I am very excited for today’s “The Expert Files” post! Why? Because it comes from a true expert on helping students succeed, Shona Doyle, the Director of Academic Coaching and Student Development here at USF! I asked Shona to share with us some tips on how to have a successful start to the semester. First, a bit about Shona…
Shona Doyle has played an instrumental role in students’ development and success at the University of San Francisco for the last 13 years as an administrator, counselor, coordinator, and currently as the Director of Academic Coaching and Student Development Programs at the newly created Center for Academic and Student Achievement (CASA). As a member of the CASA team in Student Life, she and her colleagues will be serving over 5,838 undergraduate students, helping them with everything from pre-admission to staying on track to graduate in four years, and everything else in-between! I can personally attest to Shona’s skills, as I have her and her colleague Sara Solloway on speed dial, as I know many faculty members do!
USF Director of Academic Coaching and Student Development, Shona Doyle
Shona completed her M.A. in Counseling Psychology at the University of San Francisco, she has a certification in Core Strengths Coaching from San Francisco State University, and she obtained her B.A. in World Literature and Cultural Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her background is in problem-solving, goal-oriented counseling, with a social justice and strengths-based positive psychology focus, which informs her work with students, parents, faculty and staff. She has extensive experience working with students, parents, faculty, administrators and staff on the topics of academic coaching, major exploration/decision-making, student self-efficacy, transition-to-school counseling, positive psychology, development/training programs, and managing mental health issues and/or other disabilities.
Read on for Shona’s expert tips!
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
“You’ve already completed your first two weeks of classes! Congratulations! I know the transition to college can be a little bit overwhelming. Believe me, I’ve been in your shoes before, (even though it’s been a few years since I was an actual college student), but I still get to experience a little bit of that mix of excitement and jitters each year again, when the semester starts, albeit from the other side of the desk. Over the years, and working with countless students who have come through my office looking for support and advice, I’ve learned a few tips and tricks that I’d like to share with you about how to make the transition to this new academic year a successful one.
Tip #1 College can be hard. Learn to ask for help. Whether you’re a new, or continuing student, I’ll let you in on a little secret: You don’t have to know all of the answers on your own. Reach out and ask for help, make a friend, talk to your professor during office hours, talk to your R.A., come to our office (Harney 240) and talk with an academic coach. Don’t make things harder than they are. You should feel challenged in college, but not utterly overwhelmed. The beauty of attending a relatively small school is that there are many campus support offices, as well as faculty, students, and staff who really care and want to be of assistance to you. I challenge you to reach-out to someone this week and see how they’re doing, ask them if you can assist them in some small way, or if you’re feeling a little lost and need to find your school groove, seek out someone to help you figure out where to start.
Tip #2 Start a new habit that helps you study smarter, manage your time better, or feel more energized. You have many years of experience creating some habits that are helpful to you, like waking up on time to get to school, eating a healthy breakfast, and *not* texting in class, (yes, your faculty see you, even if you’re in the back of the classroom). You probably also have a few habits that you’re not so proud of, like always underestimating how much time it will take you to write a paper, or thinking you can cram for a test the night before, (otherwise known as p r o c r a s t i n a t i o n), or only getting four hours of sleep, because you couldn’t tear yourself away from your computer or friends to get to bed at a decent hour. Habits are powerful. It is harder to break a habit than to create a new one. I challenge you to think of one new habit that you can start this week that will be helpful to you. Some examples of new habits that students I’ve worked with have tried to start are: to go to bed an hour earlier, go to the Learning and Writing Center (Cowell 215) BEFORE papers are due, make an appointment at CAPS to help with test anxiety (Counseling & Psych. Services, Gillson Lower Level), go to Gleeson library to study/review notes right after classes, find a study buddy and set-up a weekly study group, go to professors’ office hours, go to the Priscilla A. Scotlan Career Services Center (UC 5th Floor) to ask about internships/jobs, and put all of test dates in their phone with reminders. Whatever new habit you want to try to create, make sure it’s realistic and that you stick to it. Make it a part of your daily routine and before you know it, it will be second nature to you.
