Parent & Family Magazine Volume 1/ Issue 4

The TCU Parent & Family Magazine is a publication from

Student Development Services in the Division of Student Affairs at

Texas Christian University.

2901 Stadium Drive Brown-Lupton University Union

Suite 2003 Fort Worth, TX 76129

www.parents.tcu.eduparents@tcu.edu

817-257-7855

TCU Mission:To educate individuals to think and act as ethical leaders and

responsible citizens in the global community.

TCU Vision:To be a world-class, values-centered

university.

Connect with TCU news, social media, photos, and more at www.newsevents.tcu.edu

April 2014

Contents:

Kay’s ColumnA Message from the Director of Parent & Family Programs

A Profile of the TCU 2014 Distinguished Student Award Recipient, Alex Erwin

Spring RenewalNew Spaces, Renovations and Places for Community

“I’m Stressed Out!” Turn Stressors Into Challenges and Opportunities

Your Student, Transitioning through College

Parent & Family Magazine

Greetings!

I cannot believe that it is April! It is more difficult still to realize that the last day of class for Spring 2014 is Wednesday, April 30. In addition to

many deadlines, there are numerous special events on the TCU campus and/or involving TCU students.

On April 9, the CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley will broadcast live from the Bob Schieffer College of Communication on the TCU campus at 5:30 p.m. Following the broadcast, Pelley, anchor and managing editor, will join Bob Schieffer, moderator of Face the Nation, CBS News chief Washington correspondent and TCU alumnus, at the 10th Annual Schieffer Symposium on the News. In addition to Pelley, panelists for the Symposium will include legendary Watergate reporter Bob Woodward, who was a panelist in the inaugural Schieffer Symposium in 2005; Peggy Noonan, author and columnist for The Wall Street Journal; and Jane Pauley, longtime anchor of the Today Show, 12-year co-host of Dateline and author of Your Life Calling: Reimagining the Rest of Your Life, a current New York Times best seller.

Tickets, which are $20.00 to the public and free to students, went on sale March 8 and are available at www.schieffercollegersvp@tcu.edu.

April is the month for Fine Arts at TCU! All but three days in the month of April have choral and/or orchestral concerts, vocal and/or instrumental recitals, dance performances and art exhibits; with all information being available at www.cfac.tcu.edu/images/event-calendar.pdf. In addition, the theatre department will feature two well-anticipated productions, Hunting and Gathering April 10 – May 4 at the Amphibian Stage Productions and Spring Awakening April 22 – 27, 2014 at the Hays Theatre on campus. Information and tickets may be obtained by calling 817-257-8080.

Honors Week is April 3 – 11 with Honors Convocation at 11:00 a.m. on April 3. The entire schedule of events may be located at www.honors.tcu.edu/HonorsWeekSchedule.asp.

There are so many events that I have only scratched the surface. I hope you will encourage your student(s) to attend some of the speakers and programs that are around them. Many of these opportunities are literally “once in a lifetime!”

For those of you with students returning in the fall, you will want to checkout the new information about health insurance requirements. Students come to college to study and learn, but if they do not feel well, their education takes a back seat. Click the link below to find out all that you need to know about this important topic.

www.sds.tcu.edu/parents/emails/healthinfoapril2014.htmlSome of you are already planning for your student to check out of the

halls, store their things, etc. There is information from Housing and Residence Life at www.rlh.tcu.edu/movie-in-out.asp

Easter Weekend is very late this year, April 18 – 20. The university is closed on Good Friday, April 18, but will resume regular hours on Monday, April 21.

There are less than 30 days until the first final exam of the spring semester. Hopefully, all students are pacing themselves for a successful ending. You can ask the next time your cell phone rings!

Go Frogs!

Kay Higgins, Ph.D.Associate Dean of Student DevelopmentDirector of Parent & Family Programs

ALEXANDRA (ALEX) ERWINA Profile of the TCU 2014 Distinguished Student Award Recipient

In the fall of 2010, Alexandra Erwin blew into Fort Worth like a fast-moving Gulf Coast wind. Once here, if Alex met you, you were friends for life!

