‘Speed chatting’ classes teach teens to talk with adults
Fourteen-year-old Diana Garcia wasn’t born with the gift of gab, at least when it comes to chatting with adults. But for her and fellow freshmen at Cristo Rey Columbus High School, she doesn’t need to be. New students there are learning that keeping up with the grown-ups, especially in a professional setting, is a skill to be honed.
Cristo Rey Columbus, a college-preparatory, Catholic high school that opened five years ago Downtown, welcomed 110 freshmen seven days ago with a weeklong course in soft skills and professionalism.
The course culminated for the freshmen on
Tuesday when they sat down with local business executives and community leaders during a series of “speed-chatting” sessions, similar to the rapidfire exposure of speed dating. Freshmen were paired with adults in rotating, 10-minute shifts to learn about different careers and practice maintaining a conversation and eye contact.
“Fourteen-year-old kids, by and large, are often uncomfortable talking to adults,” Cristo Rey Columbus President Jim Foley said. “But talking to adults is essential if you are going to be successful in a professional work environment.”
Students at Cristo Rey find themselves in that environment very quickly. Each student performs in a professional work-study program once a week at a participating business. Just after Labor Day, students will be placed at banks, city government offices and nonprofit organizations, among other establishments. On Tuesday, 120 volunteers showed up to chat with the kids.
They sat knee-to-knee with students, in low, teal chairs lining a long hallway on the first floor of the school. They made small talk, discussed students’ plans after high school and shared experiences from their careers.
“At the beginning, I felt kind of nervous,” Diana said. “And then, slowly, I started to open up a little bit.”
But just as students were getting comfortable, a loud bell signaled them to switch partners and start all over again: a new introduction, a new handshake, a new challenge to keep up with a fast-talking professional. The process repeated for a full hour.
And the professionals didn’t take it easy on them.
“I didn’t think I needed to adjust how I talked to them,” Morgan Pelt, from the Ohio Development Services Agency, said. “I remember being in their shoes, being scared and all those feelings when talking to an adult. I want them to be able to adjust and to learn.”
Nehemiah Clayton, 14, wasn’t intimidated by the adults, he said after the exercise. But he did converse with caution.
“I actually like conversations a lot. It just feels normal to me,” he said. “But I’d say I still have to hone things. Every person is different, and you can’t necessarily go to your go-to conversations every time.”
Nehemiah wants to be a defense attorney, he said. He already has his sights set on Harvard Law School.
Each of the 47 members of Cristo Rey Columbus’ first graduating class were accepted to at least one college last year. They were awarded about $1.4 million in academic scholarships, according to the school. And many were the first in their families to attend college.
“They get the professional education through us, and the building of relationships,” professional work-study director John Petro said. “You can’t build a relationship with anybody, especially an adult professional, if you are not communicating using your words and listening skills.”
Diana Garcia said she doesn’t have a dream job in mind yet, but she feels a bit more prepared for when she goes to seek it.
“It didn’t feel forced at all. It felt normal,” she said. “It was very helpful, because I can actually go into jobs and, be like, remember, these are normal people.”