The Student Employment Service office, located in Longview’s Campus Center 251, not only helps students find jobs, but helps prepare them for success.

More than 800 current, future, and past students of MCC seek out the services offered each year. These includes on-campus job placement, career fairs, job recruiting, resume reviews, virtual-interview software, and even their own website, projecthire.net, which hosts hundreds of local and national job opportunities for students.

Linda Anderson, the program coordinator at Longview, has been helping students prepare for employment for 12 years.

“Work-study and office jobs are the most common types of jobs students seek out,” she says. However, all types of jobs, from machine operating to assistant teaching and everything in between, are available. Weekly updated lists of newly open positions (called the Hot Job List) are posted on the home page of projecthire.net, as well as on the bulletin boards of each building on campus.

“Students come right in and fill out paper applications for on-campus positions, and can get help using the website right here in the office,” said Matthew Gibb, a student worker at the Employment Services office.

Multiple job fairs and workshops are held on and off campus each year, and are open to students as well as members of the community. The workshops teach students important skills like workplace etiquette, social skills, and how to present themselves to employers, and the job fairs work with employers to fit students into appropriate jobs for them.

The Student Employment Services offer real opportunities to motivated students. Last semester, Andre Oliveira, who was at that time a student at Longview, saw the Hot Job List on the bulletin board in the library and jotted down some info.

“I logged on to (projecthire.net) one day and was called back for an interview the next day,” he said. Oliveira had been looking for a job for more than two months when he discovered projecthire.net, and is still cooking at Harrah’s Casino.

So whether the goal is to find a job or internship, improve a resume, or just practice jobs skills for the future, why not make an appointment or simply drop by the Student Employment Services Office? Anderson and her friendly staff are always happy to help.

Education is very important in our society. Many people are going back to school knowing that a degree will help them get a better paying job. During the recession in 2008, a lot of people lost their jobs partially due to lack of education. Since then, the government strongly encouraged them to go back to school and better themselves and the society. Many of the current Metropolitan Community College (MCC) students have been out of school for many years so it can be hard to get back into the swing of things. Some students found themselves forgetting how to take a test or get more nervous to take it.

“The older I get, the more I seem to get test anxiety,” said MCC student Anita Borchers.

On March 9 at MCC-Penn Valley, Learning Specialist Beth McCallister gave a presentation called, “Do you need strategies to improve your test-taking skills?” According to McCallister, being a successful student requires a variety of skills. Some of those skills she helps students learn and use are study strategies, time management and organization, test-taking strategies and learning styles.

“What I try to do is foster student success by helping them learn how to learn,” she says.

There are many ways to prepare for a test and a student can learn these skills. McCallister recommends that students exercise, because it helps to burn off the nervous energy.

Second-year student, Maria Wylde, is ahead of many students on this score. “I work out almost everyday even if it’s just for a few minutes and I always feel more energized and calm,” Wylde said.

Another important way to prepare for a test is to make sure to get plenty of rest and eat nutritious foods. Jack Matney is a part of the MCC-Police Academy and for his classes it takes a lot more than just the written tests. He has to take many physical tests as well, and he has to pass every test in order to become a police officer.

“Sleep is the best thing you can do before a major test. When I am tired, I can’t focus and even my running time is much slower,” he said.

No matter what type of test is involved, it is very important to prepare for it not just mentally but also physically.

McCallister offers several ways to improve on the test-taking skills. “Practice makes perfect” is a saying many of us have heard hundreds of times, but according to McCallister, that is exactly what students need to be doing in order to get better at taking tests. Here are some pointers on how to improve this skill:

• Skim the test before answering the questions. Doing this will help the student to manage his/her time much better.
• Do a “mind dump” before the test begins. Some students store pieces of information (dates, math formulas, theories) that take too much space in their brain and by “dumping” it all on some scratch paper will help them focus on the test.
• Read each question and understand it completely. The question itself can have a part of the answer in it or a clue that will help you with answering it.
• Always leave a little bit of time to look over all your answers and double check the whole test.

Sometimes as children, people have an idea of what they would like to be when they grow up. A doctor, an astronaut, an artist, or even a pop star. Yet these childhood ideas often change and grow throughout life. Walk through a college campus and ask the students what they would like to do as a career, and most will know.

Like Deanna Millard and Andrew Parks, who both want to pursue Engineering. Deanna Millard is a first year student at MCC. She is well suited for the field –  she enjoys math, science, and putting pieces together to see how they work. She said she wants into mining engineering with an emphasis in explosives. Millard will transfer to the Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla next fall.

Andrew Parks is an engineering student at Longview pursuing a career in architectural engineering and is also transferring to Missouri S&T next year.

