5 Things Your Child Should Know Before Going to College
When your child goes to college, it can feel like a big, and scary step—for both parents and child. Even if your child is totally academically prepared for this next challenge, being away from home and managing their own lives, day in and day out, is a whole different ball game. That’s where Next Step, a two-week camp program (one week in Montreal and another in Toronto), run by MWS Camps (a premiere language program founded in 1983) comes in.
“Next Step is all about preparing teens for the next stage of their life. Everything from paying bills to learning how to interact with others—we want young people to feel prepared and confident as they take that next step, whether it be the senior years of high school, or thinking about moving away from home for the first time to go to college,” says Quinton Vass, Director of Progammes at Next Step.
With college admissions being more competitive than ever, it’s normal to spend a lot of time and energy focusing on your teenager’s academic success, SAT scores, and college essays. Next Step can fill in any blanks for teenagers, starting at age 15, through a dorm experience where they can meet other teens from all over the world.
“Our experts come from a variety of fields and professions—financial planners, clinical psychologists, business leaders, journalists, educators…They are all fully qualified in their profession, but most importantly, they are able to communicate and interact with young people on a personal level that makes their involvement relevant and interesting to teens,” says Next Step President Patrik Simunec, who is also a father of two.
The last component that makes this program unique is a focus on mentorship. “Complementing our experts are the Next Step Programme Leaders—university students in their senior years who are close enough in age to share their experiences with our teenage participants but “wise” enough to offer examples of how to succeed and avoid the mistakes they may have made,” explains Patrik.
Here are the five things Quinton says every child should know before going to college—based around the Next Step pillars.
What Makes You Tick, aka Personal Development
Personal development is all about being able to work with others, but also about knowing who you are as a person. What are your strengths?
How To You Get a Job, aka Professional Development
This pillar is all about being able to serve yourself up on platter, whether it be for a job, university application, volunteer position etc. How do you convey to someone that you’re the right fit for a role, while keeping in mind the characteristics of your personality? From body language and resume writing to interview skills—we tackle it all.
How to Take Care of Your Health, aka Healthy Living
From stress management and healthy social media use to First Aid training—the goal of this pillar is to provide participants with the tools to live a happy and healthy young adulthood.
How to Cook an Egg, aka Home Skills
Can you take care of yourself when Mom and Dad aren’t there to do it for you? From learning basic cooking skills to how to sew a button—it might sound silly but these are really important skills to have when it’s time to live on your own, and they’re the type of things that teenagers aren’t learning at school. “These are some of my favourite workshops to run,” says Quinton. He adds: “Learning how to cook dinner with a group of teenagers from different parts of the world is a lot of fun.”
Budgeting 101, aka Financial Literacy
Our financial literacy pillar focuses on two parts, budgeting and financial advice for day-to-day young adult life and then starting to think about bigger picture financial terms—what are good vs. bad investments, how can you assess your financial goals to plan ahead and make smart financial decisions?
“These pillars are all building blocks that are interconnected and fundamental to a positive young adulthood,” says Quinton, who shares that each day is typically divided into 3 parts: Seminars, Workshops and Excursions.
“Seminars are the theoretical part of the day, where we have experts from different areas of our Five Pillars talk with participants about specific themes,” says Quinton. After lunch, students break out into workshops, practicing what they learned in the seminars. “So, okay—you’ve learned about basic investments. Now let’s see you create a portfolio—where will this take you? Now you know the key strategies to nail an interview? Let’s do it! At the end of the day we’re all about stepping away from the textbooks, and learning in the most effective way—by doing,” explains Quinton.
Excursions are the final portion of the day. Between Toronto and Montreal, there’s a ton of fun to be had, from boat tours to MLB games. Says Quinton: “Participants come from all over the world and we want them to have fun and get a taste of what each city has to offer.”
For more information, families can check out mws-nextstep.com and submit an inquiry to receive detailed information and the full Next Step schedule. They also offer 1-on-1 video call Q&As with the Directors for any families who want to talk to someone who runs the programme face-to-face.