Alex greets everyone with the same deeply genuine smile and hearty, “Hey, how are you? What’s going on?” It may sound like a social courtesy, but to Alex, it is a sincere, “I really want to know what is going on with you and everyone about whom you care!”

Alex is very bright. A member of the Honors College since her arrival and a double–major in Anthropology and French, academic success is a priority; however, Alex also seeks to be well-rounded. She served in the role of Super Frog from 2010–2012. Also in 2010, she began working with The Crew; a programming organization shared between Campus Activities and Residence Life, and now she serves as the Director of Membership. And her No.1, most–fun involvement experience is the Ultimate Frisbee team, on which she has played since her first semester at TCU; she has even served as the president! When asked how she got into Ultimate Frisbee, Alex told a great story:

“First year students always say how easy it is to make friends at TCU, but it's not as easy to make a family. I've always been an independent young woman, but leaving my family proved more difficult than I originally thought. One of my first friends at TCU was Michael Matthis. He always carried a Frisbee with him around campus. After asking him about the disc one day, he poured into me his passion for the sport of Ultimate Frisbee. Not being the most common sport, I hadn't heard about it before – but I was interested because of the way Michael spoke about it. He invited me to the TCU Ultimate Frisbee Club team's practice. At my very first practice, I was terrible. To make matters worse, I tore my ACL in my right knee at that same practice. Yet the

Ultimate Frisbee team brought me to all of my orthopedic appointments, continued throwing with me in the Commons, and always invited me to practice even though I

couldn't play. They were a huge part of my quick recovery and why I was so endeared to the sport and the team. Today, Ultimate Frisbee is a sport at which I excel and about which

I am deeply passionate. I am considered to be one of the best woman players in the DFW metroplex. But without the friends who became my TCU family, I wouldn't have developed

into the player I am today. They made TCU a home away from home.”

Alex makes it her business to know people from all walks of life. Besides her vast assortment of TCU relationships, she worked last year as a mentor and tutor at H.O.P.E. farm and is now working as an English tutor for the Refugee Services of Texas in Fort Worth.

Alex is considered to be one of TCU’s most outstanding student leaders! In the summer of 2011, she served as an Orientation Student Assistant (OSA). The following year, she served as one of three Orientation Student Directors who assisted the staff director in staff training and long-range planning, as well as specific summer program implementation.

Also in 2011, Alex Erwin became a resident assistant (RA) in Colby Hall, serving as a leader and mentor to first–year college women. In 2012, she moved to serve as the assistant hall director (AHD) in Milton Daniel, and now she serves in the same capacity in Brachman Hall. All of her first–year students remain quick to rave about Alex: how much they love her and what a great RA/AHD she is! Always the perfect team member, she is known for her contagious smile, enthusiasm and hard work. When Alex talks about being an RA and AHD, she beams!

“One of the greatest moments as an RA for me was my junior year in Milton Daniel Residence Hall. I created a program entitled ‘Small Acts of Kindness,’ assigning each woman in my hall to another woman. I gave them information on their assigned resident so that each person could perform a small act of kindness for another in our hall. We did this once every month of the spring semester. The acts ranged from personalized notes, to dinner dates, to crafts, to baked goods, etc. During March, I received an extraordinarily touching letter from a resident. She so kindly wrote about how I was her inspiration to be an RA so that she could touch others' lives as well. This letter, which I still have, serves as a reminder of why I'm involved on campus and why I do what I do: so that I may positively impact another's life during

his/her collegiate journey. I am the woman, scholar and leader I am today because someone inspired me to be so. And I want to be that inspiration for others.”

After graduation, Alex will teach English as a foreign language as part of The Teaching Assistantship Program in France (TAPIF), a program for which she was recommended through the Fulbright Scholarship initiative. These two programs work together to send advanced French-speaking students to the most impoverished regions in France. The goal of this program is to empower these young French students through language and intercultural interactions. Even in France, Ultimate Frisbee will still be a huge part of Alex’s life!

