On Wednesday, February 4, the Life Hacks Day was supposed to be held at PHS. This activity has been held at PHS for the past few years. Due to bad
weather, on the day that the event was supposed to be hosted, Paoli did not have school, so it had to push the Life Hacks Day back to the next short day, Wednesday, March 4. Before the short day, students signed up for the workshops they wanted via an email that was sent out to juniors and seniors before being sent to everyone. Then, the rest of the students were randomly assigned to fill the groups. It is done this way for seniority, so seniors get their first picks, then juniors, then the rest are just placed into the groups that have room left.
This year, there will be around 20 total workshop stations, including: car maintenance, hair care, tax preparation, investing, banking, resume building,
completing job applications, and home repair. This event was planned mainly by Half Day Coordinator Chris Lindley who plans a majority of the Half Day activities. This event is hosted here at PHS because as students get older, they need the life skills that are offered on the day. These events are usually things that may be hard to fit into the existing curriculum. It is also very beneficial for the seniors who are about to graduate this year.
Lindley sees value in activities like these.
“In addition to offering some exposure and teaching of these skills, we are hoping that by meeting community members, students will be able to build a network of people they know who offer these services and skills. This is also a way to bring in the employability skills as well,” said Lindley.
Indiana’s employability skills prepare students for the workforce as they get older and prepare to move on to the next chapter in their lives after high
school. Indiana’s employability skills are separated into four core areas: Mindset, Work Ethic, Learning Strategies, and Social and Emotional Skills. This is easy to tie into the workshop short day, which is important because it gives real examples of what it may be like when students graduate and move on into careers and life.
“Many of our community partners who present the workshops are themselves evidence of the employability skills and are also teaching them directly by emphasizing such things as collaboration, decision making, problem solving, etc in their workshops. Our planning committee believes that students need to see these skills being used in real-life situations,” said Lindley.
Originally, the March short day was supposed to be the PHS Talent Show, but since school was not in session on the February short day, PHS was not able to hold the life hacks workshops. There were many people that signed up to perform at the talent show, so Lindley did not want to cancel it. Instead, he has decided to just postpone it instead of canceling it, so that many of the performers will be able to have their time to show their skills. While there is no set date for when it will happen, it is still going to happen.
If you have any questions or are confused about the scheduled events, feel free to stop by or email Lindley.
