A letter to my nephew, Jake

Jakebobake is off to college this month. Yep. Time flies.
Here is the letter I wrote to Jake from his aunt who loved college and who just happens to be an Academic Advisor. All but number 1 on the list are things I tell my advisees.


Jake,
Congrats on going to college! I hope you have a blast! College for me was one of the best times of my life.

I don't know if you know it, but I've been an academic advisor for a few years now and I just wanted to share some of the things that I think can help a student succeed at college. Hopefully, the college told you most of it at your orientation session!

1) College Rocks!

Make the most of it; be young and free, but not stupid. (I wish I could explain this one further, but I guess we all have to figure it out for ourselves...)
Try new things; college is about expanding your everything.

2) Get a calendar!
I cannot stress this enough.
If you don’t have one already, get one! (Or get your mom to buy one for you.)


Follow these steps for perfect time management:
First: Get out all of your syllabi and schedule in all of your classes for the whole semester, including scheduled tests, study sessions, and major assignments due. If you are working, write in your work hours.


Second: Draw boxes around these times when you have stuff scheduled (I like to use colored markers for this part).

The white space that is left… that is your free time. Use it wisely. ; )
How? By scheduling it. Schedule in time each day for studying to keep up with your reading assignments. Of course, you’ll want to save plenty of time in your schedule for hanging out with friends, etc. But seeing it all in front of you at a week’s glance will help you realize how much time you have before the next big paper is due.

3) Use the tutoring center!
Most of the time tutoring is free.

The tutoring center is not just for people who are failing classes and using it doesn’t mean you’re not smart.At one university I worked at, most of the students who were using tutoring were already getting B’s but they wanted A’s. If you are taking a class you had trouble in while in high school, go to get tutoring for that class during the first two weeks…BEFORE you get behind.

Most tutoring centers have study tables where you can just go and work on your math homework in a quiet place. Then, if a question comes up, the math tutor is right there to help.

4) Take Math this year!!!
I can’t remember if you are a Math lover or hater, but if it’s the latter like me, do not wait! If Math is required for your degree, take it now! You’ll remember it from high school a lot easier now as opposed to after a year of college fun.

I can’t tell you how many Math haters I’ve advised who just kept putting it off. One student had to delay her graduation a whole year because she needed to take College Algebra but never did. When she finally went to take her Math placement test, she found out she didn’t just need College Algebra, she had to take the two pre-college level Math courses that led up to College Algebra…That meant a whole year of math even though she’d finished all of her other requirements for the degree. Bummer.

(The type of Math you need will depend on what subjects you are interested in, not sure? Ask your advisor!)

5) See your advisor regularly!
I don’t know if you are on a semester or quarter system. But you should sit down with your advisor at least once a semester.
If you have fall and spring semester, plan to go in and see your advisor around Halloween and May Day, you’ll beat the rush and miss the big lines. If you don’t know who your advisor is, go and ask! Hopefully, you’ve already met them. Often, schools but advising holds on your registration and you are not able to register for the next semester until you go and talk to your advisor. If your school does this, get your hold off before it’s your day to register.

Things to see your advisor about:
-Degree requirements...What classes do I have to choose from?
-When you don’t know who else to ask…Where do I go to…?
-Career advice…What can I do with a major in…? Most colleges have a career center with a career advisor you can talk to about the options for careers as well as what kind of degree you need for that kind of work. I’ve got some good links for this to, let me know if you need them.

6) Get to know your instructors.
I’m guessing this will be easier for you because you may have smaller class sizes at the community college. Still, talking with your instructors before and after class is a great way to get your questions answered about material you don’t understand or when the next test is. Most instructors want to help their students, so if there is a subject you are having trouble in, go and ask your instructor about your grade in the class thus far. If it’s a C, tell them you’d like to get a B or an A in the class and ask for their advice of how to do that. This shows them you care about your grades and are willing to work for them.

7) Contact the school you may transfer to in the future.
Is there a Bachelor’s Degree in your future? If so, make sure you find out what the degree requirements are for the school you are transferring to.
Example: The university may have different Core Requirements (sometimes know as General Education requirements) then the community college.

