2NEWS
www.theranger.org/NEWS
F E B . 12 , 2018
SLAC lab offers mentoring Students can get tutoring by appointment. By Sergio Medina
sac-ranger@alamo.edu
The student learning assistance center, known as the SLAC lab, is bringing forward a new way to help students with a peer-mentoring program. In an interview Feb. 2, academic Coordinator Geraldo Guerra said the idea behind peer-mentoring is for students to have another student to relate to. “Maybe there’s something that you need to address with somebody who’s closer to your age or has a similar background … went to the same high school or maybe you went to a similar school district,” Guerra said. Guerra’s idea is that the program’s mentors guide students who have questions and concerns
about academic performance, financial aid, registration or finding their way around this college. “It’s difficult to find information; this college is huge,” Guerra said. “So, if you don’t know about certain resources, the mentor will know.” Students can exchange phone numbers and e-mails with their mentors to keep in contact. Guerra said that exchange is not a requirement. “It’s going to be a mutual agreement that the student is comfortable with,” he said. Simultaneously, administrative services specialist Bertha Ovalle, who oversees work-study students in the SLAC lab, shares a passionate interest in students who need guidance and resources. She encourages students to seek help at the SLAC lab. “You’re not alone,” she said in an interview Jan. 26. Guerra encourages students interested in being assigned a peer mentor to ask at the SLAC lab’s front desk. “We’ll start matching them up,” Guerra said. Currently, only work-study students can become peer mentors. Four mentors are available now, Guerra said. Mentors are assigned for the rest of the semes-
ter. Each one can be assigned up to five mentees. The SLAC lab also continues to offer workshops and tutoring sessions, with nine tutors who supplement instruction on a range of subjects such as math, biology, chemistry, English, history and Spanish. The complete list of subjects tutored is available on the SLAC page on the college website. The tutoring sessions are 30 minutes long. A student is entitled to two sessions a day three times a week. Students are encouraged to schedule appointments by calling or going by and signing up. “Tutors start getting booked up really fast,” Guerra said. The SLAC lab had a total of 10,557 students visit in the fall. Additionally, the lab provides five 15 to 20-minute workshops for students covering ways to improve note-taking, dealing with math anxiety and anxiety in general, managing time and stress, improving test-taking skills and improving studying skills. The weekly schedule for this semester’s workshops is available at www.alamo.edu/sac/slac/ workshops. Ovalle and Guerra want students to feel wel-
come and comfortable in the SLAC lab. “It’s all about building a relationship with them,” Ovalle said. Guerra wants students to understand how open and friendly lab employees are. “This is a spot for them where they can hang out and study together,” he said. While both the SLAC and mega lab offer computers for students to use, Guerra said the SLAC lab offers more resources. “We differ (from the mega lab) because we are a full academic learning support center,” he said. “You have the trained tutors and trained mentors who can reach out and actually sit down with you and work on a problem. The mega lab doesn’t have that.” The lab’s lobby has 72 computers with Microsoft Office as well as desks and seating areas for students. The lab also has GoPrint services. Black-andwhite copies are 5 cents. Color copies are 40 cents. Lab hours are 8 a.m.-8 p.m., Monday-Thursday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday. The SLAC lab is in Room 707 of Moody Learning Center. For more information, call 210-486-0165.
