College for Working Adults

I'm sure every now and then we all have one of those days where we have about three projects due, nothing is going right, someone just took the last cup of coffee, and we just wonder: "Why is it that we do what we do day in and day out?" Do we even make a difference?

Well, I'm here to tell you that we do. I want to start this blog off by sharing a positive story about a student here at this Fort Wayne College in the Business Marketing program. He

came into the Learning Resource Center (what we call our Library at Harrison College) desperate for help with his final research paper. He had to pass this class in order to graduate. Since Harrison has a flexible class schedule and is a popular choice as a college for working adults, he faced many of the pressures other adult students do and had gotten a little behind on his work. He needed an A on this final project. 

The problem was that he had no idea how to really conduct research, evaluate resources, or properly quote, paraphrase and cite the sources as required by his instructor. I told him I would be willing to help but he would really have to put in some hard work and long days to make it happen.

To my surprise, the student came back that night and stayed for several hours, working with me on how to find information in our databases (as opposed to on Google), and how to evaluate the information he had found. He learned how to paraphrase and cite properly. He brought in a rough draft of his paper the next day so that we could go over revisions and stayed for several hours performing edits and conducting more research to fine-tune his paper. In the end, he was turned in a product he was proud of and managed to pass the class.

A few months later, the student came in to thank me and tell me that he wouldn't have graduated without my help. I told him that it was because of his willingness to ask for help and put in the hard work that he was able to succeed and earn his degree in Business Marketing. He even told me that he was thinking of going on to get his bachelor’s degree! I have since seem him in the LRC at least three times a week diligently conducting his job search with as much energy as he put in to that final paper. I know he will succeed in that as well and begin his Business Marketing Career. 

And THAT is why I do what I do. We all just need a little reminder now and then, especially when someone takes the last cup of coffee in the pot!