Clark - Week 6 - Housing and Residence Life, MUW

Activities:

• Assisted Sirena in presenting to the Summer Development Program
• Worked Freshman Orientation
• Attended Parent Panel
• Assisted students completing housing applications
• Staff meeting
• Updated and assigned new housing assignments
• Adjusted roommates and consolidated rooms
• Met with the newly hired counselor

Reflection:

Again, this week, my eyes were opened to just how much responsibility Sirena’s job entails. She has been working to hire a new counselor whom I got to meet last week. She was explaining the hiring process and how you hire the best person for the job. She has also hired another counselor, pending background check. There is a lot of exciting change going on in the department.

Taylor, who is in charge of International Student Services, has also been making great changes in her specific area. She has been assisting international students from all over the world by providing resources to help with attaining a visa and information regarding plane tickets and MUW. She has increased the number of international students to about 20, which is really exciting for the W.

At Orientation on Monday, I assisted Sirena in answering questions regarding Housing, assisted students in completing housing applications, and passed out information in the Housing session of Orientation. Also, while at Orientation, the newly hired counselor and I were stopped by a father who was seeking information about the Counseling Center and about Housing. It was really exciting and rewarding to be able to help a family in this way.

Tuesday, Sirena was asked to present to the Summer Development Program. This program is designed to help students get admitted to the University by offering some general courses that the students will have to pass. It was really interesting to see how these students differed from the students in the freshman session the day before. Most of these students did not seem very interested in the presentation, but Sirena did a really good job of trying to get them involved. I was reminded how sometimes, we will have to alter presentations or conversations in order to best convey the information to different groups.

This experience has been extremely rewarding, and an experience that I will forever be grateful for. I am glad that I left my bubble of Mississippi State to get experience at a school that is very different from State. I cannot believe my time at The W is almost over!

Have a great week,

Brittany

 This is the Counseling Center at MUW! I have spent some time here during my practicum meeting with Mrs. Margaret and Sirena to talk about the budgets, purchasing new furniture, discuss the new computer system, etc. I love that it is very accessible, but that it is also not in the center of campus. It is just off campus for students to have easy access to it, while still allowing students their privacy.