Message from Dr. Belinda S. Miles: Elevating the Student Experience
December 3, 2021
Returning more students to campus in spring 2022 facilitates their engagement and interaction with their peers, staff, advisors, and professors. Supporting students, building connection, and being present are vitally important to student success – especially for first-generation students.
This piece from the Chronicle of Higher Ed discusses how colleges support first-generation students, for example, through faculty engagement.
“Connecting to faculty members is particularly crucial for first-gen students — whether it’s in the classroom, during office hours, through mentorship, or with research projects. Studies suggest that faculty-student interactions make a difference not only in graduation rates, but in the student’s breadth and depth of learning. The positive effects of student-faculty interactions are especially strong for students of color and first-generation students…”
The piece also discusses ways to help students counter “imposter syndrome.” We have done much to create an environment where all members of our college community are valued, and we have worked to instill a sense of belongingness for our students. We can build on this by sharing our own stories and experiences as students – especially as first-generation students.
Please join me in recording a brief 30- or 60-second video sharing your story and success including any experiences related to being a first-generation college student. These shared experiences can show students that we have been on a similar academic journey and that we are and will always be #WCCHereforYou.
Submit your brief video to https://www.sunywcc.edu/share. Our Creative Communications team will post them for students so that they can see all they can be at Westchester Community College and beyond.
Dr. Belinda S. Miles
President