Ferrari Williams and Kelly Goff
The admissions and records, counseling and financial aid buildings’ busiest days are usually during the beginning of the semester and almost seem forgotten after the whirl wind of students have found there way around and their important questions have been answer.
After the classes have been picked and the FAFSA has been filled out, most students seem to abandon the idea of needing to see any one from these academic departments but counselor Mita Noor hopes to change that.
The counseling office is now offering a new workshop program geared to further prepare students with situations inside and outside of college.
These workshops cover financial aid, transfer applications and useful tips on how to study They also have workshops concerning credit card debt, career training and time management.
Each department gives a workshop on their area of expertise.
For example, the health center offers workshops educating students about exams, insurance, health fees and any other pertinent information and the job center offers a workshop showing students how to develop resumes and interview techniques for future jobs.
Noor, along with Cristina Rodriguez, created the workshops.
Noor was thrilled to share information about the programs.
“The counseling office has always had workshops, but after picking up a brochure I thought it would be a great idea to expand,” said Noor,
Although other workshops have been available to students before, this is the first semester Pierce is offering a variety of programs on a larger scale.
While the counseling department is using these workshops to reach out to students, information is not easily accessible.
Hardly anyone on campus has heard of the workshops.
“I’ve heard of them, but I’m never on campus. I go to class and then I bounce,” said Paymon Seyedi, 20, a Pierce communications major.
When contacting the counseling office by phone to discuss what the workshop entails, student workers were unprepared to answer questions.
Noor admitted that the brochures, which are located all around campus, are rarely picked up by students and when they are, it does not list the location of the workshops.
“I realize that many students are unaware of the workshops because the brochure does not list the location but it does have all the numbers you need. If you call the number, someone will give you the information,” said Noor.
She also said that students can register for the workshops either on the Pierce Web site or by phone, with each one of the departments that are offering the workshops.
While several of the workshops that were scheduled to take place did not happen in their specified time frames last week, Noor said that was because no students attended.
“They [departments giving the workshops] will wait for 15 minutes, and if no one comes, then they will leave,” said Noor.
No one available in the Extended Opportunity Programs and Services (EOP&S) or the Assessment Center knew about any workshops being offered in their department when visited last week.
Two students attended the workshop on transferring to California State Universities.
Noor acknowledged that, because the Web site has frequently been inaccessible over the last few weeks among other factors, that the workshops have been difficult to get started, but that hopefully, by next semester the program will be able to continue more effectively.
Seyedi said, “E-mail is a good way to reach me, but I haven’t seen anything on the Web site.” He added that he visits the Pierce Web site regularly, but has not seen anything about the workshops that “jumped” out at him.