2008 Woodie Awards
Senior Year Experience Task Force answers the tough questions
Mike Miller
Issue date: 3/1/07 Section: News
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On Thur., Feb. 22, the Senior Year Task Force (SYE) held a meeting with the Student Body and faculty to discuss ideas and to present their preliminary report on the Senior Class Survey. Their report included plans on greatly increasing the Senior Year Experience.
The meeting began with a presentation by Chris Hooker-Haring, Dean of Admissions, who presented the findings of the Committee. Based on the Senior Survey, the committee, which includes President Randy Helm, Karen Green, Dean of Students and Vice President of Student Affairs, and various students and faculty members, broke down a plan to prepare students for reality. The plan is broken down into three parts: Transition, which uses peer mentoring, planned senior workshops and the career center to help seniors move seamlessly into the real world. Reflection helps seniors think about their years at the College and how they helped shape the way they are. This step would include a senior year website, possibly using Facebook.com, a multimedia center that uses polls, charts and graphs to describe senior feelings and mentoring groups. Integration is the last part of the three-part process and is vital in helping seniors adjust to the real world. This allows seniors to interact, starting junior year, with faculty in order to better understand the real world.
After the presentation, Hooker-Haring opened the floor to student discussion and questions. The Senior Class Council maintained the debate, using their experiences to help the SYE task force. The Senior Council gave their opinion on how they wished their senior year went and gave important advice to the task force. The Council agreed that a Senior Workshop, similar to First Year Orientation, would help seniors come together and prepare for life outside the College bubble.
"Our plan is to implement a workshop, similar to First Year Orientation, called Re-orientation or Disorientation, to help seniors with life after college. This Life 101 seminar would help students with financial services, health insurance, how to read a lease and how to file their taxes," said Hooker-Haring. "Our responsibility is to help the students move past Muhlenberg and succeed in the real world."
The meeting began with a presentation by Chris Hooker-Haring, Dean of Admissions, who presented the findings of the Committee. Based on the Senior Survey, the committee, which includes President Randy Helm, Karen Green, Dean of Students and Vice President of Student Affairs, and various students and faculty members, broke down a plan to prepare students for reality. The plan is broken down into three parts: Transition, which uses peer mentoring, planned senior workshops and the career center to help seniors move seamlessly into the real world. Reflection helps seniors think about their years at the College and how they helped shape the way they are. This step would include a senior year website, possibly using Facebook.com, a multimedia center that uses polls, charts and graphs to describe senior feelings and mentoring groups. Integration is the last part of the three-part process and is vital in helping seniors adjust to the real world. This allows seniors to interact, starting junior year, with faculty in order to better understand the real world.
After the presentation, Hooker-Haring opened the floor to student discussion and questions. The Senior Class Council maintained the debate, using their experiences to help the SYE task force. The Senior Council gave their opinion on how they wished their senior year went and gave important advice to the task force. The Council agreed that a Senior Workshop, similar to First Year Orientation, would help seniors come together and prepare for life outside the College bubble.
"Our plan is to implement a workshop, similar to First Year Orientation, called Re-orientation or Disorientation, to help seniors with life after college. This Life 101 seminar would help students with financial services, health insurance, how to read a lease and how to file their taxes," said Hooker-Haring. "Our responsibility is to help the students move past Muhlenberg and succeed in the real world."