Tag Archives: NC State

Exploring NC State and The Triangle, by Laura Jennings

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Routine. The first few weeks and months of my semester always seem to revolve around trying to establish my new normal. Figuring out how to squeeze in everything into the limited 168 hours per week can be quite the challenge. At this point in the semester, you may have finally determined your weekly routine. You have figured out your class schedule, assistantship hours, study time, and personal time (maybe?). I challenge you to move past the normal, day-to-day routine and try something new. This is a great time to branch out from your usual schedule and explore the many exciting things that NC State and the Triangle have to offer. Below are some ideas of things to begin exploring around NC State and the Triangle.

NC State

  • University Recreation. NC State University Recreation offers more than 125 group fitness classes every week. Classes range from yoga to high intensity interval training and everything in between. Check out their website for more information on group fitness as well as other fun opportunities such as intramural sports and outdoor adventures. Students can also rent outdoor equipment such as camping gear, kayaks, and canoes for the day or weekend.
  • JC Raulston Arboretum. Ranked in the top ten of the “50 Most Stunning University Gardens and Arboretums,” this beautiful garden is located on Beryl across from the College of Veterinary Medicine. Free tours are available every Sunday at 2pm from March-October.
  • Sporting Events. Students can attend NC State varsity men and women’s sporting events for free with their student ID. Check out gopack.com to view the schedules and learn more about ticketing procedures. In addition to football and basketball games, consider supporting our other teams such as gymnastics, baseball, softball, tennis, soccer, and track and field.
  • Craft Center Classes. The NC State Crafts Center hosts special classes for students including guitar, pottery, photography, woodwork, jewelry making and sewing. Refer to the website for class schedules as well as information about individual sessions for those who do not want to commit to weekly classes. A small craft and supply fee applies.

Around the Triangle

  • First Fridays. Explore downtown Raleigh’s cultural hotspots on the first Friday of every month from 6-9pm. Visit art galleries and studios, listen to live music, and take advantage of First Friday specials offered by many local restaurants.
  • State Capitol Tours. Take advantage of living in the capital of North Carolina and visit the State Capitol building. Self-guided tours are welcome Monday-Friday and free guided tours are available Saturdays at 11am and 2pm.
  • Museums. Another perk of living in the state capital are the free museums. Visit the NC Museum of Natural History and NC Museum of History located across the street from each other in downtown Raleigh. The NC Museum of Art located off Blue Ridge Road is also a great way to spend an afternoon. While exploring the Museum of Art, be sure to check out the walking trails throughout the Museum Park.
  • Farmers Market. Check out all the fall produce and homemade goods at the Raleigh Farmers Market located near campus on Centennial Parkway. You may also want to consider a fresh county breakfast or lunch at the State Farmers Market Restaurant.
  • William B. Umstead State Park. Nestled between I-40, Glenwood Avenue, and Raleigh-Durham International Airport, Umstead State Park offers visitors the opportunity to enjoy the outdoors without needed to travel far outside the city. Activities include canoe and rowboat rentals, camping, hiking and bicycle trails, fishing, and picnic sites. Check the website for the calendar of free events and programs held throughout the year.
  • Durham Performing Arts Center. Located in downtown Durham, the DPAC hosts Broadway shows, concerts, and other exciting performances throughout the year. Students receive significant discounts on many SunTrust Broadway and Encore Broadway performances. Student tickets start at $20 for many of the Broadway shows and can be purchased online through the ticketing website.
  • Raleigh Flea Market. Located at the State Fairgrounds, the Raleigh Flea Market showcases more than 600 vendors selling antiques, handmade crafts, homemade goodies, jewelry, and more! Admission and parking are free.  The Flea Market is open year-round Saturday and Sunday 9am-6pm with the exception of during the State Fair in October.

This is just a snapshot of the many opportunities around NC State and the Triangle. What have you explored in the area? Please comment below with your favorite thing to do or explore around the Raleigh area. We would love to hear from you!

Making the Most Out of Your Office Hours, by Lauren Padgett Sutherland

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I don’t know about all of you, but this is about the time of the semester that I find myself getting VERY busy in my assistantship and am finding it hard to get everything done within my “20 hours/week”.  I know that realistically, most assistantships require more than 20 hours per week–I’m looking at you, housing grads!  Being on-duty aside, I’ve found some practices that help me be efficient during my office hours, which helps me keep my office hours to the true 20!

