Interactive workshop to open lectures promoting success
by Connie Yu, Reporter

    NE Campus will kick off its fourth lecture series promoting student success Thursday, Feb. 6.

    Its first segment of the series will tackle some of a student's worst time-management habits in an interactive workshop an academic advisor said.

    Susie Carranza, academic advisor on NE Campus, said students will find out how efficient they are at scheduling in the first of 15 lectures in the series.

    In addition, they will learn practical strategies to avoid distractions and commit to each scheduled task.

    In the workshop, Carranza plans to share her own experience of going through college as a full-time worker and a full-time student.

    Students will also be encouraged to talk about their own struggles in managing time in their busy lives.

    "The most common trap students fall into when they try to juggle work, school and family is the presumption that they will always have enough time," Carranza said.

    With the workshop at the start of the semester, Carranza hopes students will benefit from the information and techniques they learn and avoid the consequences of ineffective time management throughout the spring.

    "Sometimes we bite off too much than we can really chew," she said.

    Counselors typically advise students to study at least two hours per semester hour each week.

    A student with a 12-hour load, which is normal among full-time college students will need about three hours a day to study.

    "I don't think people actually realize how many hours they have," she said, "and how many hours of it are already chopped off from the day."

    Upcoming workshop topics also include personal abilities, such as communication and motivation, learning skills, confidence, writing and speech anxiety. Others are designed to address issues like degree planning, sexual assault, career choice and strategies for acceptance to medical, dental and veterinary school.

    The series will run through March.

    The workshops are an attempt for the academic advisors to get some notice from the student population.

    "We wanted to be seen out on campus, instead of in our officesÑ to provide the service for the students where they are," Sonja Butler, NE Campus academic advisor, said.

    Starting in the fall of 2001, the counseling staff created the lecture series to enhance students' ability to achieve success by emphasizing the pragmatic skills and hands-on tools necessary for them to succeed, Butler said.

    The series has not only received positive feedback, but has also grown "progressively" as its publicity increases each semester, Butler said.

    "These are not God-awful presentations," she said, citing the lecturers' usage of overheads and PowerPoint presentations.

    "These are fun presentations," she added.

    Butler said getting students to know about these opportunities has been the most difficult task for the counselors.

    Students can get information about the lectures from the fliers posted at the main entrances of every building, in the counseling office and from their instructors.

    "We want to encourage all of the instructors to inform their classes and to encourage (the students) to come," she said.

    Students on academic probation are required to attend at least one of the lectures.

    Butler said some instructors offer extra credits to encourage student participation in these events.

    Others faculty members have brought entire classes to lectures that were complementary to the class curriculums.

    "It's not like (students) came in here and said, 'Wow, this is the lecture of my life,'" she said. "But I think they found the lectures to be useful."

    For more information, call the NE counseling office at 817-515-6661 or visit its online site at www.tccd.net/ campus_ne/counseling.