Second Year

Our Second Year program teaches students how to navigate difficult social experiences and develop good character now so they’re prepared for the future. With a focus on applying manners in public places, including a 5-course instructional dinner, these classes will help your students to gain the skills to talk to one another – on or off-line.

5

Classes

1

5-Course Instructional Dinner

1

Grand Spring Ball

The protocols we teach in our Second Year program provide concrete ideas for how to navigate difficult social experiences and develop good character now so they’re prepared for the future. From focusing on how to introduce oneself in a variety of situations to our instructional dinner where the students practice polite face-to-face communication, these classes will help your students to gain the skills to talk to one another – on or off-line. At the end of each class students are given a challenge to practice manners in public and start learning to apply the skills taught in Cotillion in the real world.

Class Overviews

  • Class 1

    Reviewing the basics

    We review basic etiquette like how to make a proper introduction, do’s and don’t’s of manners in public places, the importance of a first impression, basic airplane and travel etiquette, how to act in a theater performance or at the movies, and how a lady and gentleman should act together in public.

  • Class 2

    Developing interpersonal relationships

    This class covers how to properly introduce a friend to people in different scenarios, basic interview skills, how to be a gracious guest, and how to accept or reject an invitation.

  • Class 3

    Meals and manners

    Students learn about coats and doors, restaurant-specific etiquette, formal meal etiquette including table manners, polite conversation, and the responsibilities of a host and hostess. This is all in preparation for our 5-course instructional dinner

  • Class 4

    Enhancing Online and In-person Interactions

    We provide an in-depth look at safe cell phone and social media etiquette, as well as the effect of screens and gaming on mental health and development. We also cover the do’s and don’t’s of being a polite conversationalist, how to write a proper thank you note, how to pay and receive compliments, and hat etiquette.

  • Class 5

    Preparing for Formal Events

    We review the various different kinds of dress codes one might encounter for a variety of social settings, review how to go through a receiving line alone and with a partner, and how to answer or reject a formal invitation in preparation for the final event.

  • Instructional Dinner

    One of the highlights of the Second Year program is our five-course instructional dinner. Students learn how to handle their cutlery, napkins, and a food throughout the courses, as well as how to engage in polite conversations (sans phones!).

  • Grand Spring Ball

    The highlight of the First Year program is our Grand Spring Ball. Students come together with all of their classmates to have a fun night of dancing and refreshments. We invite studetns paretns or family member to come do the Waltz to close the night out!