When I first came to my school I didn’t know where anything was and it was so huge and I didn’t know that they offered so many, so many activities. So, what I did was go to a lot of the information sessions that they had the first week of school when -- ya know -- we didn’t have classes, and I also looked up on the internet. I looked on the school’s website and I was able to dig out so much information. I didn’t even realize that they had -- ya know -- a pancake club where you just go and you can make pancakes, so I mean you can find pretty much anything there.
At my campus we have a writing center which is actually open to all students, I use it religiously because I do have dyslexia so I know that my spelling and sometimes the manner in which I -- the order in which that I write my papers doesn’t always make sense, so I definitely take it to them to read over maybe a draft or two drafts. And then we also have a Disability Support Services office at my campus which allows you to have a quiet space to study, they let you use their computers, you also can print certain amounts of pages for free, which is always very nice when you have that 20 page paper to do, and they’re helpful in -- like -- if you need special technology, I will go to the Disability Support Service Center because they can offer special technology to students who need it. Also, the library -- like -- was helpful as a -- for general help in that they can help you organize your research papers, tell you where to go to look for certain resources like when you need to use a journal or an online resource, the librarians are really nice too.
They offer tutoring services, there’s SI sessions for large classes [Banner: SI – Supplemental Instuction], so if you’re struggling in a large lecture class, the SI sessions really help because those TA’s are there to [Banner: TA – Teacher's Assistant] -- they basically know what the professor’s teaching and they know how the professor teaches, so they know how to instruct you and how -- like -- guide you along.
As an RA [Banner: RA – Resident Assistant] I’m kind of a director for the floor of my building that I live in on campus, and we do programs and we assist the residents if they have conflicts with their room mates or if they just need something we help them out, if they’re having a problem or they just need someone to talk to they can always come knock on our doors. We live on the floor so we’re always there. We’re kind of an advocate for the students as well and if you’re a new student it’s good because you have an RA as a guide.