Elkhart College

I like to do random Google searches just to see what comes up. The other day I was looking to see what came up when I searched for ways to find the right college. Many days I don’t find info that strikes me as interesting, but on this day I came across an article Five Fabulous Questions to Ask a College. I liked it enough to read it all the way through AND am going to answer those questions in regards to Harrison College in a series of five blogs.

Fabulous Question 1: How would you describe the student body’s personality?

I would say DIVERSE. Since Harrison College has campuses from Elkhart to Evansville in Indiana and our newest campus in Columbus, Ohio, we are fortunate enough to work with many types of student.

However, if I were to have to describe the motivations and attitudes of the students at the Columbus Indiana college campus I would say DETERMINED. Many of the students say they chose Harrison College because we fit their career goals. I also often hear that our approach of recognizing each student as an individual is of great value to them.

I would also add that many of our students were looking for a college for working adults too. Being able to take classes during the day, evening, online, or a combination of all of these options is a HUGE benefit.

I know I am a little bias, but I feel our student body has a FABULOUS personality that allows everyone to feel comfortable. Feeling comfortable allows them to learn faster and easier. Learning faster and easier gets them graduated and employed faster. So many I could have just simplified this answer to the word SUCCESSFUL!

Would you like to experience success? Check out the Harrison College campus nearest you by clicking here. Not near a Harrison College? Find out what Harrison Online has to offer for those students wanting service AND education by contacting our distance learning college campus.

Don’t forget to check back tomorrow for the answer to Fabulous Question #2—How is this school distinctive? Trust me, you will want to read this one for sure!
 

You're probably going to see quite a few of these posts pop up in the next week or so.  Harrison College was named to the Indiana Best Places to Work list for the third year in a row.  And yet again, we are the only higher education institution out of the many Indiana accredited colleges to be included on the list.

This is a feat for us. All our locations, including our Anderson Career College, Elkhart College and Evansville College all take extreme pride in the educational services we provide to our students and the communities they serve.

So you may be asking what this has to do with my blog and social media in higher education? Well, I didn't see a press release last night and didn't hear about it on the 11 o'clock news.  Rather, my Twitter was atwitter with the news from my colleagues and friends...and then Facebook status updates blew up!  That's the beauty of social media no matter what industry you're in - sometimes the news hits social media before it's even "news."

Chew on that for a bit while I come up with my next blog post.  Until then, make sure you are following us on Twitter (@HarrisonColl) and become a fan on Facebook.

Before delving into the world of social media for an Indiana Career College, I decided to take stock of where Harrison College is currently.  Various "rogue" Facebook profiles and pages, old content from our Indiana Business College days and various degrees of effort being put into each online presence.  So the first thing Harrison College will do is audit and then clean-up our current efforts at social media.  

Once that endeavor is complete, we will work with our Evansville College, our Elkhart College, etc. to create standards, guidelines, processes and procedures to ensure Harrison College is properly represented online.

Stay tuned as I continue to document our online efforts in this blog! And make sure you are following us on Twitter (@HarrisonColl) and become a Facebook fan!

The goal comes first…..

Lou Tice teaches us that “the goal comes first, and then you see.” Students at Harrison College learn this lesson early in their first quarter classes when they participate in the Strategies for Success course. Lou gives us many mantras in that course, but none so significant as this one. The goal comes first……

Elkhart College students recently put this statement into action through the creation of vision boards. As we worked through the Strategies course, we learned the principles of I x V = R, words trigger pictures trigger emotions, and developing SMART goals that are then put into action by positive, first-person, present-tense affirmations. The end results for us were beautiful, affirming, emotional vision boards, such as you see here.

Students are enrolled in a variety of career programs: business finance, business marketing, careers in medical assistant, criminal justice careers, and medical reimbursement specialist careers. However, they all share the common vision of graduating from Harrison College and becoming successful, skilled, employees in their chosen career.  Beyond that, their visions incorporated such things as marriage, ocean-front retirements, financial security, luxury vehicles, travel, and generally peace of mind and achievement.

Students commented that this was a powerful exercise for them. By focusing on their goals (vision), they were able to create affirmations (words) that elicited great emotion when they were combined with their visuals presented on their boards. We laughed, got teary-eyed and choked up at times, as the students presented their visions to their classmates and shared their dreams.   Lou asks us to “dream big,” and this project brought out some of the biggest dreams one can imagine! 

Harrison College helps students DREAM BIG! We also help students create that path to realize their dreams. Come join us at Harrison College. Let us help YOU create your path to your dream.
 

Really understanding what someone is saying to you is VERY important.

