Tennessee Tech advisors will offer free Finals Prep Stations for first-year students or undecided majors moving toward the semester end.
Launchpad Student Success Center Assistant Director Tenika Burgess said they want to interact with first-year students to help them plan, organize and prepare for end of semester exams. Burgess said an organized planner, sustainable study patterns and time management are key in student success.
“A lot of times students don’t know how to study, so that’s what our events center on,” Burgess said. “And so we’ll have the finals prep station, like I said, just drop by the table, get your questions asked. They can set up one-on-one sessions with me for success coaching.”
For many freshman living on their own for the first time, Burgess said the stations are “low-risk” opportunities for students meet with advisors and get on the right track for finals week.
“It’s more about just promoting goodwill and asking them questions and like, ‘Hey, are you ready? Do you even know when your final is? Have you gone to tutoring? What are you struggling with?,'” Burgess said.
Burgess said many times, students can be too afraid or overwhelmed to ask for help from the plethora of on-campus resources. By interacting with students, albeit just in passing, Burgess said they hope to increase the visibility and understanding of the advisors on campus.
“Students get overwhelmed by the amount of resources we have and they don’t really know how to start with,” Burgess said. “And so there’s that like, fear of reaching out for help and looking maybe foolish or dumb or stupid. And so that they might be put off by that.”
By making themselves publicly available Burgess said her team of advisors aim to increase the accessibility of advising services for TTU students.
“The goal is to meet them where they’re at and answer the questions that they have at the time that they have them,” Burgess said.
Burgess said the center will hold another workshop-style prep station next week.
