How is TJ grads in terms of developing soft skills such as communication and leadership? Does the focus on STEM take away from all around development? Parents of TJ grads or current students please share

My hughly academic student hated school, loved TJ. Had no real friends at base school. Was highly involved and socially active at TJ.

[Anonymous]

Imagine a social hierarchy where the ability to throw a ball is replaced by your ability to understand concepts.

Where physical strength and coordination are replaced by cognitive ability and conscientiousness.

How socially quiet would your kid be then?

I have seen absolute introverts blossom into confident young leaders when the Ken and Barbie crowd aren't front and center. No offense to the Ken and Barbie kids

[Anonymous]

This sounds amazing, and what I want for DS! How is P.E. at tj? With the above description, I’m thinking not too stressful for my non athletic DS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Parent of current student. I don't know of anything that they do that would help nurture leadership or communication skills other than the group work projects and the presentations.

However, my socially quiet student has become more outgoing because there are possibly (probably?) more introverted students at TJ than at our base school. So it has given them a bit more space to speak up on their terms.

Agree that an atmosphere where they "fit in" can help draw them out socially and in terms of leadership opportunities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:TJ turns quiet, nerdy introverts into confident, capable leaders. Over 130 clubs and countless leadership, coordination, and officer roles to fill. Many opportunities for nerds to step up, and they take on the challenge without hesitation. Many of the competition/contest events, holiday celebrations, and the flagship iNite organized by TJ Namaste student group, are all managed by nerds with many hundreds of participants and are organized with impressive professionalism.

Hahahaha! You wish.

I see it turn quiet introverted kids into verbally competitive kids about academics. Yes there are tons of clubs, but they merely serve to be listed on college applications.

[Anonymous]

It doesn't so I'm supplementing with this: https://highestspeak.com/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TJ turns quiet, nerdy introverts into confident, capable leaders. Over 130 clubs and countless leadership, coordination, and officer roles to fill. Many opportunities for nerds to step up, and they take on the challenge without hesitation. Many of the competition/contest events, holiday celebrations, and the flagship iNite organized by TJ Namaste student group, are all managed by nerds with many hundreds of participants and are organized with impressive professionalism.

Hahahaha! You wish.

I see it turn quiet introverted kids into verbally competitive kids about academics. Yes there are tons of clubs, but they merely serve to be listed on college applications.

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBPfulqH1fWrE8EkZTpJz-1I-NTR4oE4g&feature=shared

Seem to be much more than academics

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TJ turns quiet, nerdy introverts into confident, capable leaders. Over 130 clubs and countless leadership, coordination, and officer roles to fill. Many opportunities for nerds to step up, and they take on the challenge without hesitation. Many of the competition/contest events, holiday celebrations, and the flagship iNite organized by TJ Namaste student group, are all managed by nerds with many hundreds of participants and are organized with impressive professionalism.

Hahahaha! You wish.

I see it turn quiet introverted kids into verbally competitive kids about academics. Yes there are tons of clubs, but they merely serve to be listed on college applications.

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBPfulqH1fWrE8EkZTpJz-1I-NTR4oE4g&feature=shared

Seem to be much more than academics

It is. Yes there are academic ECs but also many other non-academic ones.