Being students at Sinclair Community College has lots of advantages, including the great price of tuition and quality of education. The one thing it lacks is the ability to make those connections with others as easily as you would at a university.
Unfortunately the things that help bring students together, such as living on campus, will probably never be available here. That doesn’t mean that there are not ways of making friends and finding people to help you – it just makes it a little more difficult.
Heck, college is hard, plus many of us are not just taking on classes but full size families and jobs as well.
One thing we have learned in the past few months working together is how valuable the relationships we have formed with each other are. Sure, we have to work together at least five of the seven days of the week, but many of the dialogue (and text messaging) between us is more personal than just letting each other know how well we did on a story.
In all reality we don’t know if it would be possible without one another. And maybe that is just what everyone needs to make it here – a student friend who understands exactly what you are going through and can help.
We, the students, know best what we need and how to cultivate those relationships. Sometimes all we need is the right place, time or resources to make them happen. Participating in clubs, sports and programs like nursing or journalism are great ways to jump start some of those interactions, but not all of us are interested in those things.
So we did some brainstorming and came up with a couple ideas that we thought were worth sharing.
The buddy system – If you ever were a new student at high school you know exactly what we mean. A student who has been at the school for a while, and usually is successfully in classes, will show you around the school, introduce you to people and take responsibility for keeping you informed for a while. It helps take the edge off for the new student and has the potential to create long lasting friendships.
Intercommunity work – Same basic principle as the buddy system, but instead taking students who are about to graduate and using their “capstones projects”, to do some service work inside of the school. “Freshman” students would get the chance to spend time with more experienced students, giving them knowledge and relieving some of the pressures of coming to college.
The other program we are really interested in is the learning community courses. They really seem like a great way to start feeling comfortable at a new school.
We want to hear from you though. What are your thoughts and ideas on students helping students? What would help you succeed? What are some of the things that hinder your ability to learn? E-mail us at clarion@sinclair.edu or join the discussion forum on Facebook by searching “Clarion Press”.