- Became familiar with the Career Center's website for staff and students
- Met with Career Center staff and Cooperative Education staff to discuss their job roles, responsibilities, education, and career path.
- Shadowed and participated in individual advising sessions with students to work on personal statements and resume writing.
- Provided academic advising for undecided freshman students during orientation.
Reflection:
This first week was a really busy one. We dove in immediately on me becoming familiar with the office and how it is run. I was able to study the website and learn about what resources it offers students and alumni. Seeing the many different forms of career planning resources the Career Center offers amazed me. Also, I had the opportunity to go and meet individually with all of the Career Center and Cooperative Education staff. I was overwhelmed by their kindness and their willingness to find ways to involve me in any student meetings or events that they will be a part of this summer. Also, it was very interesting to see how the Cooperative Education office works within the Career Center. I had always seen them as two different entities since they are in different buildings. However, they both function together to create educational and career opportunities for students and alumni. As well as talking about each person's specific job role and responsibilities, I was able to speak to each one about their education and career path.
There are many different things that I will be able to be a part of during my practicum experience. This week I got to shadow and participate in student meetings that centered around personal statements and resume critiquing. I really enjoyed being able to take part in these. I learned so much about how to critique these and help students perfect them for job searching and for applying to dental school. After each of these meetings, Mrs. Latimer and I discussed how I felt about the meeting and what I am learning. I learn so much from these discussions about how to conduct these meetings and how to help students in their career planning.
Lastly, this week I was able to participate in academic advising for undecided freshmen during orientation. During my practicum, I will do academic advising every week. I really enjoy working with these undecided students. Many of them have a rough idea of what major they are interested in and others are not sure at all. Being able to work with so many students who are so diverse is a very great experience for me. Working with students who are all so different from each other is teaching me how to work with individual students and not assume just because they are all freshmen that they are all in the same situation. I am very much looking forward to continuing working with and helping these students and developing myself more as a professional.
Whitney,
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you have already had a really exciting experience at your practicum, and that you are learning a lot! I think it is great how practicum has the ability to expand our horizons as professionals. We will have the opportunity to work with so many students, and having the knowledge to guide those students is very important. I think that working with students in admissions and scholarships, you will be able to use the information that you have learned by being able to direct the students that you work with to more resources. Additionally, it sounds like you have created some excellent professional contacts, that will be more than willing to show you all the important parts of being a career counselor. I think it will be interesting to see how much more information you get, and the ways in which you can apply it to other parts of your university experience.
-Jacob