Educational Services

For First Generation Students & High School Students

Did you know ONLY 30 percent of higher education students today are the first in their family to attend college in the US? Did you know ONLY 27 percent of first-generation students graduated within four years? Shocking, right? While being a first generation student in high school, you are concentrated on graduating from high school with the additional pressures of completing college applications, financial aid, and scholarship applications; this can be very overwhelming!

In this session, Finkley will use a combined lecture, a small and large discussion, and interactive games to engage the attendees. Within the last portion of this session, Finkley allows room for questions and answers between himself as the presenter and the audience.

Learning Objectives:

• Feel comfortable in completing college and financial aid applications

• Know where to look for scholarships

• Create methods to follow during the college process

• Special tips and the know-how from Finkley himself

• Information college admission counselors do not share

For School Administrators

Many school administrators can relate to this concept; many of them are first generations as well. For those who fit this realm, you must remember what it was like during this time and if you do not fit them population, education is key! With time, our students change, and we must always have a listening ear and willing heart to better equip ourselves for our students to cater to their needs.

In this session, Finkley will use a combined lecture, a small and large discussion, and interactive games to engage the attendees. Within the last portion of this session, Finkley allows room for questions and answers between himself as the presenter and the audience.

Learning Objectives:

• Understanding the mind-setting of a first-generation student

• Strategies to assist students for the college process and the classroom

• Closer insight of the learning style of a first-generation student

• How to properly communicate effectively for a result of success

For High School Seniors & First-Year College Students

Did you know first-generation students demonstrated lower rates of college readiness in key academic areas? Or did you know first-generation college students contribute greatly to an institution’s retention and graduation rates? Don’t allow these stats to define your college success; Finkley is here to help navigate you through your first year.

In this session, Finkley will use a combined lecture, a small and large discussion, and interactive games to engage the attendees. Within the last portion of this session, Finkley allows room for questions and answers between himself as the presenter and the audience.

Learning Objectives:

• Students will understand roommate searching, campus security, and choosing a meal plan

• More in-depth understanding of networking and preparing for life after college

• Understanding the balance of your educational versus your social aspect of college

For Educators, Students, Administrators, Corporations, Business, Non-Profits, Organizations

According to a recent study, organizations with increased diversity levels often demonstrate the ability to innovate faster and more effectively by over 86%. What does diversity, equity, and inclusion really mean? How do you see it from a personal lens? In this session, the ideals of diversity, equity, and inclusion will be broken down in order for participants to formulate self-reflections and self- development.

During this session, Finkley uses a combined lecture, a small and large discussion, and interactive games to engage the attendees. Within the last portion of this session, Finkley allows room for questions and answers between himself as the presenter and the audience.

Learning Objectives:

• Have an understanding of cultural competency, diversity, equity, and inclusion through a culturally responsive lens

• Be able to discuss individual skill development, and internal and external strategies to begin working towards their self- developing cultural competent ideals

• Demonstrate communication skills that enable intercultural communication, including effective listening skills

• Demonstrate professionalism by working inclusively and co-creating an environment where each perspective is considered for the cooperative purpose of making progress toward common goals

• Describe various elements inherent to one’s own culture and to other cultures: history, values, politics, communication styles, economy,

• beliefs, practices, etc.

• Listen while withholding judgement about the new or unfamiliar

• Recognize and critically reflect upon one’s own cultural biases

ESL is an achievable barrier students can accomplish in order to reach their personal success. The Finkley Experience provides a five-part series for student success including:

• History of the English Language

• ESL Grammar

• ESL Writing

• Developing Vocabulary Skills for ESL Students

• Public Speaking for ESL Students

Learning Objective:

Participants will learn how to expand academic vocabulary, develop confidence in speaking/listening and reading/writing, including formal and informal registers, develop fluency in the use of higher-level grammatical structures, and acquire phonological and phonetic knowledge of the sound system of English.

Career readiness education is critical in schools because it prepares students for life after college as they begin their careers, equipping them with the skills necessary to navigate the workforce. According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, career readiness skills, or what they refer to as transferable or employability skills, “provide students with a competitive edge during interviews and internships for current and future careers” and “can differentiate a good employee from a great one.” These critical skills, not often made a priority in schools, give students the edge they need to land jobs.

In this session, Finkley will use a combined lecture, a small and large discussion, and interactive games to engage the attendees. Within the last portion of this session, Finkley allows room for questions and answers between himself as the presenter and the audience.

Audience:

First Generation Students, Middle, High School, & College Students

Format:

In-Person/Online

Offered:

Individual or Weekly Sessions

Learning Objectives:

• Students will identify three or more personal qualities related to choosing potential career goal(s)

• Students will use career information to inform their goals

• Students will draft meaningful career goal(s)

• Students will develop career readiness skills through experiential opportunities

• Students will apply career skills to pursue opportunities

The major purpose of this course is to develop an understanding of the role and contributions of African Americans to the growth and development of the United States. The course offers opportunities to examine the historical significance of African Americans from African Origins through present times.

In this session, Finkley will use a combined lecture, a small and large discussion, and interactive lessons to engage the attendees. Within the last portion of this session, Finkley allows room for questions and answers between himself as the presenter and the audience.

Audience:

Middle, High School, & College Students

Format:

In-Person/Online

Offered:

Individual or Weekly Sessions

Learning Objectives

• Gain a greater understanding of African Americans’ contributions and role in U.S. history

• Understand that the struggle for freedom and equality took decades, and continues today

The NAEP/National Report Card reveals that only about 27% of students measure at the proficiency level from grades four through twelve when it comes to their writing skills. The 27% figure includes students attending both public and private schools. If you measure only the students who participate in private schools, the percentage of students who measure as proficient writers rises to about 40%.

In this course we will discuss writing as a process. And you may ask, what does this statement mean? The truth is, no one just sits down and instantly produces a perfect piece of writing. There are many steps a writer goes through when producing a text, including pre-writing (or gathering and organizing ideas and thoughts), writing, revising and editing, and we will discuss these steps in this course. By breaking down these steps, hopefully, the writing process will seem less difficult. This course is designed to build writing skills through authentic readings and a multi-drafting process approach to writing, in order to prepare for academic work in English. Writing exercises review paragraph organization and focus on essay construction as well as the use of formal English grammar.

In this session, Finkley will use a combined lecture, a small and large discussion, and interactive games to engage the attendees. Within the last portion of this session, Finkley allows room for questions and answers between himself as the presenter and the audience.

Audience:

Middle, High School, & College Students

Format:

In-Person/Online

Offered:

Individual or Weekly Sessions

Learning Objectives:

• Outcome: student examines different audiences and purposes for writing

• Outcome: student practices idea generation strategies

• Outcome: student prepares a writing plan or outline

• Outcome: student correctly uses subject and verb forms

• Outcome: student recognizes and writes complete sentences, avoiding fragments and run-ons. -Outcome: student effectively uses punctuation as needed.

• Outcome: student creates unity by developing a main point or thesis

• Outcome: student writes sentences and paragraphs that support the thesis with facts, details and/or examples

• Outcome: student develops appropriate order to connect ideas Outcome: student links sentences and paragraphs using transitions

Goals:

• Write five-paragraph essays displaying unity, support, coherence and sentence structure with Introduction, 3 body paragraphs and a conclusion.

• Improve and refine sentence structure and language usage

• Introduce and/or review the prewriting process

Course Topics:

• Paragraph structure

• Audience and purpose

• Idea generation

• Topic sentence/thesis statements

• Essay structure

• Types of essays

• Revision guidelines and grammar