By Lindsey Schibelhut, Staff Reporter.
“Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life,” advised Amy McPike, coordinator of Campus Life, at the “Tips from Teachers” event in the Red Brix Cafe Tuesday, Nov. 18. The Community College Completion Corps (C4) organization put on the forum where teachers and staff gave tips to help students on how to academically succeed throughout their college experience.
This is the third year Delta’s C4 organization has put on different events for students so they can make the pledge to complete their degree program; but it is the first year for the “Tips from Teachers” forum.
“We hope this will let students see that teachers are more accessible,” said Brigit Dyer, Adjunct Instructor and Achieve the Dream co-chairman.
All of the faculty members who participated in the event gave tips on what they’ve learned through their own experiences in college. Some of those who spoke at the event were, Adjunct Professor Brigit Dyer, Associate Professor of English Denise Hill, Associate Professor of English Crystal Starkey, Professor of History Laura Dull, Associate Professor of Chemistry Bernadette Harkness, Assistant Professor of Communications Jeff Sorrels and Janet Alexander from the English Division, among others.
“I was not a really good student in college,” said Bernadette Harkness, Chemistry Professor, “I was a big time procrastinator, and I crashed and burned my first semester. I have learned to become a “pre-crastinator”, if you do a little bit everyday, you will be successful.”
“What do you do if you have a professor who you think doesn’t like you?” asked Denise Hill, Associate Professor of English. “Think about your relationship with your instructor as a professional one. Practice having a professional conversation and schedule time during their office hours and have a real conversation with them and let them know what you are unhappy with.”
“I used to be a terrible student,” said Jeff Sorrels, Assistant Professor of Communications. “When I was in college I was a procrastinator, and as much as you think you may work well under pressure, you don’t. Your work will never be as good as if you would have done it beforehand. You have to create habits, and the habits will become ingrained in you.”
Amy McPike said, “Utilize the resources you have on campus and connect with your instructors, build a network and get involved on campus, because the more involved you are the more successful you will be, being engaged on campus will keep you excited and motivated.”
The idea for the C4 started in Sept. of 2012 by Joshua Trader, President of the Xi Delta Chapter, Phi Theta Kappa. Due to a lot of word of mouth and grassroots support from students and faculty by fall of 2012, 54 percent of students who signed the completion pledge applied for their certificate or degree or graduated with one.
One of the core missions for the C4 organization is to re-energize students and encourage them to graduate in their chosen field of study with a degree or certificate. C4 would also like to expand on student engagement so students can help other students to succeed, while also making sure communication between student and faculty is more accessible. In the years ahead C4 hopes to be able to broaden their partnerships throughout Michigan.
In the future when C4 has their annual mission to get students to complete their degrees, Brigit Dyer says she would like to see “Tips from Teachers” become a permanent part of the C4 initiative.
“We want to let students know their teachers are really rooting for them, and that we do care about their success,” said Dyer.