  1. Get Good at Email: we get A LOT of emails every day.  And let’s not talk about what happens over a weekend or a break.  If you can master the art of email efficiency, it can keep you on your A-game, act as a running to-do list, and save you time.  In my job before graduate school, we had a strict 24-hour turnaround response time on emails, disregarding weekends.  I have tried to stick to that policy during my assistantship.  I make it a goal to have a “zero inbox” by the end of the work week, meaning I answer and archive everything before leaving my last office hour.  I treat my email like real mail; I only want to handle it once.  If you read it, respond and tend to it–don’t let it sit in the inbox and get covered!  When you stay on top of your email, it can become a running to-do list for you–if it’s in the inbox, it needs attention.
  2. “On Air” Time: In a perfect world, we would all be completely dedicated to our work 100% of our office hours–except, we’re human, and humans can’t totally drown out all distractions 100% of the time.  I try to work in bursts of 30-60 minutes, especially if I know I have a big week with a lot to accomplish.  Some people call this “on air” time; time that is completely dedicated to your performance.  This could also be known as time that you don’t allow yourself to be distracted by your phone, email, Facebook, Buzzfeed, etc.  After you spend 60 minutes of unadulterated work time, reward yourself for getting done in a hour what typically takes a day!
  3. Learn to Say No: I am still working on this one, but being a graduate assistant is a great time to hone your skills at knowing how much you can handle in a certain amount of time.  If you are being efficient with your time (see above…) and still can’t seem to find the time in your week to complete tasks, talk with your supervisor.  You might have too much on your plate to realistically get done in 20 hours each week.  YOU are your best advocate, and it is more than ok to say no every now and then!

I hope some of these tips are helpful for you to make the most out of your office hours this semester!

Consider Building Your Counseling Skills with the GCCE, by Carrie Caudle

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It is that time of year again: class registration! This is your time to make your degree unique and tailor it to your experience, professional, and personal goals. As you being to consider your elective course for the coming semester, there are a few options you might want to consider. The Graduate Certificate in Counselor Education, or better known as the GCCE program, is one way to help make the most of your degree.

“The Graduate Certificate in Counselor Education (GCCE) is designed for school teachers, administrators, support staff, advisors, and tutors in different educational institutions (schools and universities), human service workers in government or community agencies, and individuals interested in counseling work. Students can complete the program in a year. The graduates from this program can provide paraprofessional counseling to assist licensed counselors. They can also become advocates and offer support for their students/clients.” Click here to learn more.

There are some great advantages to this program. The program is easy on your schedule. All of the courses are administered online through Distance Education. Most of the classes meet Monday nights at 8-9:30pm online. This means half the time in the class and no commute to a classroom! It is great for commuter students and those working at different institutions. The certificate allows you to build upon another skill set as well as gain a tangible item for your professional résumé.

You can start anytime! Beginning the program during the spring or summer session one semester is the best option if you plan on graduating within two years in the master’s program. There are very few higher education graduate courses offered online during the summer and this is a great way to take a lighter load your second year!

However, there are some caveats. First, each class must be taken online and in the certain order listed below. You may only enroll in these online classes if you have applied and been accepted to the program (they are also offered in person to anyone but must be taken online for the GCCE). Additionally, if your assistantship provides tuition remission, please check with your employer to ensure that they will cover online classes, as some do not! Lastly, online classes can be a bit more expensive, but NC State is working to minimize this cost for graduate students.

Coursework

Summer II: ECD 510 Introduction to Counseling (3 credits)

Fall: ECD 524 Career Counseling and Development (3 credits)

Spring: ECD 530 Theories and Techniques of Counseling (4 credits)

Summer I: ECD 525 Cross-Cultural Counseling (3 credits) or ECD 540 Gender Issues in Counseling (3 credits)

You must take four of these classes. You may take either Cross-Cultural or Gender Issues in Counseling, both satisfy your diversity requirement. You can also take both to fulfill all of your elective credit requirements.

To enroll, please email ncstategcce@ncsu.edu as soon as possible as spots go quickly! I am happy to answer any questions as well! Please feel free to email me at wolfridgeresdir2@ncsu.edu or we could meet up in person to talk about my experience!