“I hope to share this wonderful sport with my students. Through sports, one learns good spirit, determination, team work and the value of hard work. Also, I hope to audition for the French Women’s National Frisbee Team for the World’s Tournament. Each international squad is allowed to assign two Americans to their roster, and I hope to be one on the French team.”

When Alex returns to the United States, she plans to attend the Clinton School of Public Service in Little Rock, Ark. This program will combine a Masters in Public Service – a degree which requires innovative, impactful, local and international service – with an MBA.

On April 25, at the TCU Alumni Awards Luncheon, Alex will receive the 2014 Distinguished Student Award. Alex will be recognized for committing herself deeply into the fabric of the university, the students and the surrounding community through academic, social and developmental activity on the campus, and significant service within the Fort Worth community.

“I am extremely humbled and honored to be recognized for the work that I have done. This award also serves as motivation for my post-collegiate plans. TCU challenges students to be responsible citizens and ethical leaders in the global community, and I hope to be that leader in the realm of global service throughout my life.”

Finally, when asked what words of advice Alex would give a student starting out at TCU today, she said:

“Work hard, find your passion and get involved. College is more than an academic education– it’s a personal, developmental journey that will launch you towards your future and your goals. This experience is 100% up to you, because, as the saying goes, you will get out of it exactly what you put into it.”

Congratulations, Alex! You are prepared to “change the world.”

Spring RenewalNew spaces, renovations & places for community

Amanda Lagrone, Ed.d. Colby hall director

This is a very exciting time in housing at Texas Christian University. Not only are we wrapping up a fantastic year with some great residents, but we are also looking toward the future. Big changes are in store for housing and residence life: one of our residence halls will close in May for renovation, we’re preparing for Brachman to close its doors permanently after one final year, and a brand–new residence hall will open in August.

Colby HallColby will close its doors this year after 57 years of TCU tradition. Named after longtime Dean Colby D. Hall, Colby opened as an all-female community in 1957 and has remained that way ever since. During this time, Colby has been home to over 17,000 women. Mary Ruth Jones, current office assistant in Clark Hall and a legend on TCU's campus for her loyalty and spirit, lived in Colby her senior year, the very first year it opened. When Colby opened, it was the first sorority hall on campus. The chapters were housed in different sections of the building, and what are now lounges were chapter rooms. The term “Colby Beach” was coined during the first year, referring to the grassy area of Colby lawn that draws sunbathers out on sunny days; residents still refer to that area as the Colby Beach. Over the years, many special occasions have occurred in and around Colby. Carrie Brown ‘00, Director of Alumni Relations, was proposed to on the steps of Colby. Her boyfriend at the time, David Brown ‘00, chose the spot because it was the same place that he had asked her out on their first date. The most adored and best attended event in Colby is Colby Halloween, a tradition begun by Hall Director Katie dePlata close to 50 years ago. Because Colby has been such a special place to many women, a closing celebration has been planned to help commemorate its legacy. Alumni who lived in Colby will be invited back to Colby one last time before renovations, where they will be able to tour the hall and visit with current residents. A renovated Colby Hall will reopen in August 2015.

Solomon and Etta P. Brachman HallThe 2014-2015 school year will be the last for Brachman Hall. Brachman, which is named after Etta and Solomon Brachman, opened in 1970 as the first co-ed residence hall at TCU. Brachman has always had a special community and a special vocabulary; phrases like “Brach-solid,” “Brach-walk” and “Brach-tastic” can be heard on a daily basis. Brachman has always been known for a strong community with great programs. Brachman family dinners, a long-standing program in Brachman, are monthly programs where resident assistants prepare dinner for the residents to enjoy as one group. Currently and throughout the year, a “Christmas” tree can be seen in one of the Brachman windows. This tree gets decorated for each holiday

and is a favorite centerpiece for many residents. Incoming first-year for 2014-2015 will have an opportunity to paint an accent wall in their room in Brachman. Celebrations will be held throughout the 2014-2015 school year to commemorate Brachman’s closing.

