Program Overview
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Nuts & Bolts:
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9 month program (September 2024 to May 2025)
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Part-time (Tuesdays + Thursdays, 9am - 3pm).
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Students earn up to 15 transferable college credits.
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Intimate cohort size of 30 students.
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Workshop U operates out of 4731 Ludlow St. on the Community College of Philadelphia campus in West Philly.
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Cost:
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Workshop U is completely free. All students who are accepted receive full scholarships.
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Life requires prototyping.
This is the process students use at Workshop U to design-and-build their adult life:
Develop a
vision
Reflect, Refine, and Plan
Take action/
Try stuff
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Grow durable skills
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The WU experience has
3 Core Pillars
...that anchor student’s learning in a deep sense of self-identity and self-worth, and help them develop durable skills that lead to adult success.
Program Description
1
Life Design Courses
Life Design Courses are college-level seminars in which you use design-thinking frameworks to figure out what you want, and how to get there. This means building up your sense of self, anchoring your values and priorities, and honing your vision for your future.
"Traditionally school isn't a place for you to develop yourself, for yourself. Colleges usually care about you becoming a skillful worker ... not whether you feel accomplished or not ... because that's your business.
So the design process is important because you are going through deep introspection to be able to figure out where your life is. And then I'm taking steps that move me in a direction of something that I know I want to build."
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- Ola (WU Student '23 -'24)
2
Paid Internships
To know what you want to do, you have to try stuff in a real-world, real-stakes context.
We match all students with at least one 10-week paid internship in the field of their choice. They leave with a portfolio of work artifacts as an evidence-base of their skills.
"Having a portfolio of different work experiences shows [future employers] an example of the work I actually did do.
And that can push expectations higher because actions speak louder than words. [Employers are more likely to say] 'he knows what he's doing, this is proof of that... we're gonna pick him up."
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- DeaQuan (WU Student '23 -'24)
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*Examples of some of our internship partners.
We find individualized matches for each student's interests.
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Professional Coaching
During the program, receive 1:1 support from a credentialed coach to build the self-awareness, listening skills, and self-leadership capabilities you need to navigate opportunities and challenges, and ultimately realize your vision
“The coaching is the highlight of my day. I’ve never really had a mentor like this before... somebody with real experience, with something under their belt, you know? My coach pays attention and she cares. But it's all my goals. She’s just holding me accountable to my own. Coaching is like organization for my thoughts. If it's just me in my head it’s all so overwhelming, but after I talk with my coach I’m like, 'oh!' now I have something to go off of. ”
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- Cyan (WU Student '23 -'24)
What You'll Gain:
Direction
College Credits & Certificates
A map for your next year of life.
We pay for 15 college credits that you’ll earn. And, provide the option to earn certificate or credential that carries weight in your field.
Experience
A portfolio of work experience in
your chosen field.
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Navigating life after high school is difficult without a community. Workshop U is a container to do the work of life design with a group of your peers and adults that are in your corner.
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Your community will motivate you, energize you, and cheer you on to reach your goals. They’ll challenge, advise, and be curious about you. And you’ll be invited to do the same for them.
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“I was trying to figure this out on my own, I didn’t have people around me to motivate me. My family doesn't have the knowledge to give to me to proceed right away.
But here I feel like there is an understanding of the things that everyone in the Workshop are going through, and that it's not just our generation. And there are people that have these resources out for us to get out of a rut.
So it gave me hope.”
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- Deona (WU 23'-24' Student)
Community at Workshop U