Cape Central High School empowers students with workshops teaching essential soft skills

Cape Central High School is hosting six workshops for its students to help prepare them for the workforce by building soft skills.

The first workshop titled "Communicating About Yourself", held Thursday, Jan. 16, in Cape Central's library, featured Wood and Huston Bank vice president and commercial lender Billy Puckett engaging students on the importance of active listening.

Students in attendance roleplayed through mock conversations to practice various skills such as making eye contact, asking open-ended questions, paying attention during a conversation and not interrupting.

Puckett explained that these skills don't always come naturally, but they can always be worked on and improved over time, using himself as an example.

"For me, it was being nervous around people and just kind of getting over that," Puckett said. "(It took) somebody sitting me down to understand that what I struggle with is what most people struggle with. You don't realize it. You think everybody else has it together other than yourself. ...

"Every single day, we come in contact with people, and it's part of life in our society. I think it's kind of going away, especially the conversation piece right here, so that's what (soft skills are) to me. It's everyday skills that people don't even realize are actually skills. They think it's something that you either have it or you don't, and that's not the case."

The idea for the workshops, scheduled weekly through Feb. 20, came from Cape Central college and career adviser Nancy Strothmann.

Strothmann said the need for high school students to improve their soft skills came up in a conversation with employers during a career panel. Following the discussion, representatives from ABCToday, a "nationally-recognized initiative" through Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Eastern Missouri, and Junior Achievement, an organization that is dedicated to providing young people with the knowledge and skills they need for their futures, emailed Strothmann to plan the workshops.

"I think it's awesome because the kids will be able to learn from actual employers and not us talking to them. They're probably tired of hearing from us," Strothmann said. "I feel like it's good to learn from the employers in the community who are actually hiring our students."

The other five workshops — initially intended to be solely for sophomores, but have since been opened up to all high school students — aim to help hone specific soft skills, including filling out applications and resumes, interview etiquette and cellphone use, communication and writing in the workplace. Cape Central sophomore Kyra Rivers said she struggles during professional meetings such as job interviews and signed up for the workshop to try and help herself improve in those situations.

"Eye contact, it kind of makes me nervous and I've got a problem with fidgeting," Rivers said. "I can respond to questions, but I'm not good at asking questions. I'm good at communicating, but I'm not where I want to be with it."