Marion Hall and Pamela and Edward Clark HallIn addition to closing a few buildings on campus, TCU is opening new buildings, as well. Marion Hall and Pamela and Edward Clark Hall successfully opened this year. P.E. Clark was home to a mixture of first-year and sophomore students, which makes for a unique, integrative experience. As a general rule of thumb, students appreciate living in a new environment with new things. These students are no exception. They are enjoying their ping-pong and pool tables, as well as the ice and water machine. Residents also enjoy the suite–style units and the spacious living areas. Bianca Newton, Hall Director of Marion/P.E. Clark, has appreciated the “blank canvas”

with which she is able to work. She has enjoyed working with her resident assistants to help shape the identity, traditions and culture of the newest halls on campus.

To be Named...A new residence hall will open in August in the Worth Hills area. This hall will be home to 163 students. Adjacent to the housing, another building in the Worth Hills area will open in January of 2015. This building will have dining, study spaces and places for students to hang out to make the Worth Hills area more exciting and welcoming for students. The new student center will literally and figuratively “round out” the corner of Stadium and Bellaire, creating a grand entrance to TCU’s newest residential neighborhood.

“I’m Stressed Out!”Stop and take a few moments to look at the picture on this page. What do you see?Did you see a young woman or an old woman?

You may want to look again if you didn’t see one of those, because BOTH are there. That’s right, depending upon what you are looking at, you’ll see a young woman. If you keep looking at it long enough, your perception will change and you’ll see the old woman. So, while we are looking at one image, we can see it in two very different ways.

What does this have to do with stress? Everything! Because our experience of stress is influenced by our perception. Whether an event or even an imagined event (e.g., “What if I fail this exam?”) is stressful depends upon how we perceive it. There are two basic ways to view a stressful event: as a Threat or as an Opportunity. While we hear the word “stress” and reflexively associate it with something negative (e.g., “I’m stressed out,” “I’m under a lot of stress”), it’s also true that stress is something positive that prods us into action. For example, without stress we wouldn’t get much done. How many of us would complete assignments without a deadline? Subsequently, how would we ever feel the satisfaction of meeting a deadline or completing a task without stress? If we have no stress, we don’t take action. So, we actually need stress because it activates us. However, as many of us know, it can also paralyze us, or at least significantly disrupt our ability to perform or enjoy our lives. Thus, the key is viewing it in a way that triggers us into action but doesn’t paralyze us.

One thing neuroscience tells us about the brain is that how we perceive a stressful event makes a huge difference in three critical ways: 1. how we respond to that stressor, 2. how our body is impacted by that stressor, and 3. how we respond to that stressor in the future. For example, two students are taking the same exam. One views it as a Threat, (“What if I fail? What will my parents think? I’ll lose my scholarship.”) The other views it as an Opportunity, “I’m gonna ace this exam. I’ve got this.” When viewed as a Threat, the body goes into the fight–or–flight response and our ability to think logically and clearly decreases because more blood is being sent to the arms and legs and less to the prefrontal cortex at the front of the brain (where logic, reason and organized thought occur). In addition, our ability to recall information decreases because the mind needs to pay attention to the immediate threat. Students with test anxiety will often say, “I knew everything before the exam and then my mind went blank during the exam.” However, when the stressor is viewed as an Opportunity or Challenge, our ability to think logically and clearly isn’t diminished (and can be enhanced) because a different part of the brain is being activated. In addition, our ability to encode information and recall information remains intact because the perception of stress as a Threat is diminished. When we view the stressor as a Threat, we develop a fear of experiencing it again in the future and seek to avoid it. This act of avoiding it causes us to irrationally magnify our perception of it as a Threat. When viewed as an Opportunity or Challenge, we are more likely to welcome future stressors as a chance to demonstrate our competence or as a possible learning experience.