Pushing Yourself for Excellence (But Not Too Far), by Nathan Thomas

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For graduate students, time is a precious commodity. You’re balancing classes, an assistantship, a personal life, and hopefully still managing to get a few hours of sleep each night. If this schedule begins to feel routine, you’re probably sensing your inner drive to accomplish more kicking in; you’re yearning for excellence and wanting satisfaction from this part of your life.

This feeling crept up on me relatively recently, in the year between graduating undergrad and beginning at NCSU. I really wanted to go to bed each night feeling like I had accomplished something toward my goals every day. I have been working for a nonprofit in Elon, NC since 2011, so I expanded my duties there to bolster CAS competencies I didn’t have proficiency with. I’m helping CSLEPS charter a new honor society on campus because I want to leave a mark in Raleigh before I leave. Developing old opportunities or creating new ones for yourself not only improves your resume, but helps satisfy that craving to work your hardest and to your fullest potential.

Devoting myself to these pursuits has been a challenge, as balancing my life around them is difficult. But the rewarding feeling is possible because of that balance.

If you’re committed to consistent time management, working at the peak of your abilities, and creating your own future, then push yourself (but not too far).

Snowmaggedon: Part II, by Jeremy Elmore

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2014-02-13-snow

“Snowmaggedon 2014” is what the news dubbed the snowstorm that rocked the Raleigh area last February. Pictures like the one above filled newspapers across the country. If you may recall, one of the largest snowstorms to ever hit Raleigh, happened to hit right before Recruitment Weekend last year. Recruitment Weekend (RW), a weekend of networking and interviewing for prospective students of NC State’s Higher Education Administration program, could have very easily ended up being remembered as something along the lines of what the picture illustrated, a complete disaster. Instead, the weekend became an apt and wonderful snapshot of what our program is really about (a group of dedicate and passionate colleagues and friends who can accomplish anything they put their minds to).

Looking back at last year’s Recruitment Weekend, I honestly don’t know if I would have changed anything (well maybe a little less snow). As I look ahead to this year’s RW, I am excited about the opportunities that await me in the role of Vice President for Recruitment. As a second year student in the program, I realize the importance of leaving a legacy and the taking our program to the next level of achievement. Recruitment Weekend is just one of the many pieces that fit into the bigger puzzle that makes our program a success. I am honored to be at the helm of Recruitment Weekend and to be able to envision the many possibilities that we have to showcase our unique and exciting program.

With the snow stranding many of our prospective students and making travel to interviews difficult for partner institutions, the pressure was on for the RW executive board to salvage what we could of the many events and activities we had planned, along with the incredibly important assistantship interview process. I cannot recall another time (in my limited professional experience) that I had the opportunity to work with people in a crisis situation where all parties pulled through and went out of their way to make something complicated so simple (it was the stuff that legends are made of). From professors to students, everyone eagerly banded together, willing to brave the brutal weather, to make RW a success. We could not have done this on our own. I cannot tell you the number of times that I heard from candidates how impressed they were with the professionalism of HEA, in the way that they handled Recruitment Weekend through the craziness of the storm. Flexibility became the motto for last year’s VP for Recruitment (Patti Baynes), RW executive board, RW volunteers, and myself, as we all attempted to navigate the uncharted territory of rearranging almost every single detail of RW at the last possible moment. I tell you all of this because I think this has influenced the way that I handle situations as a leader and to give you an example of what our students here in HEA can do when they put their minds to it.

Now you may be thinking, where can I fit in? Well let me tell you about an awesome opportunity that all of our first-year students have. Each year, first-year students have the opportunity to run for the Vice President-Elect for Recruitment position (only one of two positions available for first-year students on the HEA Executive Board). This position is heavily involved in the planning process of Recruitment Weekend and will get the chance to work with me in creating and implementing new initiatives to promote our program to prospective students throughout the rest of the year. If you really think about it, there are only 170 days until we have a new batch of candidates making their way to NC State to take a look at what our university, department, and program have to offer. So, it is never to early to start the planning process.

Elections will be held for the two open first-year positions, including VP-Elect for Recruitment, after our first HEA Meeting on Monday, September 8. If you have questions about this position feel free to email me (jdelmor2@ncsu.edu). Looking forward to working with you all!