Though transferring is a big step for MCC students, the transfer program between MCC and Missouri S&T allows students to be confident that the classes they take at MCC will transfer to the four-year college.

“The program is an agreement between MCC and MS&T based on the ability of the engineering faculty at MCC to teach classes that parallel those at MS&T,” said Nicole Pflum, an engineering instructor at MCC. The program between MCC and Missouri S&T has been active for 10 years.

“In those years MS&T has done the math, and report to us every year that students who start at MCC do better in their last two years than students who start at MS&T,” Pflum said.

To prepare transfer students like Millard and Parks, Pflum makes sure they are in contact with a university, be it Missouri S&T or another. Pflum said she also makes sure that these students have a thirst for knowledge and advises them to make sure they are learning, not just passing the class. Parks said he’s thankful for the program that Missouri S&T has set up with Longview to help transfer students. He was also lucky enough to have the inside scoop on the transferring process thanks to a friend who had done the same.

Millard and Parks said they feel prepared for Missouri S&T. Millard feels that the most valuable thing she learned at Longview was how to keep up with the quick pace professors set.

Parks cited the benefit of study pals. “Studying in a group is a whole lot easier and helpful than studying on your own.”

One of the newest organizations at Longview is Students for Justice in Palestine. The organization’s intention is to bring awareness to issues in Palestine and to raise discussions.

“We hope this will promote awareness among students at Longview and in the community about the plight of the Palestinian people in the Middle East,” said Sabrin Qadi, president of the organization and student at Longview.

The organization has scheduled a screening of “Occupation 101” for May 3 from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Cultural Arts building, room 116.

“What you see in the media is usually one-sided,” said Qadi. “It doesn’t necessarily show what the Palestinian people are going through. This club is mainly for trying to raise awareness towards the issues.”

The group’s first meeting was in February. Since then, they have had meetings and have even screened documentaries for students to come watch. Any students are welcomed to join, with no specific requirements for members.

The United States economy has been in decline for the past several years. Unemployment is high, job security is low and our uncertainty of the future is at the highest it’s been in generations. All of this has led to non-traditional students returning to school in rising numbers and local community colleges such as MCC Longview are where many of them choose to start.

a non-traditional student is one who is over  the age of 24, according to Donna Evans of the Institutional Enrollment Research Department at MCC-Longview. Non-traditional student enrollment has been between 35 and 36 percent of total enrollment each of the past five spring semesters, Evans said.

Longview students are returning to school for a variety of reasons, but they all center on wanting to create more opportunity in the future.

Tanner Giles plans to enroll at the University of Missouri – Columbia this summer to pursue a degree in computer science. Giles said saw the need for a change and returned to Longview after an eight-year absence working in his family’s construction business.

“I started working for my dad making really good money, but both my father and uncle have had major back problems” Giles said.  ”I figured it was time that I do what I want for a living and not worry about breaking down my body due to construction.”

Going back to school after an absence isn’t without problems for some people. Juggling full-time jobs, kids and family is already difficult, before adding the stresses of school.

Lydia Matney returned to school at Longview in the fall of 2007, after taking time off to have a baby. She is finding that going back to school as a non-traditional student can be as difficult as it is rewarding.

“This decision has been good and not so good at the same time,” Matney said. “Both my husband and I are in school right now, so it has been difficult on our relationship because we do not see much of each other with both of us working full-time and going to school. It’s been hard finding time to spend together and also give attention to our son.”

There is also an upside, Matney said. “It has been a good decision because I know that I am accomplishing something I have always wanted to do. It will all pay off in the long run,” Matney wrote in an email.

Over the previous few month,s MCC Orientation Coordinator Casey Reid has been hard at work preparing for MCC’s newest required course. The new COLL100 course is a first-year seminar course similar to those typically required or offered at four year universities.

The course will cover basic information about the MCC network, such as MyMCC and Blackboard resources; on-campus resources like tutoring and financial aid; and college expectations and policies. It will also cover more universal topics such as learning and note-taking strategies; time and stress-management skills; budgeting, motivation, goals, and career exploration.

“A lot of students come in thinking they know how to be a student, but it’s very different being a college student than a high school student,” Reid said.

Starting in fall 2012, any first-time student at MCC with fewer than 12 credit hours completed after high school with a minimum GPA of 2.0 will take COLL 100. Students who will be excused include: visiting students, students enrolled in a class specifically for a professional development or work-related purpose, and students enrolled in a class solely for personal enrichment. English Language Learner (ELL or ESL) students who test below a 77 on the ESL Compass reading test will not take COLL 100 until they have successfully progressed to intermediate-level ESL classes.

“This course feels very important to me to at the least give them a connection on the campus,” Reid said. “We want students in, we want students out, and we want them to be successful,” Reid said.