As the end of the semester nears, it’s highly likely your son/daughter may be experiencing stress related to one or more of the following “What if…” questions: “What if I don’t get a 3.2 GPA and lose my scholarship?”;“What if I don’t like my summer internship?”;“What if I don’t get a job?”;“What if I don’t take the right job?”;“What if I lose touch with my friends?”;“What if my boyfriend/girlfriend breaks up with me?” As you hear the stress in your student’s voice, your parental instincts kick in with a strong desire to help calm him/her down. We have provided some strategies to help your student view these stressors as Opportunities or Challenges and reduce his/her perception of them as Threats.

Just as some people find it difficult (or think it’s impossible) at first to see the old woman instead of the young woman, with perseverance they are able to shift their perspective. Such is the case with stressful events. Seeing stressful events as an Opportunity rather than solely as a Threat takes perspective and practice. To be clear, this most likely won’t come easy at first. But the good news is that unlike changing perspectives on the picture of the young woman/old woman, viewing stressful events as Opportunities allows our sons and daughters a chance to reduce the impact of stress on their bodies and minds and to improve the quality of their lives.

Matt Johnson, Ph.D. Psychologist, TCU Counseling Center

Turn Stressors Into Opportunities or Challenges: Strategies to Help

1. Communicate unconditional love. The first and most important thing you can do to reduce your student’s perception of Threat is communicate to your son/daughter that you love him/her no matter what and that you are always there for him/her. This message of unconditional love and acceptance has a powerfully positive impact on your student’s mind and body. To be clear, saying that you will always be there for him/her doesn’t mean you will do things for your son/daughter that he/she should be doing for himself/herself. Rather, it means your student has your support.

2. Have the right perspective yourself. If you also get caught up in viewing stress as a Threat, two things are likely: 1. you won’t be much help to your student, and 2. you could exacerbate your student’s stress. As parents, we want our sons/daughters to be “successful.” However, because we often view our worth as parents based on the “success” of our young adults, our own fears can and do get triggered. Fears such as “She must make a 3.0 GPA or higher to get a good job when she graduates,” “She needs to be a CPA for one of the Big 4 to be successful,” or “He needs to secure a job with a six-figure income.” While these may be our hopes for our student, we need to check-in with ourselves to ask, “Do I believe in my son/daughter’s resilience to find his/her way to his/her own success, or am I communicating directly or unconsciously that my student is doomed if he/she doesn’t achieve my hopes for him/her?”

3. Encourage focusing on the process, not the outcome. When discussing final exams, minimize focus on the Outcome (i.e., exam score and GPA). Instead, encourage your son/daughter to focus primarily on the Process (i.e., material to be studied and how to study it) because he/she has more control over the process than the outcome. Help your student view a final exam as an Opportunity to demonstrate what he/she knows. Teach your son/daughter to focus on what he/she knows rather than solely on what exam score or GPA he/she needs. Often, students spend time worrying about what they don’t know and what score they need, which raises anxiety. If there’s material they don’t know, then they should study it or stop worrying about it. 4. Have a Plan B ready. Your student may be at risk for losing a scholarship and potentially having to leave TCU. While TCU is a very good school, it’s not the only school to produce “successful” businessmen and women, CPAs, doctors, lawyers, teachers and fashion designers (as well as many other professions). And, having a degree from TCU doesn’t guarantee “success” in future professions, anyway. So, even if your son or daughter were to lose his/her scholarship and have to leave TCU, his/her next school might be just as good of an Opportunity for him/her to be “successful” in life.

5. Remind and encourage your student to BREATHE. When we perceive a stressor as a Threat, we are prone to shorten our breathing and, at times, unconsciously hold our breath. This can prevent the prefrontal cortex of our brain from getting the oxygen it needs to think clearly. Just a simple “Don’t forget to breathe” can be helpful. Or, a more systematic approach to activate the body’s relaxation response is to teach your son/daughter to inhale for a count of four and then exhale to a count of eight using diaphragmatic breathing.

6. Empathize with your student. One of my favorite quotes from my mentor was “A joy shared is double and a burden shared is halved.” Empathizing with him/her (“Ah that is so stressful. I feel for you.”) doesn’t remove the stressor, but it can reduce the student’s perception of the intensity of the stressor.

