Friday, June 27, 2014

Kelsey Jones: Shackouls Honors College Week 3

Activities

- Represent Shackouls Honors College at Orientation sessions
- Continue planning events for Honors Convocation
- Assist in in Honors Advising
- Review student handbook

Experiences

Week 3 working with Shackouls has continued to provide me with valuable experiences. For the most part, my biggest jobs remain representing Shackouls at Orientation and planning for Honors Convocation. At a Campus Services fair this past week we were particularly busy so I got to speak with a lot of parents. I hadn't realized previous to this practicum experience exactly how enjoyable working with parents can be. I enjoyed getting to explain to them what their student would be experiencing as part of the Honors College, and I got to help ease their nerves about sending their student to college. There is one particular experience with a parent this week that ties my practicum and assistantship experiences together perfectly. The Honors College living/learning community is hosted in Griffis and North Halls. I will be serving as the Residence Director of Griffis this upcoming year and when parents learn that I will be the professional running their childs "home away from home" they are very eager to discuss how I'm going to make sure their "baby" is taken care of. This particular parent was extremely worried about her son making the transition into college and whatnot, so I just got to have quite a lengthy conversation with her about the process and resources available and she appeared to leave feeling reassured that her son was going to be okay. I love my job.

I also got to finally dip my toe into the functional area of academic advising this week! If students are having trouble getting the one required Honors course into their Fall schedule they are directed to the Honors College offices in Griffis. This week we had several students and their families drop by and there were two or three times that I got to sit directly in the advising sessions with my supervisor. I really enjoy academic advising because it gives you the opportunity to learn the individual students goals and help organize their college experience in a way that helps them achieve their goals. I just feel that the quality and level of investment of your academic advisor completely determines your college experience. I really do. So, I was very thankful for the opportunity to be a part of these advising sessions. I found this week at practicum particularly rewarding because I learned that I enjoy both working with parents and academic advising a great deal.

Finally, outside of orientation sessions I have been continuously working on planning events for the Honors Convocation in the Fall, as well as reviewing the student handbook and seeing if any changes need to be made. Planning Convocation has been pretty great because I'm working closely with the Honors Council (pretty much SGA for the Honors College) and working with students and learning how a new student organization runs is always fun! I feel like I chose a really unique practicum experience and it's turned out to be genuinely fun and rewarding. I'm excited to continue!

No comments:

Post a Comment