By Bailie Stowell
Staff Writer
SPRINGFIELD — Does college feel a little overwhelming?
Perhaps you haven’t been in school for several years. Perhaps you are just not sure how to handle the stress and responsibilities.
That can be a bit overwhelming, but help is available.
The Center for Academic Success offers Smart Start Seminars. These 50-minute informational sessions are offered at a variety of times to fit everyone’s schedule. And perhaps best of all, the sessions have a low price of FREE!
Tricia Hardway, an Academic Success professional, was teaching a recent session in the Center for Academic Success, located below the library in Sangamon Hall.
Demonstrating one of the first lessons about the importance of organization, Hardway handed out binders and highlighters to everyone attending. Inside the binders were organized with key sections and labeled tabs to separate them.
The seminar covered a variety of topics, such as introduction to college-level study skills, time management, reading and questioning textbooks, taking effective notes, skills to improve your memory, and test-taking tips.
Hardway also took the time to highlight the other services that the Center for Academic Success offers. There are tutors, one-on-one help from professionals in courses such as Math, English, Biology/Chemistry, and a place to make up missed tests.
This extra help is also FREE, and many students do not realize that and how beneficial that extra help can be.
Perhaps the best lesson was that of time management helping with success. Hardway emphasized the idea of keeping a daily planner with everything tracked for school, work and even weekend plans. Getting organized and making it easy for you to have access to that information is key.
“Realizing it’s okay to ask for help and to utilize the extra resources offered, college isn’t easy and you’re not alone,” Hardway said. “That’s what we’re here for. Our job is to help in any way we can.”
There are not Smart Start Seminars scheduled at this time, but other services are available. To learn more about services from the Center for Academic Success, call 786-2396 or go online to www.llcc.edu/cas
Bailie Stowell can be reached at [email protected].