7. Teach your son/daughter to look for possibilities. Through his research on optimism, Dr. Martin Seligman, father of positive psychology, found two things: 1. optimists are higher achievers and have better overall health, and 2. people can learn to be more optimistic by looking for positive possibilities. For example, I ask students who are worried about not getting a job to think of three positive ways they can respond if they don’t and five to ten ways this could be a positive in their life. At first, it’s difficult for them because they’ve usually never viewed it any other way. The more they have to struggle to come up with possibilities, though, the more likely it will stick in their mind. 8. Encourage exercise. Exercise can reduce tension in the body, serve as a mental “time out” from the stressor, increase energy/blood flow to the brain, all of which can help your son/daughter gain a new perspective on the stressor.

Your Student, Transitioning Through CollegeStudent Development in the First, Middle and Final year at TCUClass of 2017 The First–Year Experience

Forgive us for getting all literary on you, but this point in the life of a first–year student brings to mind these lines from the T.S. Eliot poem Little Gidding:

“We shall not cease from explorationAnd the end of all our exploringWill be to arrive where we startedAnd know the place for the first time.”

As first year students prepare to return home for the summer, many find themselves feeling that they know the place for the first time. Familiar sights, sounds and the comforts of home look a little different after a school year spent at TCU. Students return home glad to be back but also missing their friends, habits and memories from the past nine months on campus.

While the summer means most students have three months off from school, there are some great things your student can be focused on during his or her time off:

*Reflecting on the first year. Downtime over summer vacation is a great opportunity for students to process through their first year at TCU. What are they most proud of this year? What do they wish they had done differently? How can they build on these successes as sophomores? This is the time for students to take a break to consider well the past year and make sure things are going the way they’d hoped.

*Major and career choices. Part of this reflection should focus on classes from this past year. The summer provides pre-major students with an opportunity think about how those classes they particularly enjoyed might translate into major choices. For students with declared majors, this is a good time to check in and make sure those classes went as expected and are continuing to be interesting and useful.

*Jobs and internships. Summer jobs are great opportunities for students to earn extra money, as well as get a glimpse of their career choices. While a summer lifeguarding at the pool may be the easiest option, clerking at the local law firm might be a more useful choice.

*Health and wellness. Coming off of finals week, your student is going to want to spend some time relaxing, decompressing and getting back into good, healthy habits. Sleep, healthy eating, working out and strengthening social, spiritual and emotional connections are all important things for students to think about during the summer.

*Friends and relationships. Students are leaving TCU friends for three months and catching back up with old friends from high school. Expect them to re-evaluate relationships on all fronts. This is a good chance to compare college stories with old friends, but expect them to be thinking a lot about what those relationships look like now.

Late spring is certainly an exciting time for students and families – expect your first–year student to have great stories of spring baseball games, road trips and in-depth end-of-the-semester classroom conversations and assignments.

Of course, you may need to let them sleep for a few days before they’re ready to talk.

Class of 2016 & 2015The Sophomore & Junior–Year Experience

It’s hard to believe, but summer is just around the corner. There are

times when students struggle to know how best to use their summer. Should they work? Go to summer school? Get an internship? A job? Study abroad? Or perhaps some combination of these? There is no right answer to this question since every student’s needs are a bit different, but

here are some things to think about for students deciding how to spend their summer.

For sophomores, there’s an increasing sense of urgency about choosing a major and vocation. They have now been at college long enough to explore what’s out there, but the time for making choices regarding one’s direction is now. Encourage your student, if he/she hasn’t already, to seek out internship opportunities in job fields of interest. The summer after one’s sophomore year is not too early for an internship. In fact, an internship experience at this point in your student’s education can help your son/daughter to clarify his/her interests and passions. Career Services staff members can be an invaluable resource to explore

Lindsay Knight, M.Ed., Assistant Director, Student Development Services

Daniel Terry, Ed.D., Director of the Sophomore & Junior Year Experience, Student Development Services

For sophomores, there’s an increasing sense of urgency about choosing a major and vocation.

internship opportunities. Visit www.careers.tcu.edu.

