How To Survive College

Five Resources For Students

Boo! What is that? Your college career! Many students find going through college to be a scary experience because they have no idea where to find campus resources or how to ask for help. To make the college experience not as scary, here are five resources to help survive the college experience.

Developing Your Speaking 

 The first is to try and develop your speaking skills. Not only is it great to make friends around campus but there are far more advantages to this, according to M’Liss Hindman, professor of speech and coach for the speech and debate team.

“I would suggest three things; that you introduce yourself to your professor at some point, I also think it’s very important to not be too shy to ask questions when you have questions in class, and take a speech class while in college,” Hindman said. “Learning how to speak in class is an important part of your educational progress.” 

The second is getting familiar with the TJC Bookstore. The bookstore is open from Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and has a lot of class necessities. You can find more on their website tjc.bncollege.com. Vanessa Ogden, campus bookstore team member, explains what the bookstore can do for students.

Knowing The Bookstore

“We’ll look at your schedule, find all the books that you need and ordering ahead of time is also a great tip, too. If you order ahead, you’ll get your books first, ahead of everybody else. If we run out of stock, you’ll probably still have your book as we do put it in the back, and you’re not going to be stuck in a super long line,” Ogden said.

Not only does the bookstore have your textbooks, it also has other materials you may need, such as electronics, scantrons, stationary, notebooks, snacks, and TJC swag.

Learning Library Resources

The third is learning about the Vaughn Library and Learning Commons. It is open Monday through Thursday from 7:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.; Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.;  Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.; and Sunday from 1 to 9 p.m. On the TJC Main Campus it has two stories that contain separate centers to help you succeed in your college education. The other centers include Tutoring, College Success Coaching, the Center for Academic Exams, and Common Grounds Coffee. Nayeli Jaurigui, a student at TJC, tells us about her experience at the library. 

“I would definitely say the library is a very good place to go. The people at the front desk are super nice, and they’ll tell you exactly where you need to go or where exactly on the website you can go to find all of your class courses,” Jaurigui said. 

Students can also go to the front desk if they want to find out how to rent books so that they can save money on their textbooks. 

“I actually couldn’t find one of my class books, and the library had it, and they had it on the website too,” Jaurigui said.

Jaurigui also said there are also printers readily available for students to use, while it does cost 10 cents per page for black and white copies and 75 cents for color copies.

Using The Apache Success Center 

The fourth is taking advantage of the Apache Success Center inside of the Vaughn Library. Laura Brown, the study skills tutor at the Apache Success Center, explains the importance of taking advantage of what there is to offer. 

“So one of the really great perks of being like an Apache is you get free tutoring. A lot of students don’t know that it’s free,” Brown said. “If you ever need, like, any organizational help with classes, or just time management in general, different study tips, note taking. If you have a paper to write, don’t wait until the last minute. Don’t procrastinate. We have writing tutors here who can sit down with you and help.”

The Apache Tutoring Center is a part of the Apache Success Center and is open Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Friday from 8 a.m. through 4 p.m.; Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.; and Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m.

Brown said they do not just offer individual help with separate subjects like history or English, but they also offer to guide students through succeeding in college.

“Let’s say if you don’t have time for an actual session, because we do get pretty busy here in the semester. We have pamphlets, kind of like all around the Apache Success Center with a lot of like models that a lot of students don’t ever utilize it,” Brown said. “We’ve also got plenty of pamphlets that you can just grab, grab and go if you don’t have time for an actual session. We have plenty of like school supplies, if you ever need to borrow any. We’ve got whiteboards if you really like to learn on a whiteboard.” 

Understanding The Testing Center

The fifth and final one is knowing what you can get done at the testing center located on the second floor of Rogers Student Center. The testing center has become the Special Services ADA and Placement Tests, and Suzanne Gilley, coordinator of student testing, gives more insight into what is offered.

“So if you’re taking your TSI, this is where you’re going to come. You don’t have to do it online. Or if you have 501, for paperwork with the ADA services you would also come here to do your tests. If you’re taking like dental hygiene or any of the other allied sciences, you’ll come here to test. And if you’re going into the nursing program here, again,” Gilley said. “If you’re taking Honorlock online or none of the above, you go to the library Academic Center for Testing.”

Central Campus Testing Center Number 903-510-2617