TUSKEGEE from Page 1 “We had to have somebody interested in training black pilots,” he said. Sinkfield said part of that law was to have one historically black college to train the pilots. The pilots were trained at the Tuskegee Army Air Field and went to college at Tuskegee University in Tuskegee, Ala. Sinkfield said white instructor pilots, female nurses and support staff were at Tuskegee to help and train nearly 1,000 pilots. Singleton said she wanted to join the Air Force because in 1982-83 there was a mini-depression, and it was hard to find a job. She said her husband was a commissioned officer, which made it harder to find a long-term occupation despite having a master’s degree in sociology. “They would say automatically ‘Oh your husband is in the military so you’re not going to be here long,’ so they denied to employ me,” Singleton said. Singleton said she wasn’t happy because she was a woman and had a degree but was being penalized because her husband was in the military. Two years later, she joined and served 20 years in the Air Force. Yeomans, who served 22 years, said the Women Veterans of San Antonio is a nonprofit organization started in 2013. The group has 648 female veterans and has no physical location but meets at coffee shops, wine-tastings and events such as 5K runs. The group socializes, networks and donates to homeless female veterans. “When you hear the word veterans, a lot of the time in society we think of our male veterans,” Yeoman said. “They don’t necessarily think of women veterans, so this group brings women veterans together from all branches.” Yeomans said the group gives back to the community by volunteering at Veterans Stand Down, which happens every year before Veterans Day. Veterans Stand Down provides medical services, hot food, clothing and haircuts for homeless veterans. This year’s Veterans Stand Down will be 10 a.m. Nov. 9 at 611 N. Flores St. The Women Veterans of San Antonio donates socks, lanyards, gloves, first aid kits, bras, underwear and hygiene products.
FINALIST from Page 1 define those recommendations and hopefully come up with one candidate who fits our needs,” McClendon said. “We think that this is a process that has worked in the past and is the best for the institution and for the people who are applying for the job.” Katz said she met with a staff member of state Sen. José Menéndez, D-San Antonio, to discuss objections to the search process. After that meeting, Menéndez sent the board a letter expressing concern about transparency and lack of faculty and student representation on the committee. He specifically noted that Northwest Vista College does not have a representative. “While we applaud the effort to bring community members to the table, we also recognize that faculty and students, who are the nucleus of the colleges, are not appropriately included on the committee,” Menéndez wrote. He requested the board add the Faculty Senate president from Northwest Vista and
During a Black History Month panel Feb. 6 in the nursing complex, retired Air Force Lt. Col. Ethel Singleton says most people associate veterans with men. Singleton finds it important to bring awareness of women in the military. Other Black History Month events are Taste of Caribbean 11:30 a.m.–1 p.m. Feb. 13 in the Fiesta Room of Loftin and The Dating Game 11 a.m.-noon Feb. 14 in the cafeteria in Loftin. S.M. Huron-Dixon
“allow for a vetting through community forums for all the stakeholders to contribute to the chancellor selection.” “I don’t find anything wrong with it at all,” District 1 trustee Joe Alderete Jr. said. “We have citizens reflecting every aspect of the community.” He said students and faculty are appropriately represented on the 23-member committee, with two students representatives and representatives from four of the five Alamo Colleges. Alderete counted Cynthia Katz, professor at St. Philip’s College, as a representative of both her home college and Northwest Vista because she is president of the districtwide Faculty Super Senate. Sanchez said trustees conducted interviews in a building adjacent to the building at Killen Center that houses the board meeting room. District 8 trustee Clint Kingsbery said the board met there because its conference room was a more personal setting to conduct an interview.
Snooze at night, not in class Coordinator gives tips for students to improve sleep habits. By Blanca Granados
sac-ranger@student.alamo.edu
Setting an alarm for bedtime as well as the time to awaken can help college students develop a regular sleep schedule, student development Coordinator Julie Engel said. “College students should have a sleep schedule,” she said Jan. 31 in an interview. Sleep schedules aren’t only for 5-year-olds, she said. Every human requires sleep to function properly. It is essential for proper learning and memory retention, she said. College students should get eight hours of sleep every night, she said. She suggested students should try to go to bed and wake up at the same time every day. With all the distractions in the modern world available from social media, such as binge-watching
shows on Netflix, college students have a hard time getting enough sleep, she said. She said a schedule to plan sleep could be the key. “It’s all about discipline,” she added. She said avoiding unhealthy habits and getting enough sleep help students stay awake and focused in class and give them more energy and time to do more things such as joining a club or a sports team. She shared other tips to get better sleep:
• Turn off nearby electronics at least 30 minutes before bed. • Do not eat heavily before trying to sleep. • Keep a to-do-list close in case you can’t stop thinking of things you have yet to do. • Exercise regularly, but not right before trying to sleep. • Set an alarm to remind you to stop bingewatching a TV series or movies.