The summer after one’s sophomore year is also a time to consider studying abroad during one’s junior year. Most students who study abroad do so at some point in their junior year. Now is a perfect time to plan a study abroad experience next spring. Visit www.studyabroad.tcu.edu for information about timetables to apply. For juniors, the focus is starting to shift toward graduation. Depending on their future plans, students start to look toward jobs or graduate school. For those who plan to seek employment after graduation, internships can be tremendously valuable experiences. The summer between one’s junior and senior year is an ideal time for an internship. Encourage your student to talk to the Career Services representative in his/her College about how to pursue an internship, or go to Career Services for more information: www.careers.tcu.edu. If your student is interested in graduate school, encourage your student to speak with a faculty member he/she respects about his/her desire to continue his/her education. Most graduate programs require completion of some kind of graduate program assessment test, like the Graduate Record Exam (GRE). If your student is interested in law school or medical school, he/she should consider a prep course in the profession-specific entrance exam that applies to that field of study. The Career Services office on campus is also a good resource for information about graduate school.

Finally, encourage your student to reflect on where he/she is in the academic journey and where he/she wants to go. From there, your son/daughter can make some decisions about what’s the best use of time and energy during the summer. Perhaps it makes most sense to take two or three courses and get a part-time job. What’s most important is that your student is being thoughtful about how he/she is using this time and that your son/daughter pursues opportunities and relationships that will help form and positively shape his/her identity.

Class of 2014The Senior Year Experience

The first summer after graduation can be a very challenging and stressful time for seniors. Most will either be transitioning into full–time employment or working on a job search. Others will be gearing up for graduate or professional school. Many will be returning to their family homes during this time, and that brings its own layer of complexities and complications.

Much of the potential stress of this transition can be prevented or lessened by getting some things started now. Students who are moving to a new town can begin the relocation process immediately by doing their research. An excellent online resource for that is The Career One Stop Relocation Center, at www.careeronestop.org/relocation/relocationcenterhome.asp.

Like those headed for employment, recent grads headed to a new institution for further education not only have relocation needs, they will be making significant changes in their social lives. Learning their way around a new community, making decisions about how to structure their time, and developing supportive social networks are all important parts of establishing one’s life after college. Alumni Relations can be a big help! They have networks, chapters, special interest groups and valuable programming to help TCU grads, no matter where they go. Their office is in the Dee J. Kelly Alumni & Visitors Center near Amon G. Carter Stadium, and they can be reached by phone at 817-257-7755. Their website is www.froglinks.com.

Whether a new grad is relocating or looking for that first job, the advisors in Career Services can be very helpful. Many students simply don’t realize how much work is required for a top-notch job search process and all the things that go into it, like networking, resume and cover letter writing, creating a portfolio, interviewing and more. Regardless of majors or occupational goals, Career Services is ready to provide individualized assistance in clarifying students’ visions and turning their dreams into reality. Seniors and alumni are always welcome to drop by the office in Jarvis Hall, to call 817-257-2222 or visit the website at www.careers.tcu.edu.

For seniors who anticipate moving in with family, it is important to start talking about it with each other sooner rather than later. This change can be very challenging to both the grad and other family members. All parties have had a number of years to adjust to different living situations, including the enjoyment of new freedoms. Families who are not mindful of those changes can find themselves in conflict, often trying to fall back on rules while re–establishing roles from pre-college life– and doing so without realizing it is happening! It can very helpful to consult with alumni and families who have already been through similar situations.

Finally, all seniors should be making themselves familiar with the impressive array of resources TCU makes available to them. Check the Senior Transitions webpage for lots of tips and links: www.sds.tcu.edu/mustdo4asp.asp. For personal assistance and guidance, contact Chuck Dunning, Director of Senior Transitions, at c.dunning@tcu.edu, or call 817-257-7855.

Chuck Dunning, M.A., Director of the Senior Experience, Student Development Services

Texas Christian University2800 South University Drive Fort Worth, TX 76129

www.tcu.edu

Our Mission: To educate individuals to think and act as ethical leaders and

responsible citizens in the global community.