As students head back to college this fall many are focused on earning credits and working toward a degree. While experts say that’s a worthy goal, some caution it shouldn’t be a student’s only goal. We talk with Tallahassee experts about how students can make the most out of their college experience.
Brandon Brown is the student body vice president at Florida State University. He says one of his biggest regrets is not taking more time to get to know his professors through office hours.
“It’s really easy to just go to class, sit, listen to the lecture, take your notes and leave. Or study from the text book, get the grades you need and leave. But there’s a person at the podium with so much knowledge and so much to offer you and all you have to do is go to their office hours and take advantage of it,” Brown says.
Brown says a lot of his class mates overlook the benefit of building a relationship with university faculty and staff.
“The perceived benefit of the class is the A that you can get, but not the possible letter of recommendation that you can get. Not the possible reference to a fellowship or study abroad program that you can get. So there is so much importance in taking that time to go to those office hours, not even to necessarily ask a question about the course if you don’t have one, but just to pick the professors mind and get a perspective that they can’t offer to a class of 200 students,” Brown says.
Jennifer Barr is the director of students services at Tallahassee Community College. She says students should keep in mind potential mentors are everywhere on a college or university campus.
“I always think its really cool when a student says the one person who helped me the most was the front desk person I met in financial aid the first day and they were so nice to me and they told me to come back and check in with them and I did every week. So that relationship, often times may be with a faculty member, but it could be with a staff person, someone who works in financial said, somebody who works in the rec center,” Barr says.
Alice Wright, director of Student Retention at Florida State University says one of the most important things she thinks a student can do while in college is learning how to grow as a person.
"Certainly that is reaching their academic potential—applying the knowledge that they’ve learned in the classroom and out of classroom experience, but often our lives are not just limited to our jobs and our careers, but also becoming the best person—brother, sister, spouse—so we want to meet all of those needs for our students," Wright says.
And Jamie Davis, director of student support services at Florida A&M University says one way to do that is by pursing a well-rounded experience while in college.
“Students should be able to write, communicate—basic skill sets. Many times that’s imbedded in the curriculum so the students have the opportunity to learn that while they’re learning, let’s say math or English or science. But we also have that outside of the classroom through organizations such as SGA or the many other organizations we have on campus," Davis.
Brown, Barr, Wright and Davis made their comments on WFSU’s public affairs show, Perspectives.
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