Student Assistance - LaGuardia Community College - CUNY

Welcome to LaGuardia
From The Center for Counseling, Advising & Academic Support
Welcome to LaGuardia! What a wonderful
semester this is going to be. Let’s take a moment
to fast forward - kind of like time travel - to find
out what the END of your semester is going to
look like. Ready? Here we go!
Now, imagine that your academic journey for
this semester has come to a close. How do you
feel? Are you elated from having a wonderfully
successful semester? Or perhaps you are
exhilarated from your hard work and the
accomplishments you achieved? Now, imagine
that your finals are done, and you just received
your grades. How did you do? How do you look
and feel as you see your grades? Are you beaming
with pride? Do you feel tingles all over from
achieving wonderful grades? Or are you simply
relieved that you passed the courses you found
most challenging?
Now, let’s come back to the present. Ta–Da! It’s
only September, and you have the whole semester
ahead of you. In other words, you have the whole
semester to CREATE the outcomes that you just
envisioned in your mind. Your point of power is
right here in this moment and in all moments
from now until your last final. At every moment
you can choose to embrace the journey, learn new
things, and persevere, even when the learning
process feels challenging. Here are some tips to
help you make this semester the best it can be:
• Make room for school. Often, students
underestimate the amount of time that
schoolwork is going to require. Achieving
stellar grades means dedication and reserving
large blocks of time each day for schoolwork.
• Be open and enthusiastic about learning new
information. This is what college is all about!
• Keep your eyes on the prize. If the going gets
tough, especially towards the end of the
semester, stay calm and make lists to prioritize
your tasks. If you need to reach out for help,
come to the Center for Counseling in B100
and the Center for Academic Support in B102.
Beginning a new semester means beginning a
chapter in the book of your academic career and
the book of your life. With your intelligence,
energy, and effort, you will indeed be able to call
your Fall 2011 semester at LaGuardia a fabulous
semester!
Eco Friendly Cups
LAGCC Honors Program Alumni Share Tips on
How to Apply to Prestigious Four-Year Colleges
The Honors Program at LaGuardia
Community College held a transfer workshop in
August for students needing guidance with their
applications to four-year institutions. The
turnout was fantastic; over 40 students showed
up on the first Monday morning of their
vacations, eager to hear tips from LaGuardia
alumni that have gone on to prestigious colleges.
Tashdid Hasan, who completed the Honors
concentration at LaGuardia and continued at
Columbia University, made time to come in for
the second year in a row despite holding a fulltime
job and being a full-time student. Along
with him, Kevin Magana (Georgetown
University) and Syed Hossain (Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute) shared their transfer
success strategies. They covered writing the
personal statement, getting recommendation
letters, building credentials, using the Common
Application, and other areas of the transfer
process that, without direction, can be very
perplexing to students. “I was rejected from
some schools because I didn’t have a lot of
guidance,” said Tashdid, who is receiving $40,000
a year to fund his education. “And just like I’m
receiving a scholarship at Columbia because
someone before me wanted to make my college
experience a little easier, I can save some of these
students the initial trouble simply by sharing my
knowledge, because the transfer endeavor can be
a difficult one to tackle alone.”
“It’s thrilling to see that so many students are
interested in getting transfer help and are
starting their applications early,” said Honors
Program Director Dr. Karlyn Koh. “I’m touched
and amazed by these alumni who want to help
and are giving back too. They are beyond
generous.”
The Honors Program at LaGuardia, aside
from offering Honors courses, holds several
workshops throughout the year aimed at
supporting and enhancing students’ college
careers. The Honors Student Advisory
Committee (HSAC), the student-run branch of
the Honors Program, also focuses on building a
community of current and past Honors students
at LaGuardia. They are located in suite M-222
along with the College’s honor society Phi Theta
Kappa, which focuses on building students’
scholarship skills. More information on the
Honors Program can be found on their website:
www.lagcc.cuny.edu/honors/. Inquiries can be
made by email to honorsprog@lagcc.cuny.edu.
This semester you will notice something
different about your coffee cup. If you buy a
12oz coffee in the cafeteria or are having an 8oz
coffee at a catered event or meeting on campus,
your coffee will be served in an
eco-friendly cup. The coffee cup,
decorated with leafs, is made
from 100% renewable sources.
Unlike traditional cups, these
coffee cups aren’t
manufactured using
petroleum-based paper or
plastic. Instead they are produced from
renewable sources like corn, sugar and bamboo.
The Sustainability Council would like to
thank the College’s foodservice provider, MBJ,
for agreeing to introduce these “green” coffee
cups at no additional cost to students, faculty
and staff. Moving to more eco-friendly cups
comes at a higher cost to consumers.
To learn more, please visit the College's
sustainability website:
www.laguardia.edu/sustainability/
LaGuardia Community College
April 2005 – LaGuardia establishes
a student exchange program with
Universidad Central, a university in
Santiago, Chile.
The Division of Student Affairs Newsletter for Students 9