An example would be while both may require 12 credits of Arts & Humanities; the University may require specific courses that will count toward these. Many of the ones you take at the CC will count for the university core, but there may be some that don’t.

Most universities post transfer equivalency guides so you can know how a course will transfer from the community college to the university. In this way you can be sure to work on both the associates and the bachelor’s requirements at the same time. If you do this, you will be sure to take fewer irrelevant courses. Check into it. Spend some time on the website of the school you want to transfer to, it should all be there.

This will save you time & money later!

8) Join a club!
Not only will you meet more people, you’ll feel more a part of the college.
(Just remember to put those events on your calendar too!)

Okay, I’ll stop now. Have a great first semester at college!

Love,
Your Aunt Justinabobina

Vanity, thy name is...

I've been getting requests to hurry up already and tell the Jehovah's Witness story:

Alec and I decided to go and take a tour of the fitness center at the Santa Fe Community College. (Even though I work for the University of New Mexico, my office is at the community college.)

I planned to stay after the tour for my first work out.

I decided to wear the denim skirt that I used to wear when I was a teacher in Japan. It's an A-line skirt that falls about mid-calf. My idea was that putting a skirt on over my workout clothes would save time so I wouldn't have to change at the gym. I slipped it on over my snug-fitting work out shorts and admired myself in the mirror (lookin' good!) before going downstairs and asking Alec, "How do I look?" He knows when I'm fishing for a compliment so he gave the correct answer, "cute as a button!" To which I exclaimed in my best game show key, "ding ding ding!" I was pleased. I almost never wear skirts, so I was feeling all dressed up.

Later, after we toured the facility we separated. I worked out, put my skirt back on, and began walking down one of the halls of the college toward the library. I was still hot, so I kept my hair up in the bun I wore for the workout. I passed a skinny, older, African-American gentleman with graying hair. We smiled and greeted each other and I walked on by him.

Soon I heard him call, "excuse me?"
"Yes," I turned around.
"Are you a student here?"
"Uh, no, I work on campus," I answered.

"Ah," and then he said, "You're a Jehovah's Witness?"
"No," I said startled, "I'm not."
"Oh, sorry" he began to walk away and called back over his shoulder, "Well, I like your dress, anyway."

I walked away looking down at my skirt that almost reached my ankles with my white socks and tennis shoes sticking out from beneath. Okay, so I wasn't the vision of loveliness I had imagined.

Ah vanity!

Finding my voice

These last few months I've had health issues to deal with, which is something I'm really not used to. I've always considered myself a fairly healthy person. I was a vegetarian for 10 years and mostly veggie for 5 years after that (I began eating fish during my two years in Japan).

Long story short--I had the left nodule of my thyroid removed due to a follicular lesion that was growing there. Or you could call it a mass, a tumor (I hear Arnold Schwarzenegger: "It's not a TU-mor!"), a growth. After much researching, trying to listen to the messages of my body, consulting with doctors and even intuitive healers (hey, I am in Santa Fe after all) I finally decided they could take it out.

It was benign, which all of the intuitive types told me it would be. And the surgery was actually not that bad. The scary part of recovery has been my voice.

It has been exactly two weeks now and my voice has not fully recovered. I'm told that can be normal, that it can take a while for my vocal chords to heal. But that doesn't change the fact that I'm still unable to talk above much of a high pitched whisper (remember Minnie Mouse's voice?). When I can manage an almost regular voice, it doesn't last long as my voice quickly tires. Yesterday I was able to call up the stairs to Alec and he came running down excited, "you can yell! you can yell!" ...well, sort of.

My sister, Ann asked me (by email) if I was keeping a journal, but alas I have not been. Perhaps this Blog can serve some purpose while I heal during those times that I think I have a lot to say, but can't get it out.

The positive side of this is that I get to wear my collection of scarves for a while to help conceal my still-healing scar. I have always been attracted to scarves (the Taurus in me) and through the years have found them hard to resist. So today, I am sporting my lovely purple scarf which I almost never wear. It's as if I've been preparing for surgery for years!!!