Sometimes how you act is more important than what you know.
That is the message delivered by Hilary Brennan, who is teaming up with the Medford Township Department of Recreation, to teach social skills to students.
Brennan is founder and director of Socially Savvy, a company that emphasizes social skills for today’s world. Brennan will be teaching two of the company’s “iLEAD” programs in Medford beginning Tuesday, Feb. 21.
The iLEAD (Leadership, Etiquette and Development) program is an interactive and creative program that instills leadership and contemporary etiquette skills to help kids succeed and build positive relationships at home, school and in their community.
The upbeat curriculum uses activities, games and props to build confidence as students learn how to make a great introduction, develop conversations, the importance of body language and eye contact, dress codes, courtesies that count, careful communications via technology and thank yous.
This program is offered to students in fourth- and fifth-grade on Tuesdays from 4:30 p.m. to 5:25 p.m. and to students in grades six through eight from 5:30 p.m. to 6:25 p.m.
The iLEAD Teens program helps high school students gain confidence to outclass the competition as they prepare to step up to the adult world. Participants will learn to make a great impression with the seven ingredients of a great introduction, proper handshakes, positive body language, dressing for success, knowing how to express achievements and goals, developing conversations, interview questions to anticipate and ask, verbal, written, unspoken courtesies that count and mock interviews.
This program is offered to students in grades nine through 12 on Tuesdays from 6:30 p.m. to 7:45 p.m.
The cost of the six-week program is $125, and registration is open to both residents and non-residents of Medford Township.
Brennan explained that sometimes the “D” in “iLEAD” refers to dining.
“Every parent has dining challenges with their kids,” she said. Brennan teaches manners and proper dinner behavior.
She noted how children constantly need to adjust to new classes, schoolmates and teachers and need to develop the tools to cope.
“My goal is to help children become prepared and confident,” Brennan said.
She teaches alone unless class size warrants a teaching assistant.
“I believe that social skills have to be taught in a rather intimate setting,” Brennan said.
Last year, she taught more than 400 students in Moorestown.
She was asked back — but declined — because she did not want large class sizes.
“I have always been thoughtful about what children need in overall development,” she said, noting many people focus on grades, and fail to address social skills.
“As a society, we have diminished the value of social skills,” Brennan said. “It’s not just about your SAT score — it’s way beyond that as you matriculate into (the) real world.”
Brennan majored in English and minored in French at St. Joseph’s University.
She has worked in manufacturing and real estate — and went to the Etiquette and Leadership Institute, affiliated with the Protocol School of Washington, which teaches people in government and private sector how to interact with people across the globe.
She teaches how to handle social situations, what to expect, how to develop a conversation with somebody and how to exit a conversation.
“It’s all about how you present yourself in terms of it (being) a reflection of yourself, your family, your community and your school,” Brennan said.
“It’s positively teaching children ways to handle life,” she said. “Life doesn’t always neatly fit into a book.”
For more information on Brennan’s work, log on to www.sociallysavvynj.com.
