By Julio Sanchez
Faculty, staff and administrators were in attendance at an event hosted by the Student Services Department to raise awareness of more than 25 available services for students on campus.
The Spotlight on Student Services event was not intended for students, but rather for faculty. The event was the first of its kind.
Student Services representative, Alison Estrada said that the event gives faculty and staff the opportunity to become acquainted with various programs so they can offer students more information on where to get help when they need it.
“These are some of the different resources that are available to the students but not a lot of students know about them. That’s why we’re trying to make the faculty and staff know about them so they can actually spread the word of the services being offered,” Estrada said.
The event gave administrators of the programs or services at ELAC the opportunity to discover and get more information on programs available on campus.
Student ambassador of the Dream Resource Center, Jesika de Jesus said that although she knew most of the programs, the event did give her the chance to get more information on the ones that she was not too familiar with.
“I would always walk by and pass through (the International Student Program), but I have never actually gone to find out all of (their resources). I think what helps, is walking to the programs and getting to ask questions. When students ask about the resources, we have to know everything about them and not just the basics,” de Jesus said.
Student Services specialist Rowena Smith said that it’s very important for staff and faculty to know what programs are available to students because then they can guide the students in the right direction to get the proper help.
She also said that some services that are offered on campus can greatly help students but, due to the lack of awareness of the programs, they tend to miss out on beneficial opportunities.
“A lot of times, students can do well academically, but they might have bigger issues that are preventing them from doing even better. The instructor is on the frontline so they need to know where to send students. That’s why we’re doing this. There’s more to be dealt with and we’re trying to address all the issues … we want faculty and the academic house to know that,” Smith said.
Several programs that provided information were geared toward financial aid, mental and physical health, language learning, and career and workforce assistance, to name a few.