Ed. Leadership and Counseling
Project CONNECT: A Student Support Services TRIO Program
Services
- Why do you need Services?
Project CONNECT is a program that is funded by the U.S. Department of Education. Our purpose is to provide services that help students persist towards graduation. It is important that you meet the required amount of services per semester in order to stay in good standing in the program and to continue to receive books through the Lending Library. - Why do we offer services?
We are here to help you through your college experience. We believe when these services are taken advantage of they will help you. We try to offer a variety of services from Counseling to Workshops. - What services are required to stay in good
standing?
All students who complete at least five services a year are considered to be in good standing. These five services (a) must include at least one academic progress meeting a semester and (b) does not include use of the Lending Library or the Computer Lab.
Services Offered:
- Academic Progress Meeting
All participants are required to meet with the director or coordinator every semester to discuss their academic progress. These meetings are important so that we are aware of your educational goals and can help you succeed! - Contacts
Our staff members maintain contact with you throughout the semester by phone and email. It's important that you return any calls or emails that you get throughout the semester. We contact you to see how you're doing in your classes, if you need help with tutoring, or if there's anything else we can help you out with. - Computer Lab
We have a computer lab that is open during our office hours that is available to all Project CONNECT students ONLY. You can use the computer to type and print papers or presentations. You can also use the internet to check your email and to work on any research you might have. - Counseling
Project CONNECT works directly with the Counseling Center so if you need to speak to someone confidentially, we can refer you to a counselor with that department. Don't be afraid to ask if this sounds like a service you can benefit from. - Cultural Events
SHSU Drama Department has several major theater productions each semester. The program offers each participant one free ticket per semester to attend. These productions will be posted on our blackboard calendar and calendars handed out each semester during orientation meeting. We will send e-mails out the month of the production. Please reply to e-mails or come by the office to sign up for the tickets. When the tickets are ready to pick up please pick them up or arrange ahead of time to have another participant use your ticket. If tickets are left not picked up during the week of the production, the participant will be charged $8.00 for the ticket left behind.
Community cultural events will be a new service being implemented this year. We will on a monthly basis check services and outstanding participants who go above and beyond requirements. These participants will be given the choice to use specific cultural events donated by surrounding communities; Houston ballet, symphony, festivals, etc. These types of events and/or field trips will be posted on the calendar on Blackboard and will be posted on fliers around the office. - Lending Library
All students in good standing may check out books from our textbook lending library. Every participant in good standing will receive at least one book per semester. Due to budget restrictions we cannot guarantee more than one book per student. Any additional inventory or funds is dispersed at our discretion according to length of time in the program, classification, and then total services completed. All books must be returned to the Project CONNECT office by the last day of final exams. If you do not return your books any other Project CONNECT property you may have borrowed from us by the deadline, we will place a block and a hold on your SHSU records. This means you will not be able to add or drop classes or request a transcript among other things. Most of our inventory is reused each semester so the book that you are using now will probably be used by someone else the next semester. We hate telling our students that we don't have a certain book for them just because one person refused to return it to us. - Mentoring
Our mentoring program is a one-on-one program that is meant to help you though your college experience. We match you with specific mentor programs that best suit, where you are as a college student. New transfers are matched with participants who have already been through this process.
Freshmen are matched with senior participants to help them maneuver through the obstacles of going to college. Juniors and seniors have the option to join specific mentor programs that consist of faculty or local businesses matching them to career and degree interests. If you are interested in these programs please contact the director.
Also anyone interested in becoming a mentor please contact the director. Participants who sign up and are assigned a mentee are required to go through a 2 hour training course over forms and contacts that are required as a mentor. The mentors and mentees will be honored at a dinner at the end of the year. Mentors are also guaranteed 3 books in the lending library upon receiving paperwork at end of semester. The hours during mentoring will also count towards service hours in the program. - Networking Opportunities
We offer different events which will help you to build your networking skills. You will be able to get to know other participants in the program and other faculty and staff from around the campus. - Orientations
We have orientations meetings each semester that will help you get familiar with the program and what we offer to you. These orientations usually do not last long. We will try to answer all the questions that you may have about the program and let you know what services are available and what participation is expected in return. - Paper Editing
We are happy to edit any papers, letters, resumes, or other written material for our participants. You can either drop a paper off at our office or email a paper to Katie.Fletcher@shsu.edu and we will make sure it gets edited. Please send us your papers at least two days before you need them back (be sure to include a return by date on your paper or in your email). That way we have plenty of time to look over it and plenty of time for you to make the changes that we suggest. We can either email the paper back to you or you can come by our office and pick it up. The ability to email in a paper is a great option for those of you who commute to school and don't have a lot of time to spend in our office. - Tutoring
To set up a tutoring appointment, please contact Katie (936.294.1615) or the Student Assistants (936.294.1694). They will schedule you an appointment with the appropriate tutor. However, if no one is in the office you can fill out the tutoring sign up form and slide it in the pocket on Katie's office door. She'll get back to you right away to set up tutoring. - One-on-one Tutoring:
This will be by appointment only. This will be a complete one-on-one experience between you and the selected tutor. You will have to make an appointment in advance. You can choose to meet one time only, once a week, once a month, or any other arrangement that works best for you. If you aren't able to make your schedule appointment, please cancel with your tutor by calling our office at 936-294-1694 so that they can tutor someone else in your place. - Homework Help:
If you're working on a homework assignment or test review and find that you have a few questions, feel free to stop by our office to receive homework help. While this is done on a walk-in basis, it is probably a good idea for you to call ahead to make sure that the available tutor is able to help you out with that subject. One tutor can work with multiple students needing homework help. However, if a tutor is already scheduled to meet with a participant for one-on-one tutoring, that first participant gets to decide whether or not to share the tutor since they scheduled their appointment in advance and they meet on a regular basis. This kind of tutoring is beneficial because the tutors will be able to help more than one person at a time and participants can come in and get help more often without having to make a regular appointment. - Group Study Night:
This is for participants who need help with any subject. In these sessions, students come in and work as a group with other students who may be taking the same class. There is only so much a tutor can help with because we are not in the class with the students, but if someone who is in the same class can help then it is an even better learning experience. A tutor will be present to answer questions and make sure that the sessions generally stay on track. Group study nights take place after hours and last for a few hours. Please see the calendar on Blackboard to find out when the group study nights are scheduled. You can also ask a tutor for more information. - Finals Study Night:
This will be done close to finals week. We will have a massive study night where all of our participants will be able to come get help from the tutors (maybe a few teachers as well). Location, time, and other details will be announced closer to Finals Week. - Tutoring Software:
We have a computer in our tutoring lab that has test preparation and general learning software loaded onto it. We have a variety of software designed to help you with typing skills, math skills, and more! We will also be purchasing test preparation software for tests used to gain admission into graduate school.
Here are the different tutoring options:
- Workshops
We offer different types of workshops for Project CONNECT participants only and we can also connect you with different workshops on campus. These will cover a variety of topics such as study skills, interviewing skills, graduate school, etc. These workshops can be very helpful for not only your college experience, but also for your future work experiences.
Do you have any questions? The best way to learn more about our services is to come in and talk to us!
Wise words...
