Thank you to everyone who participated, volunteered and helped plan our Pathways Day event last week! Approximately 768 NHCC students and 101 prospective high school students and chaperones attended the event! Altogether, the turnout, energy and overall participation at Pathways Day was wonderful! Our sessions engaged students in new ways, and it really had an impact.
After going to Pathways Day, current student, Zoey Braaten commented,
“I’m the first in my family to even attempt to go to college, so I have endless questions and went to three sessions. In the session about resources and money, I learned that I qualify for TRIO! In the transfer info session, I learned about transferology, which is going to be crazy helpful because I want to go to the U of M and transferring credits there can be a little tricky. The last session was the one about the pre-social work pathway. They gave us a nice layout of the best classes to take at NHCC to both save money and make your bachelors experience easier. I got to ask personal questions regarding my specific experience with getting my degree which was extremely helpful. I now have a better plan for what my next couple of semesters should look like before I transfer to give me the best chance at completing my degree. Outside of all that, I had lots of fun. I got to hang out with friends and meet new ones. One of my friends and I played vingo together and I ended up winning a round! We decided to go look at the club tables to talk to new people and see if we wanted to join any ourselves.”
Here are a few session highlights:
Careers in Healthcare – the Ultimate Inside Scoop
This session, (lead by Ashley Martin, Andrew LeMay, Linda Carlyon, and Brenda Vue) gave students information about the healthcare career programs available at NHCC. Within the fields of MLT, Nursing and Phlebotomy, students learned all the career options and places of employment that await them upon finishing one of these programs.
A current MLT student named, Aman, came to share why she decided to study MLT:
“I like to work behind the scenes in the health care system. I thought I wanted to be a nurse or a PA, but then I looked into MLT. It’s really fun, I like it, and it is very interesting. However, one piece of advice I would give to students is, do your prerequisites before starting! It is very stressful to take hematology and chemistry classes at the same time! Getting as many prerequisites and general education credits done ahead of time will help you. Please listen to your instructors! I know it is easy to say, ‘I’ll do this class later” but just finish it right away! In this program, remember, 80% is a C. Keep working hard and study smart!”
College 101
NHCC Advisors, Amee Nefzger Banks, and Ben Mullen, lead this session, sharing their tips with students on how to be successful in college.
Tips for students:
- Go to class! In-person, on Zoom and D2L too! (If you don’t go to class, or login to D2L, you can get an F in the class in September! Faculty don’t want you to fail. They want to help you! Ask them questions!)
- Learn your teachers names.
- Read your syllabus (A syllabus contains: assignments, due dates, test dates, the teachers name, how they grade, their grading scale and their office hours).
- Print your syllabus and save it to your drive (Keep your syllabus forever! If you leave NHCC and go back to school later in a different state, the next school you go to will want to see it and compare their course syllabus to yours).
- See your advisor and register EARLY! (pro tip, you don’t have to finish a class to register for the next one! Early registration ensures you get the classes and the times that you want!)
- It is SUPER common to change your major! Tell your advisor if you want to change your major (they can’t read your mind)! There’s a form on the NHCC website to help PSEO students pick a major and for students to declare their majors too.
- Students can change their majors as many times as they want.
- Getting involved and having a club experience, such as Student Senate on your resume, really helps! (Student Senate is like Student Council. They make policies for students on-campus and have a real stamp of approval and power here at NHCC. Can't find a club that interests you? Then start one! NHCC doesn’t have a chess club, for example!)
The Write Stuff: Exploring Legal Careers for Writers
Kate Lovo, and Kelly Lundquist (faculty from the English and Paralegal departments) led this session highlighting traditional and nontraditional legal careers that require writing skills. There is a huge crossover within Paralegal and English fields! In fact, English is one of the best majors for a student to have, if they’re planning on going to law school!
Advice they gave to students interested in these fields:
- Be flexible. Every attorney has different preferences. Adjust, adjust, adjust!
- It might not feel like it sometimes, but realize there are people who care about helping you to be a better writer.
- Discover your writing routine and processes as you go.
- Learn to work with difficult people.
- Cater your language to your reader. Remember the feedback on your writing is there to benefit the case you’re working on.
- Being a writer and a paralegal takes practice.
- Expect feedback and believe in yourself!
- As a student, join NHCC’s Paralegal Club and/or English Club!
Investigating How You Learn
This super informative session (led by Tom Lynch, Jessica Fraser, Rachel Fraser, Cheyenne Vaughn and Dale Bradtke) taught students about learning styles! Once a student knows their learning style, it can help them to be successful in college and also within their future endeavors.
The first step is to take the Learning Styles Assessment. This will identify if you are a visual, auditory, or kinesthetic/tactile learner. (Or, if we’re multiple different learners at once!) Learning styles illuminate paths to success for students and help them to make meaningful connections during the learning process. There are different modalities (a particular way of doing, or experiencing something) that students can use to learn and retain academic content, in whichever way best works for them.
All in all, when you combine your learning styles together, you’ll find that it helps the content to stick. The more activated your senses are, the better environment it is for learning.
The Cultural Confluences of Art and Music
Marina Haworth, Heather MacLaughlin, and Gary Ruschman, lead a lively session highlighting great pieces of art and beautiful music! Art historical and musical styles often have overlapping interests and aesthetic forms. Our NHCC faculty presenters shared a slideshow with explanations and musical performances of examples from the styles of Baroque, Romanticism, Impressionism, and Motown/Pop Art, to introduce students to some of what they can learn in courses here, and show them how their knowledge of art and music can work in tandem with their other studies.
Finding Your Career Direction in College
During this session, Karen Philbin, Brian Turk, and Virginia Ferlet explained how campus resources can help students navigate their career journey regardless of where they’re at in their academic and career planning. Students can benefit greatly if they engage in career planning on the first day of their academic journey.
Karen from the WIEL Center helps support career exploration by:
- Meeting with students 1:1 to help them use and complete the FOCUS career assessment.
- She also assists students in understanding the results of their FOCUS assessment and works with them to develop a sample career plan around it.
At NHCC, Career Services staff and Advisors work together to help students reach their academic and career goals. As Karen said, “You’re not on this journey by yourself, we’re here to help you.”
Thank you to everyone who presented sessions and imparted their wisdom onto the student attendees! We can’t wait for next year!