First In-Class Activity

During our first meeting, each student was asked to bring in an item that symbolizes or honors someone or something that motivates them. It was interesting to see all the things that motivated my classmates. There were several similar motivations that my classmates and I shared. Here are a few our motivators:

• Family - many students had family members that motivated and/or inspired them to continue their education
• Friends - some students had a support system in their friends that helped them continue in their education
• Experiences and memories- many students had positive or negative experiences that had motivated them
• Culture - there were some students whose memory or appreciate of their culture motivated them

It was also encouraging the extent to which we all opened up in class.  One student, discussed his fears and nervousness with the class.  Another student shared her mother's struggle with breast cancer. I shared my tattoo (even though I didn't show it) and the meaning behind it. My brothers motivate me in every thing that I do. As a first generation college student, my brothers encouraged me to attend USC. Even to this day, my brothers are a constant support and driving force in my life.  One of my brothers is now a senior at USC studying business administration.  Another one of my brothers JUST had a little girl.  (My niece was born tonight at 6:45pm).  Now I am excited to have another motivator in my life.

"You've Been Pre-Approved?" or You Filled Out Your Application Wrong and We Are Fixing It For You

In the Inside Higher Ed article entitled "You've Been Pre-Approved" David Moltz reports on Project Win-Win. Project Win-Win is a $1.3 million initiative being used by 35 community college and four-year institutions in 6 states to find students who have or nearly have earned an associate degree. Once these students are identified, the institutions retroactively award their degree or inform them of their academic progress.  With the 6 pilot schools, after their 7-month pilot period, had award over 600 associate degrees and identified nearly 1600 who were within 9 units of earning a degree. The author states that if all students who qualified for associate degrees were award their degrees, the number of associate degree holders in the United States would increase by 12 percent.
After reviewing the process, challenges and evaluation of Project Win-Win, I hope that this initiative continues and that all schools will implement a process similar to this. I worked at a California community college for a year and noticed that institution was facing the same problem.  Many of the students that I came in contact with had already earned an associate degree and were not aware or were a few units shy of completing one.  I found that many of them had earned a degree in a different subject matter or concentration.  It worries me that this is happening on such a large scale. I understand that many students are simply taking classes to transfer or are working towards another goal, but I believe that it is important for advisors and counselors to let students know all of their options.  This type of problem is what actually fueled my desire to become a community college counselor.

Sources: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/08/26/retroactive#Comments.
http://www.ihep.org/projectwin-win.cfm