Lookout Mountain resident Dawn Jumper is poised to help area students become more socially adept through the Etiquette Company, her new business offering etiquette classes for children at local schools and organizations.
“Children 13 and up are making the transition from being a child to being an adult, and taking an etiquette class basically gives them an advantage,” she said. “Children leave class with more self-confidence and have an understanding of how to make their own lives more pleasant and therefore more successful, and how to do that for those around them.”
The mother of three teenagers said she recognized a need in the area for etiquette instruction. She is modeling her business on the Athens, Ga.-based Etiquette and Leadership Institute, which has been teaching etiquette for more than 20 years.
Lookout Mountain resident Dawn Jumper, right, teaches local students the keys to social success, such as eye contact, through the Etiquette Company.“It’s all about learning how to be respectful to others,” she said. “The class is fun and contemporary, but anchored in universally accepted etiquette standards.”
Jumper completed 40 hours of hands-on training in order to qualify her to teach children ages 12 to 22 as a certified children’s etiquette consultant.
“It’s positive and reinforcing to have someone other than family members teaching these things,” she said. “I see the Etiquette Company as being a partner with parents and schools.”
Her first classes will be Everyday Etiquette for Fifth-Graders, which she will offer at Lookout Mountain Elementary Mondays beginning Feb. 28 from 3 to 4:15 p.m., as well as at the Mountain Arts Community Center on Signal Mountain Tuesdays starting Feb. 15 from 4 to 5:15 p.m. She said she is also talking to other area schools who have expressed an interest in hosting classes this spring.
Jumper said fifth grade is a good time to start practicing etiquette because children at that age are curious and enthusiastic about learning, and also due to the fact that their worlds will soon be expanding as they leave elementary school behind.
“They see the need for good social skills,” said Jumper. “They want to fit in, understand how to lead and be comfortable with their peers.”
She said she uses role-playing, props and other interactive methods to teach social skills useful in everyday life, including how to be a good guest or host, table manners, making conversation and introductions and writing notes, texts or e-mails.
“All of the skills we work on instill confidence in young people,” she said. “These skills are going to become habits because they are starting early, and they really use them day-to-day.”
Skills such as the use of a confident speaking voice, eye contact and appropriate body language will help children socially now and eventually in the workplace, where much of success depends on competent social skills, said Jumper.
After each class, she said parents receive an e-mail summarizing what children learned and tips on how to practice those skills at home.
Cost for the five-week course is $130. Classes are open to any fifth-grader regardless of where they attend school and are limited to 25 students, she said.
Jumper is also available to schools and organizations for one-day etiquette training sessions, which can be either general or topic-specific and tailored to a certain age group.
She said she also plans to lead a camp this summer for middle-school students called Out and About, during which she will take them to various locations around town and instruct them on the rules of etiquette appropriate for that locale, such as a museum, movie theater or elevator.
“It’s hands-on and very practical,” she said.