Social Skills

Students are sometimes asked to use "good manners," but how do they learn these? Certainly, the first place a student learns is in the home, both by his family’s instruction and by the example that he sees.

But St. Lawrence Seminary adds specific instruction in twenty-four basic social skills that students can use daily. These include the basics of greeting someone, accepting correction, questioning a test correction, accepting responsibility for misconduct, accepting a compliment, reacting to rumors, saying “no” to a peer, introducing family members to staff, how to report being made to feel uncomfortable, and many others.

In the Student Handbook and the classroom each social skill is broken down into its steps, explained by the teacher, and then practiced by the students. For freshmen, this practice includes role playing in the classroom and demonstrating to his senior sponsor that the freshman can use the skill.

All faculty members then reinforce the social skills that have been taught either in Freshman Guidance or in Advanced Guidance (for students who enter St. Lawrence after their freshman year).

A common refrain from both visitors to St. Lawrence Seminary and from outsiders who encounter St. Lawrence students off-campus is that the students stand out because of their good social skills.