Tenth Story /Enterprise Story

When first starting college, there are a lot of influences that help students do well, and other influences some students wish were there in the beginning.

There are tests that are essential in determining if a high school student is ready to take on college courses. There are also a few standards that some feel may not help as much for these students when determining their future.

Kristen Hunt, a graduate of Anoka Ramsey Community College (ARCC), first started out as a Post-Secondary Enrollment Option (PSEO) student. Hunt feels counselors should be more geared towards helping with student's interests, as appose to solely using the grades they're receiving in high school for determining a student’s future.

"I would suggest that they should gear them to help them foster their own interest: To see how they do, instead of taking a transcript of previous grades. I think some of the counselors use a transcript and not what the student was actually capable of," said Hunt.

Andew Perovich, a former student at ARCC, thinks requiring new students to see their counselors would go a long way in contributing to their college success.

Some students believe that ARCC should do a better job in keeping tabs on newer students and their progress. "I never received any counseling as to what classes to take for my major when first starting out. I wasn't sure what I was taking. I just took classes that I enjoyed and to what I thought applied," Perovich said. "It might have been partly my fault though."

Some students do average in high school. But there are no tests to show that a student may excel above standards when learning something they may like doing in college: Even when not doing well in similar high school courses. Hunt said when a counselor saw an early transcript of hers, they thought she shouldn't even bother from looking at her grades: That she wouldn't pass the recommended courses anyways in a particular field.

Several students remarked at how well the resource center and the tutors at ARCC had helped them do well at the college. "The tutors that were made available really helped me out," Perovich said. "I used a math tutor a couple of times. It worked great."

"I'd recommend for the student to sit down with an adviser and talk with them about what they want to do. What they're looking at doing and where they're are at academically. What classes they had in high school, what classes they should go into to help with the direction they want to take," Perovich said. "Does the student have a time line or a money threshold that they cannot go over in amounts of spending?"

Taking extra circular activities in college to some seem like an advantage with helping a student to do well in there respective courses. Some feel that when going this extra distance to play sports or other activities such as music, this in turn makes that same student more committed to doing well in school.

Sarah DeRosier, a current part-time ARCC student, thinks students should participate in extra curricular activities. However, she feels there should be minimal involvement and the minute that it starts to affect their performance in the classroom negatively, they should think about stopping.

Others felt the same in a few areas. "Depends on the activity and whether its academic related or not," said part-time, online ARCC student Carissa Parker. "Most activities I have participated in teach you how to be a better leader and a more motivated, disciplined person in general, so they help in developing qualities that are beneficial academically. But extracurricular activities in excess can have the negative effect by taking too much of a toll on your time, energies and academics," Parker said.

Jason Vanselow, a Music professor at ARCC, feels that students, who take on activities such as basketball, school and a job at the same time, need to be smart about using their time wisely. "It's a good thing but they don't want to be over extended," he said.

Christine Katke, a faculty member of the Wellness Facility at ARCC, thinks all extra circular activities are good for students. She believes that it gives these students an idea on how to stay committed for their work in the classrooms. It helps students learn about leadership and being a part of a team.

When thinking about what might benefit a student more overall, between having a job on campus as apposed to having one in the private sector, some felt it was better to have the on campus job mainly for its convenience.

Hunt felt with most off campus jobs, you're working the evening hours and weekends; the times in which you would study. The jobs on campus are more geared towards students with being more flexible she said.

Some see working on campus as a way of understanding the real world more. "I plan on being a Photographer and I work in the school darkroom as a tutor. I know working on campus as a tutor has helped me understand certain aspects of photo printing that I had never thought of before," said full-time ARCC student Heather Oxendale.

When working on campus, Oxendale has seen problems that she didn't encounter as a Photo student. She learned from the experience of problem solving. Oxendale feels off campus work is just as beneficial. "I learned customer relations and more business aspects of work that I didn't get from tutoring," she said.

Vanselow thinks that when a student is good at something, they should take jobs whether on campus or not to help develop those skills. "It really depends on what the student is good at," he said.