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Community

TigerLIFE has been extremely fortunate in working with our community partners.  These partners add so many levels to our students' experiences and we are appreciative of all their efforts and hard work to support our students.

Internship Affiliations - Campus-based and Community-based

Our thanks to the many internship sites (past and present) that provide hands-on work experiences for our students on-campus and in the community:

Current Internships


Community Exploration

TigerLIFE designed a class for our students to visit businesses and organizations that represent different industries and jobs in the community so they could see and experience the environments and employees first-hand. Students are provided the opportunity to ask questions of employers and employees to help them determine if these are jobs that they would like.

Our thanks to these businesses and organizations who have opened their door to our students and give their time to assure our students have a great learning experience: 

 

Health Advocacy TigerLIFE Course

During 2015, TigerLIFE, Church Health and the YMCA created a partnership to provide opportunities for students to learn about nutrition and healthy food and gain hands-on experiences cooking, as well as physical exercise.  TigerLIFE transports students to the Crosstown Concourse to engage in these learning experiences.

Using their commercial kitchen, Church Health created a class instructing students on cleanliness, healthy habits and reading recipes. Students would then cook a recipe after which they would sit down together and eat it!

Once finished in the Church Health kitchen, the YMCA staff implemented an exercise program for our students. On their first visit, students weigh in to record beginning weights. Then they would receive instructions on a specific exercise method. These methods would vary each week so students would be exposed to cardio machines, free weights, yoga, Pilates and other methods available at the YMCA.

There is an on-campus classroom component to summarize and emphasize the experiences at the Church Health kitchen and YMCA.  This has become one of the students' favorite classes!

In support of the Health Advocacy class, Dr. Lee Wallace, Chief of Nutrition with the UTHSC Boling Center for Development Disabilities, provided a series of classes to our students on nutrition with activities to engage the students. The favorite activity was a scavenger hunt to find healthy options on fast food restaurant menus

  

University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center - Occupational Therapy Department
Occupation Centered Group Practice

TigerLIFE and the University of Tennessee Health Science Center Occupational Therapy department (UTHSC-OT) created a dynamic partnership to enhance both the TigerlIFE students' and Occupational Therapy (OT) students' experiences.

Over the course of a semester, 30 UTHSC-OT students gained group experience providing services to 45 TigerLIFE students enrolled in our Senior Workforce Training class. The OT students were gaining skills delivering group activities, as part of their training program.

The students assisted in instructing TigerLIFE students in the soft skills required to obtain and retain employment. Pairs of OT students met with small groups of TigerLIFE students. While TigerLIFE directed the topics for instruction, each pair created the lessons, which were approved by their instructor, Kendal Booker. These lessons were dynamic, interactive and effective in engaging our students' interest and retention of new skills and included:

Job Interview Skills

  • Conversational skills during an interview and while on the job
  • Formal introductions and engaging in an initial conversation
  • Conversational and social etiquette while dining with coworkers/interview
  • Personal presentation (attire, grooming, manners)

Job Search Skills

  • Assessing your strengths and weaknesses
  • Aligning current job skills with job opportunities
  • Using ONET to explore potential job opportunities

Computer Skills

  • Logging in to the UofM student account, completing internship reports and emailing completed report to the internship coordinator

This collaboration appears to be mutually beneficial to both the TigerLIFE and the OT students. TigerLIFE instructors were impressed by the innovative approach taken by the OT students and their demonstrated interest in our students' success.