When upcoming graduates first started at Kirkwood Community College, they had to go through the unknown. Now that they are graduating, they have some advice for incoming students, ranging from academics, campus resources, finding community, balancing everything, impactful experiences and more.
Transitioning to college
One big transition for students is often an increase in school workload and learning how to reach out to professors.
“Once you get to college, you must learn to adapt,” said Ty Walker, psychology.
Elementary education major Taylor Takes did a similar thing when she started college. However, she learned quickly and adapted accordingly.
“When I first started here, I didn’t study for tests or prepare as deeply as I do now,” she said. “So, I think studying and taking more in-depth notes during class is crucial. The more stuff I write and the more in-depth it is, I feel like it helps me study better and prepare.”
Even though studying is important, digital media major Autumn Eiben talked about the importance of balancing school, work and personal time.
“Don’t overload yourself. Try to find balance between doing your classwork. Make sure you have that relaxing time to unwind,” she said.
Liberal arts major Paola Plascencia agreed with the importance of studying by advising against the inverse. She said that at first, sometimes she would skip some of her classes, but now she doesn’t.
“The day that you are gone, that’s the day that you do the most in class. You’re paying for that class already. That money is already spent. Might as well actually try and try hard. It’s not like middle school or elementary school. If you fail, you fail. This is going to affect you and your future,” she explained.
Plascencia expressed the cost of college since she had to move from her parents’ home to attend college and is now living on her own.
“I went from living under their roof, where they provided everything, and now I live on my own,” Plascencia said. “I had to pay for my own bills, my own rent. Classes are different, schedules are different, and time management.
“It’s harder. You must be more responsible,” Plascencia said. “It might seem fun. Now I can make my own rules and have more freedom. But usually, being in college you spend a lot of money. You do need to stay responsible for your payments, and the money is going to be tight. Because once you go into school, you must put your priorities in place.”
Campus resources
Even though there is a lot of studying and balancing involved with college, there are also a lot of campus resources at Kirkwood that many students can utilize. One of the first places students receive assistance is from the academic advisors to whom they go to sign up for classes.
“My academic advisor guided me through what classes to take, and what were the right ones,” Plascencia said. “They’ve been really helpful on how long it’s going to take me, and they explain to me the different degrees, the different pathways that you can take after having your associates. And that really cleared my mind of what route I was going to take as of now.”
Another student resource is the Writing Center. “I really like the Writing Center, because I feel like they give me a lot of feedback on my writing,” said Takes.
The Writing Center is right next to the Learning Commons where students can get help from learning assistants. Walker said that he found tutoring the most helpful.
“They helped me with my homework when I was really struggling. And I had some teachers that just didn’t know how to explain instructions very well. So my advisors and learning assistants were able to help navigate through that,” he said.
Finding community
A resource most students overlook is clubs. Not only are they a great source of community, but they are also a great way to make friends and build oneself.
“For clubs, you can get involved in anything, and whatever subject or activity you might be interested in, there’s usually a club for that, or they can help try to find other people who might be interested in starting a club like that,” said Eiben.
Plasencia started attending a club in her second year and commented on how balancing school and clubs can be a little difficult.
“You don’t even have to attend our meetings, but even if you go to a meeting like once a month, you meet people there,” she said. “And then you’ll see them in the hallways, and they’ll make small talk or something. And that really makes college not be as hard.”
Clubs are also a good way to make friends and build community. Eiben said she made friends by simply “Branching out and taking that step to actually find people with different perspectives to challenge your perspectives to make you a better person. Finding common ground helped me to actually give me a push to go and talk to people. This applies to pretty much everyone, because especially on the first day, it’s always good to do those icebreakers that everybody seems to hate.”
Impactful experiences
Kirkwood has a lot of opportunities to help grow oneself as a person. Clubs are one example of that. However, Kirkwood offers more than just clubs that leave impacts on students. Walker said intramurals made the biggest impact on him.
“It really brought out my team player side, and it helped build my character because it just showed how I was able to work with others, even when it was really difficult or when we were losing,” he said. “So, it helped me build confidence in myself, and it allowed me to just share my emotions, feelings and my thoughts with the team.”
Eiben said internships are helpful.
“Internships are good for exploring work and job pathways. You’re set on a certain pathway, but then you’re trying to intern, and think ‘I never thought about this. This is better than my current pathway.’ Then you can change it a lot easier,” she said.
Eiben also encouraged students to consider study abroad experiences.
One of the most important aspects about college is expanding one’s knowledge. Julien Benesh, a digital media major who plans to major in Japanese next year at the University of Iowa, advised new students to try a class they wouldn’t normally take or one they know nothing about.
“You never know, you might really like it, and you might want to make that your move,” he said. “If you only know a number of topics and subjects, then I don’t think that that’s really representative of all of the programs and majors that are possible. I took Story Cycle with Sondra Gates. This class gave me the motivation to want to read other things and get influenced. I thought this class would be the hardest, but it’s actually my most fun class.”
As a final note, Plascencia said, “Yes, stay focused in your classes, but it’s also your experience. That’s not going to come back.”
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