Many years ago, my sister was driving my niece, Kenan, to school and her son, Andrew, who was about 4 years old at the time, was along for the ride. Halloween was coming up and the conversation revolved around the costumes the kids would be wearing.

Andrew yelled from the backseat, “Sissy, what are you going to be for trick or treat?” “A ballerina,” she answered from the front seat. “What,” he asked horrified, “a javelina?” (Pronounced Have-A-Leena) His little face contorted in a frown.

My sister just laughed and laughed. You see, this is a ballerina.

And this is a javelina—a wild, vicious, pig-like animal that is widely hunted in their home state of Texas.

No wonder Andrew was freaked out—he simply misunderstood what had been said.

A misunderstanding—be it an actual word being heard wrong or an idea or instruction not being fully understood—can easily turn what should be an exciting and enjoyable experience into something stressful and frustrating.

Working for Harrison College, an Indiana accredited college; I have talked with many students who did not have positive experiences with the first college they attended. In fact, this is not uncommon with students enrolled in adult education programs and students (and their parents) attending college right out of high school. Not understanding financial aid, transfer of credits, or even attendance policies can turn a positive educational experience into a negative experience that could tarnish the rest of the student’s time in school.

 

Every student has rights. One right is to understand all aspects of their college experience. Use your student handbook as your guide and listen with an open mind. Remember, there are no stupid questions—only stupid misunderstandings.


Students at Harrison College experience a level of customer service seen in few colleges. This level of service can be found from the Harrison College Elkhart college campus to the Evansville college campus and even at our distance learning college virtual campus. You see, service increases understanding and communication between the college and our students. It's not just a matter of "business" for us--It is part of our culture and who we are.


If you want service and understanding to be a part of your college experience, I invite you to contact the Harrison College campus nearest you. Don't live near a Harrison College campus? No problem--our online campus may be the best choice for you.

Earlier this week, I went to the Indiana State Fair and had the opportunity to be a part of the Harrison College booth. What fun that was! I was excited to talk with people from all over the state as they stopped by to see who we are and what we are all about. While we were talking I began to see that there were a few questions that seemed to be the most common.


So, here are the top 5 Questions Asked at the Indiana State Fair!

Q:  “Where is Harrison College located?”


A:  Harrison College is everywhere! We are as close as next door throughout Indiana in Elkhart, Muncie, Anderson, Fort Wayne, Indianapolis, Columbus, Terre Haute, Evansville, and Lafayette. We are excited about our newest campus in Columbus, Ohio—the first ground-campus we have outside of the state of Indiana. And we are available INTERNATIONALLY via our distance learning college. Many people have known about us for 107 years—but they knew us by the name Indiana Business College—and as you can see, we are not just in Indiana anymore.
 

Q:  “What kinds of degrees do you offer?”


A:  Many people are surprised that we offer both Associate and Bachelors degrees. We offer high quality instruction in small classes or via online college courses. Our students earn degrees in Accounting, Business Marketing, Business Management, Criminal Justice, Vet Tech, Medical Assistant, Network Administration, and Massage Therapy just to name a few. For a complete list, just click here.
 

Q:  “Will my credits transfer to Harrison College?”


A:  They may! Just like all colleges, we would have to review your credits to see if the course you have completed covered the same material as the courses we teach. We will also look to see if you had the required grade for credits to transfer and that the credits are not over 10 years old. Now, here is where we differ from other colleges—we do this HAPPILY!
 

Q:  “Is Harrison College accredited?”


A:  YES! We are nationally accredited through Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS) and recognized by the Career College Association (CCA).
 

Q:  “Do you have any student like me?”


A: YES!  I always want to laugh when someone asks me this because that was maybe the biggest question that I had when I enrolled at Indiana Business College at almost 30 years old. It really doesn’t matter what age you are, if you have a high school diploma or a GED, if you work full time and have a family or if you are enrolling right out of high school—THERE ARE PEOPLE JUST LIKE YOU ATTENDING HARRISON COLLEGE!
 

Hello everyone. The Indiana Black Expo Summer Celebration got off to a great start yesterday! We had a lot of people stop by our booth interested in furthering their education at Harrison College.

Today we had several people ask if we had a Fort Wayne college or an Evansville college so I would like to take a moment to address where our campuses are located.

We have 12 campuses throughout the state of Indiana and one that will be opening in time for the fall quarter in Columbus Ohio. We also offer online courses. Our Indiana Campuses are located in:

• Anderson
• Columbus
• Elkhart
• Evansville
• Fort Wayne
• Indianapolis (downtown, east and northwest)
• Lafayette
• Marion
• Muncie
• Terre Haute