Reid and the designers of the course hope it will better serve the students in their transition into college, Reid said. Their rationale stems from research performed at institutions that have the program. Nearly all boasted greater retention rates, higher GPAs, and increased academic abilities, according to Reid.

Matthew Brozovich, a high school senior planning on attending MCC next year, says he thinks it’s a good idea. “I think it would help reinforce knowledge about MCC and better acquaint them with the environment,” he said.

MCC performed a study of its own at Maple Woods. They split A+ students attending Maple Woods into 2 groups in autumn of 2009. One group took the GUID113 (the closest thing MCC had to an orientation course) and the other did not. The performances of the two groups in the following year were compared. The students in the pilot course earned higher GPAs, maintained their A+ funding at a higher rate, and were retained at a higher rate for the next two semesters.

“I wish I had been among one of the pilot students. It may have made things go a bit smoother,” said freshman Dasha Guzman.

The changes mean an overhaul for the old orientation program, too. The optional, one-day workshop is still available, but with a new name and some modified content. The “Big Event,” as it will be know will include different information than the COLL 100 course and is  still recommended for incoming students.

Leaving for school. Something is missing and the nakedness takes over. Reaching into the jeans, one thing is absent – the cell phone. Some might not go back, but the feeling of not having that connection could overwhelming. If you leave it, can you make it through the day?

Longview sophomore Rachel Nelson’s cell phone is generally attached to her hand. “I use my cell phone for phone calls, email, facebook, groupon and craigslist,” Nelson said.

Cell phones used to only have one function, to make phone calls. Now they can surf the internet, text, email and do many other things. It can use GPS to get me from point A to point B in various different methods. It can talk to you and can even remind you about your appointments or meetings.

Longview sophomore James Minor would not drive back to get his cell phone if he forgot it. “If you just leave your phone at home you feel like you had a more productive day, you don’t realize how much you have been checking texts and such,” Minor said.

Texting has become more popular over the past several years because it can be used for quick messages instead of phone calls.

Longview sophomore Ryan Huntsman usually texts more than making phone calls. “I usually am texting someone 80 percent of the day,” Huntsman said.

Some people simply cannot live without their cellphones, but Minor says he can.  “I could live without it, worst case scenario I could use someone else’s phone if I needed to or use a landline,” he said.

Nelson and Huntsman also agreed they could live without their cell phones if they had to.

“I do believe that cell phones can be a great tool, but I really think we should use them a little bit less because I feel like we should be getting outside and doing things healthy for us instead of just staying at home and playing on Facebook,” Nelson said.

Nelson believes her cell phone is more than just phone.  “Yes it is, I just believe now cell phones give us access to everything,” she said.

Perhaps a cell phone is much more than a device to make phone calls, but that does not mean they cannot be lived without. Minor has gone without his phone a couple of times. “ It’s not the end of the world,” he said.

Students decorated t-shirts to raise awareness of abuse at Longview's Clothesline project (Stephanie Weissman/The Current).

In the Fall of 2012, Blue River will pilot an Honors Program for students earning their Associate of Arts degree.

“Our hope is that this Honors Program will not only encourage high-achieving students to come to MCC-Blue River and complete their degree, but also will motivate and challenge them to continue their education beyond an associate’s degree. The program will benefit them well beyond their two-year degree, as it will better position them to compete for scholarships and other awards at four-year institutions,” said Robyn McGee, chair of humanities.

To enter the honors program students must have a 3.5 GPA, 12 hours of college credit, and enroll in the English 101 Gateway Course, which will become available this fall. Upon completing the probationary course, students will be fully admitted into the program and have the opportunity to take one of the two required honors seminars the following semester. Students will have other requirements to fulfill, including completing mathematics, humanities, natural science and social science course,s which may or may not include honors projects.

“We wanted to create a program for students who are seeking a challenge academically and looking to set their transcripts apart from other students earning the A.A. degree,” said Ben Wolfe, chair of natural and social sciences.

Longview has offered an honors program since 1991. Students can graduate from Longview with honors if they maintain a 3.5 GPA and complete at least 15 hours of honors credit. Students earn honors credit through taking honors seminars and contracting with their instructors to complete additional projects or assignments.

“MU has accepted Longview’s honors graduates into their Jr. level honors programs,” said  Keet Kopecky, biology instructor and director of the Longview honors program.

Maple Woods offers an honors course that is two semesters long. Completing this course fulfills both writing intensive and learning community requirements, and demonstrates on the student’s transcript that they completed the Maple Woods honors sequence.

Students with questions about Blue River’s upcoming honors program should contact Robyn McGee at robyn.mcgee@mcckc.edu or 816-604-6530.