Shona, enjoying one of her healthy habits, yoga!
Tip #3 Take responsibility for your own academic path. What do I mean by that? I think Adrienne Rich from her convocation speech at Douglass College, 1977, “Claiming an Education” sums it up well: “The first thing I want to say to you who are students, is that you cannot afford to think of being here to receive an education; you will do much better to think of yourselves as being here to claim one.” I think it is important to remember that it is your responsibility take an active part in your education, and to sometimes get out of your comfort zone and take some risks, and realize that it’s okay to be wrong in class once and a while, (trust me, you’ll learn to embrace making mistakes in life, that’s how we all learn!). Make an effort to discover what motivates you, what you’re passionate about, and how you can be your best self, academically and otherwise. Remember, you are attending a Jesuit Catholic institution which holds as one of its core values: “the moral dimension of every significant human choice: taking seriously how and who we choose to be in the world”. Also, as our new University tagline states, Change the World from Here. I challenge you to make one small change, or take one risk, this week to help move yourself forward on your path to academic success and personal fulfillment.
Tip #4 Hold yourself accountable for achieving your goals, (starting with finishing your homework), and find others to help you to be accountable, (a.k.a., “Someone help me! I’m addicted to Facebook!”). Ahhh, the allure of Facebook, Twitter, blogs, TMZ, Angry Birds, Words with Friends, email, etc. You only ever plan on going to any of these websites or checking email for a few minutes, but wow, do those minutes tick away even faster, when you’re in “Procrastinationville”, and before you know it a whole 45 minutes has passed looking at a friend of a friend’s pictures on FB, when you really should have been writing a response paper for your Ethics class. Sure, the web can be a fun distraction, and even a useful tool sometimes, (like right now, you’re reading this very informative blog!), but sometimes you need to turn off the internet,…I mean literally, turn off the internet. If you can’t manage doing that on your own, as I mentioned in Tip #1, learn to ask for help, especially if you’re having some trouble with procrastination and managing your time effectively. I’ve heard students talk about how they need help with time management many times in my office. The good news is that they are reaching out for help and asking someone how to manage their time a little better. If this is something that you struggle with as well, I encourage you to meet with an academic coach, (in Harney 240, Malloy Hall or Gleeson Library Lower Level), talk to the folks in the Learning and Writing Center, (Cowell 215), or attend one of the 33 helpful and *free* workshops in the Student Success Workshop Series this semester, (Note: The Time Management& Procrastination workshop will be on Sept. 8, 11:50am-12:40pm in Cowell 216). I challenge you to turn off the internet while you are doing your homework for at least one hour this week.
Shona, taking some time to smell the roses at the Golden Gate Conservatory of Flowers
Tip #5 Find a mentor. This can be anyone really, but someone who you can look to for support, encouragement, advice and guidance. Your mentor relationship could be on an informal basis, or a more formal basis, but find someone, (or many someones), who inspire you and with whom you feel comfortable asking questions. This could be someone in your family, your professors, an academic coach, a career counselor, a dean, alumni, a friend of the family, a peer, etc. You can find a USF staff, faculty or alumni mentor by signing-up for the Mentorship Program, which has many alumni ready to make connections with current students, (you can be a mentee now, and then when you graduate, you can be a mentor!). I challenge you to find at least one mentor this semester and to make a connection with that mentor.
I hope these five tips are useful to you, and that you share them with a friend! I challenge you to implement at least one of them today, and you get bonus points for implementing more than one! Let us know which tip was the most helpful to you by leaving a comment on this post.Good luck the rest of your semester and be sure to stop by my office (Harney 240) to say hi and find-out even more tips and tricks on how to be academically successful in your four years at USF!”
A very big thanks to Shona for sharing her advice with us here on the blog! Shona, and the rest of the CASA staff, are excellent at what they do and are there to provide you with the help and support you need to be successful here at USF. Thanks, Shona!
One Comment