Counseling Block Schedule by Ray Wong

My name is Ray Wong, and I am the Co-Chair of Counseling at San Diego City College with Edwin Hiel. I started counseling at City in 1994. Since the beginning of my tenure, counselors have met with students on “1-Hour Appointments” for planning and 10-Minute “Walkin” to answer short questions. The problem has been that we have not been able to provide enough Appointments to meet the student demand during registration time. So students try to get their needs met on Walkin. Counselors cannot do effective career or educational planning in a 10-minute timeframe, and we have too many students to provide an Appointment to every student who needs one at registration.

So what generally happens is students sign up for Walkin because Appointments fill up so quickly. The line for Walkin extends to two hours or longer, and students wind up seeing a counselor for 10 minutes to help select classes. I have long felt this to be an ineffective counseling model because it leaves students without a plan and counselors are not able to provide the kind of comprehensive career and educational planning that really helps students. This is frustrating for both students and counselors.  

In an attempt to address this problem, the counseling department is piloting a "block schedule" for “Appointments” and “Quick Questions” this summer in order to provide more Appointments. More Appointments means additional comprehensive services to more students, but it also means we have to limit “Quick Questions” to certain times of the day. We hope that you will be patient with us because we believe providing more appointments will lead to better service delivery.

What we have been doing in the past hasn’t been working, so we’re going to try something different. We owe it to our students to at least try. Here is our "block schedule" for summer 2017:

Mondays and Tuesdays
8:00am to 10:00am	Appointments
10:00am to 11:30am	Quick Questions
11:30am to   2:30pm	Appointments
2:30pm to   4:00pm	Quick Questions
4:00pm to   6:00pm	Appointments
6:00pm to   7:00pm	Appointments & Quick Questions
Wednesdays and Thursdays
8:00am to 10:00am	Appointments
10:00am to 11:30am	Quick Questions
11:30am to   2:30pm	Appointments
2:30pm to   4:00pm	Quick Questions
4:00pm to   5:00pm	Appointments
5:00pm to   6:00pm	Appointments & Quick Questions
Friday Schedule Only
8:00am to 10:00am	Appointments
10:00am to 11:30am	Quick Questions
11:30am to   2:30pm	Appointments
2:30pm to   3:00pm	Quick Questions

GM Buys 'Green' Tires

Kudos to General Motors, a company which is making a commitment to buy only sustainably harvested rubber for its automobile tires. "This isn't just about going green. It's about driving real business results." -- David Tulauskas, Director of Sustainability at GM. 

GM Commits To 'Green' Natural Rubber For Millions Of Tires appeared in Automotive News on May 15, 2017

Former Homeless Mother Graduates

"Every morning at 5:30 we walked three miles down a country road -- rain, shine, or snow -- just to take you to day care. Then I'd walk the three miles right back to catch the first of my three buses I had to take across town to work." -- Veronica Hughes, Commencement Speaker at Miramar College.

Once Homeless Grad Delivers Miramar Commencement was published in the San Diego Union Tribune on May 20, 2017.

Photographer Lives His Dreams

“I wanted to break away. I was always pretty driven and passionate. I had a motto I still live by today: ‘Don’t die wondering. Die trying.’ ” -- Photographer Travis Burke.

Three Years By Van: Photographer Chasing His Dream was published in the San Diego Union Tribune on May 20, 2017.

Should Marines Integrate Recruitment Training?

"Evidence has been mounting that segregation negatively impacts both performance by and attitudes about women in the Marines. Even male Marines have begun to speak out in favor of integrated boot camp."

Marine Corps Is Dragging Its Feet On Integrating Boot Camp. Why? was published in the San Diego Union Tribune on May 20, 2017.

Your First Job After Graduation

If you are graduating soon, you will probably be looking for that first job after earning your degree. Here are some ways to help yourself land that important job: 50 Things Recent Grads Can Do to Score Their First Job appeared on MSN Money. 

Charitable Companies

Want to work for a company that donates money to charities? The corporate culture of these companies suggest they are about much more than the bottom line; they are making a difference in their communities. America's 12 Most Charitable Companies appeared on MSN Money. Some of the names on this list will surprise you. 

Corolla Vs Civic

Some people want to buy a new car, something I don't suggest because buying a used vehicle saves money. Still, if you are itching to buy a new compact car, two of the best for performance, reliability, and value are the Toyota Corolla and Honda Civic.

How do they compare? Motor Trend and MSN Auto rate the Civic higher. Cars.com has a YouTube video suggesting the Civic is more fun to drive. However, one thing that isn't mentioned is reliability. The April 2017 Consumer Reports rates the Corolla much higher in reliability, meaning it could cost less in repairs over time.

Jobs For People Who Don't Like Talking to Others

Okay, so you're not a "people person" and you want a job where you don't have to communicate a lot. The 7 Best Jobs for Anyone Who Hates Talking to People appeared on MSN Lifestyle.

Note that the article references O*Net and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, two useful job/career research sites.

Avoid Being Robbed

If you can prevent your home from being burglarized, you won't lose valuable possessions, money, time, and peace of mind. 21 Things A Burglar Won't Tell You appeared in Reader's Digest and MSN Lifestyle.

Start A Business for Cheap!

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Robot Prints House

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Star Wars on Saving Money

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Science and Technology by Kelli Turpin

 

I’m a fairly private person.  Google my name and the first thing that pops up is my RateMyProfessors.com profile from over a decade ago, then a few things that aren’t about me, then my profile at City’s Counseling website, followed by a bunch of other stuff that also isn’t about me.  (Some of the images connect back to the blog posts I wrote a few years ago.  I didn’t click through all of the images, but the first couple of screens?  Not me.)  A friend from high school found me through the blog a while ago (about three years or so, I think).  Then a few months ago, I got an e-mail from a stranger that rocked my world.

I need to go back to the science part.  (Google is the “technology” part, if you must know. <grin>)

At some point last summer, after many requests from my mother, we ordered two DNA kits from Ancestry.com*.   We duly spit into the little cups and sent them away for processing.  Sometime in September, the results got posted on-line in my account^.  We oohed and aahed and promptly forgot about it.  (For anyone who’s interested: my “ethnicity estimate” is 48% Great Britain, 19% Ireland, and 33% Other Regions, which includes 16% Italy/Greece – that will be important in a minute).

In February, I got an e-mail at work entitled “Ancestry DNA.”  It was a busy time, so I actually didn’t read it until later that day.  I kind of shrugged and thought: Hmm.  Maybe I have a relative at City College!  When I finally read it, I learned that I had a younger sister.  Wrap your mind around that.  This wasn’t like the pages of 4^th or 5^th cousins that Ancestry’s test had spat out before.  This was an actual sibling.  (Technically, we would share the same amount of DNA if we were first cousins as well, but since we both knew our bio-father’s name and it was the same name, it was siblings.)