Running head: MIDTERM 1

Midterm: Email Reflection

Practicum Environment

My practicum is through the Advising Center, which is part of the Center for Student

Success on the campus of Georgia College. Up until January 1, 2015, the Advising Center was a

part of the Enrollment Management Division. It has been separated out into its own division

with the addition of a new Associate Provost for Student Success who was brought on board to

help with the development and implementation of retention best practices for the campus. My

primary mentor is Shaina McGill, Associate Director for Advising and Retention with a

secondary mentor of Mike Augustine, Senior Director for Advising and Retention. McGill’s

main focus is that of working with at-risk students of various undergraduate levels. As a result,

she typically works with any student who is placed on academic probation as either their primary

or as a supplemental advisor. This also includes assisting members of the Council of Student

Ambassadors who have been placed on academic probation according to the organization’s rules

and regulations. Georgia College’s Ambassadors are held to a slightly higher standard

academically, and must maintain a 2.75 G.P.A. every semester. If an Ambassador should have a

semester G.P.A. average below a 2.75, despite their overall G.P.A., they must work with a

supplemental advisor.

As an Admissions Counselor, I already work with the Council of Student Ambassadors

through special events and tours. Because of my relationship with the Ambassadors, McGill has

given me the responsibility of serving as this supplemental advisor for the semester to the 11

students who fall into this category. I have meet with McGill and the Coordinator of The

Learning Center, Jeanne Haslam, to discuss each student’s transguide, current schedule, and any

support that the university can offer to assist with the academic success of the student. They also

explained to me the best manner in which to approach the topic of academic probation with

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MIDTERM 2

students and tips and hints for working with these students. From there, I have meet

individually with eight of the 11 students to discuss in further detail their situation and the

challenges that they are faced with academically. Based on this information, each student was

asked to compose their our Restoration Plan and return that to me signed; this will act as an

agreement between the two of us as well as a form of accountability on both ends. The eight

students who I have meet with have composed their Restoration Plans and submitted them,

however, the other three have yet to contact me to discuss their academic plans for the semester.

The second part of my practicum has been focused more on the general advisement of

undergraduate students. With this, I have observed several advisement sessions with Augustine

and the students with which he advises: both individual and group sessions. The group sessions

have been for a specific major and were an option for the students. These sessions are best

suited for freshmen and sophomores who are still completing their core curriculum whereas the

individual sessions have been better suited for students who are in their major classes and/or

have a double major and need more guidance on what classes they need to take.

In addition to observing advisement sessions, I am also hosting “Registration 101”

courses in each of our on-campus housing facilities. The incoming freshmen on campus are pre-

registered for their first year through a registration process called POUNCE. This is a great

system for our in-coming freshmen to get their schedule early on, however they are unaware of

how to register themselves when the time comes in the spring. In my sessions, I am reviewing

the registration process as well as providing general tips and hints to help them through their

process. This ranges from how CRN’s work to how the Wait List works. I have hosted two

sessions thus far, and will have several more in the next week as registration for freshmen is

scheduled for Thursday, March 12th beginning at 7:00 a.m. I am also planning to be present next

week in the computer labs to assists advisors and students with registration.

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MIDTERM 3

Eye-Opening Experience

The biggest eye-opener of my practicum experience thus far has been that of serving as a

supplemental advisor to students on academic probation. I have been amazed at how each

student has reacted to the news of having to receive supplemental advising and how he or she is

handling the meetings and development their Restoration Plans. One of the students has been

very proactive with everything. They have meet with me multiple times and update me on every

major test, project, or paper they have to submit; this student is the ideal student to work with.

Then on the other end of the spectrum, I have a student who feels as though they do not need

supplemental advising and can handle everything on their own. They has not been rude or

disrespectful, but have presented themself in a manner that leads me to believe that they have

better things to do.

Even more eye opening is the fact that three of the students have failed to even contact

me in any format. These three students all happen to be in the Nursing Cohort on campus, which

is very time consuming and rigorous, but the fact that I have not heard from them after several

emails attempts as well as from their campus supervisor is somewhat baffling. As a result of not

communicating with me, they have received a strike against them, which as an Ambassador, you

can receive up to three strikes before you are removed from the organization. I understand that

these three students are very busy with classes and clinicals at the hospital, but I would like to at

least have them communicate with me in reference to their probation. I even had the chance to

speak with one of the students during a Homecoming event and mentioned that I would be

willing to work with them in any capacity that I could, but, I have yet to hear anything. I find it

somewhat irresponsible of these three students as I am only trying to assist with their academic

success.

Administrative Philosophy

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MIDTERM 4

I believe that my mentors and I have very similar administrative philosophies. We both

keep the mission of Georgia College at the core of everything that we do and focus on the

success of the student as a whole. I have also witnessed that my mentors are not only advocates

for the students in which they advise and work closely with, but also with their staff. The

Advising Center has been growing in order to create a more centralized, effective, and cohesive

experience for our students to ensure success and retention, which has placed quite a bit of stress

on my mentors. As a result, they have had to promote the best practices to their staff to ensure

they are growing and developing properly. Providing support to your staff is extremely

important to the development and wellbeing of the department. When your staff feels supported,

they will be more successful in their daily work, which will show through to the students that

they work with.

One other area where our philosophies are the same is that of encouraging continued

growth through education. My mentors encourage their staff to pursue higher levels of education

and to attend professional development opportunities when possible. I believe that it is crucial to

be a life-long learner and to support furthered education in whatever means necessary. I am glad

to see that many administrators on the Georgia College campus believe this is important as well.

Portfolio Reflection

Of all of the portfolio components, reviewing my Career Trajectory has helped me to

realize that I have accomplished some of my goals, but that my trajectory has also altered over

the past year. In my trajectory, one of my goals was to become a supervisor or to have more of a

supervisory role. I have been able to accomplish this task through my current position when I

was promoted to a Senior Admissions Counselor and given the opportunity to supervise two of

the on-campus Admissions Counselors. This has definitely been a learning experience and I

continue to learn more about how to be an effective supervisor both through my current position

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and my practicum experience; it has exposed me to a more diverse group of people in its own

unique way. But from my work and practicum experience, I am realizing that I enjoy working

closely with students to help them through a difficult process such as the admissions process and

that I would not mind working on the high school side as a Guidance Counselor. I believe that

my practicum in the Advising Center will help me to discover if I would like to remain in higher

education or if I would like transition to a high school eventually.

Conclusion

I have enjoyed my practicum experience thus far and hope to continue to learn more as I

progress, but as of today, I would have to give my overall experience a three out of five. The

reason for this is due to the fact that I have been unable to spend as much time as I would like to

in the Advising Center. Because of my current job duties, I have to travel out-of-town quite

often, which prevents me from being able to work side-by-side with my mentors. Also, because

of the growth of the Advising Center, they have been short-staffed, which has resulted in my

mentors having to take on more students than they usually advise during a semester. With my

mentors have additional responsibilities and myself being out-of-town, it has been more difficult

than anticipated to accomplish all of the tasks and observations that I would like to for my

practicum experience.

In addition, I wish that I had been able to learn more about the scheduling process for

students so that I can assist them with more specific questions. For example, students must

complete core course in particular areas as well as prerequisites for their major. I had no prior

knowledge of this content outside of my own undergraduate experience and would have liked the

opportunity to review and study this information in a more in-depth manner. Currently, if a

student asks me a question pertaining to a particular degree program and what courses to register

for, I am having to look up the information in the same manner that the student would on their

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own. It would be ideal if I could have some if not most of the knowledge readily available to

best serve the students I have and will encounter.

J Gore