Brent Varner - Student Support Services - Week 2

Activities

·      Participated in several staff meetings regarding the transition of facilities.

·      Worked with staff in the initial planning stage of developing a new manual for intake procedures.

·      Participated in leading academic advising during orientation.

Experience

This is the second week of my practicum experience. During the first week, I was really just learning the ropes, so to speak. However, this week was great in the sense that I got a lot of hands on experience. The first major piece of this week’s puzzle was finalizing the plans for transitioning both the ACCESS program classroom and staff members’ offices. The ACCESS program, under the office of Student Support Services, is designed to help students with intellectual disabilities attain autonomous life skills. The program only uses one classroom currently. With the growth of the program, a new, larger classroom is necessary. They will be moving to a larger conference room, just down the hall from the current ACCESS classroom. Also, some staff members are moving offices in the next coming weeks to go along with the changes in the office.

One of the other major changes happening around the office in the next coming weeks is the development of a new manual for intake procedures. Right now there is a lot of paperwork involved in an intake. It has to go from a staff member to the director, back to the staff member, and then to the person tasked with maintaining the database. The goal that the office has expressed is to reduce the number of steps and paper trail for an intake. I got to sit in on the meeting where this was discussed and was encouraged to voice my opinion. I am glad that my opinion is valued, even though I am just a practicum student.

Part of my responsibilities in the office is to assist with academic advising for undeclared majors at orientation. This is one of my favorite things to do throughout the week. It is good in the fact that I have just as much power as faculty and staff in the room. I assist with helping new freshmen sign up for their classes. I even have to call in an override to the registrar’s office. It is also nice to be working with other departments on campus while doing this. I see Whitney and Chelsey every time I’m in there! I’m looking forward to the weeks to come.