The Lion's Roundtable (Guest: Taneshia Drake)
Download MP3Good day. This is Amber Narro on KSLUs ninety point nine FM. I am at the Roundtable today with my sweet, wonderful friend, The Doctor. Oh, Taneshia Drake. Very glad to have you today, Doctor.
Amber Narro:Drake. You're gonna be Taneshia today and I'm gonna be Amber, is that okay?
Taneshia Drake:I'll be T, you can be Amber.
Amber Narro:T? Okay, T is that radio name, I gotcha.
Taneshia Drake:Yeah.
Amber Narro:I gotcha. All right, so T, the T today is all about research. And one of the things that we were talking about before the show started is that I'm trying to celebrate our faculty and our researchers here on campus, for the things that they do to, bring that next level of content to their classes. And I wanna start with you. Welcome.
Amber Narro:What are you researching?
Taneshia Drake:Oh my goodness. A little bit of everything, to be honest. But my primary research is pretty much looking to see our students ready for college. You know? We always talk about, oh, they're so different.
Taneshia Drake:You know, today's students are different, but are they really? You know, so Doctor. Claire Procopio, and I'll call her Claire today since we're
Amber Narro:Very good.
Taneshia Drake:Our our radio. Sure. We've been doing a lot of research looking at our college readiness questionnaire, which is one of the assessments that we give out to our students in their first semester just to sort of gauge their preparedness for that first semester of college, you know. Do they have access to technology, stable housing, how are their academic preparations before college coming into that first semester? So I really just paying attention to those foundational psychosocial capacities to determine if they're ready for college.
Taneshia Drake:Excellent. So that's kinda where we are right now.
Amber Narro:I think it's this is great timing because yesterday we were talking with Jim Winter at the Columbia Theater and he was sharing with us that he's gonna come to the Southeastern one zero one class, 10 our ten ten class or our ten seventeen class. Ten seventeen is the honors section of that course. It's for first year success here at Southeastern. And what we do is make sure that students are ready for college, but we also treat this course as an opportunity to show them how college is at Southeastern so that they can be, very successful in that effort as well. And you have been studying Southeastern students
Taneshia Drake:Yes.
Amber Narro:For this. Yes? So how have you set this study up? What is it about? Tell me what you have how how it came into creation, first of all.
Taneshia Drake:So, like I mentioned, we give a survey, in that first week of the semester. It's called our college readiness questionnaire. So once we look at the research, once we look at the data coming in, can really assess where the students are. And so with this research, what I've noticed is that we have to stop using the the concept of meeting students where they are. They're not that different.
Taneshia Drake:You know, I always think about me whenever I graduated from undergrad here pursuing my masters after, I wasn't that different, you know? So, just really paying attention to all the details coming into college and then using that first semester to really get to know the student to determine whether or not whether those assessments coming in, the information was accurate, right? Because a lot of the students, they're on social media. So they really don't know what it means to be ready, right? So we're looking at the language that they're exposed to.
Taneshia Drake:So we have a lot of students, we ask them, you know, how do you feel about starting your first semester at college? And really just paying attention to some of the words that they're using. So they're using words like anxious, stressed, worried, you know. So what does it mean to be anxious? What does it mean to be stressed?
Taneshia Drake:What does it mean to be worried about starting college? And what we've discovered throughout
Amber Narro:the years words have very different levels. Different levels. Right? Worry is just you could be worried. It's alright.
Amber Narro:You can worry on that, but it doesn't necessarily mean you're stressed.
Taneshia Drake:It doesn't.
Amber Narro:And it certainly doesn't mean that you have anxiety maybe. Right? Mhmm. And and and not to dismiss those words because some people do. Right?
Amber Narro:Absolutely. But let's let's use the real words.
Taneshia Drake:The real words. Right. So for example, stress. I always tell students maybe you're not stressed. Maybe you're just exposed to newer responsibilities and you're figuring out ways to manage those responsibilities.
Amber Narro:Go
Taneshia Drake:on, And so in our SE classes, one thing that we do is work with the students' balance, you know? How do you balance your newer responsibilities? Maybe you're not stressed, You just have newer newer exposure. You know? You have newer classes.
Taneshia Drake:You're around newer people, different people.
Amber Narro:It's like when somebody parks in your spot. Right? Yes. You're annoyed.
Taneshia Drake:You're a
Amber Narro:little uncomfortable. Maybe you gotta park somewhere else the other day. Park somewhere.
Taneshia Drake:That was
Amber Narro:And then you roll your eyes when you walk by that person's car. And you're like, you know that that is where I typically park. Mhmm. You know?
Taneshia Drake:Yeah. So it's been very, very interesting, very eye opening, especially in the advisor capacity we, especially in first year success, because we advise the students, but we're also teaching them in that SE course. And then like you mentioned, we have different pathways for SEs, so we have your SE ten ten, your traditional first year experience pathway, your SE ten seventeen for honors, and then we also have SE ten twenty, which is for students who are coming in with co requisite requirements. So, looking at the college.
Amber Narro:What's a co requisite? Requirement? What?
Taneshia Drake:Requisite. The think about when we had developmental or remedial courses. So they're not developmental or remedial. The students are getting that support for math or English. They just need a little bit more support.
Taneshia Drake:So we've paired those courses, math and English, with some laboratory style classes to get them more support in those areas. Indeed. So
Amber Narro:And you surround them with professionals in these areas. Absolutely. Tutor types Tutors, resources. Instructors.
Taneshia Drake:Yes. Resources. They are in a learning community. So we have paired them with other students who are coming in with very similar ACT scores, high school GPAs. That way they have shared experiences, you know?
Taneshia Drake:Mhmm. It's almost like when you have children or for me nieces and nephews and you tell them things all day long and that information just goes in one ear and out the other. But they hear the exact same information from their besties and it's, oh, yeah. My bestie told me this, so this is true. I have to do this.
Taneshia Drake:That's pretty much what they're getting in this learning community. Right? So we're serving as their person, but because they're in a support system with their peers, it's gonna be a better experience for them because they have that sense of belonging for the most part.
Amber Narro:It's that responsibility thing you and I were talking about a little bit before we started this. That accountability? T and I are in a writer accountability group. Wag. Wag.
Amber Narro:Writers accountability group. And we meet once a week or once every two weeks to talk about our progress and our research. Yes. Right now, I'm doing some stuff for honor students. I'm also putting together and it it takes on a couple of different Yeah.
Amber Narro:Faces. Right? So for right now, I'm putting together, like, my justification for a project that I'm working for in honors. T is looking at this specific research. Prior to this, I was looking at how honors students create community, which we're about to share, to put together, their scholarship accountability meetings.
Amber Narro:Right? So they meet every week. That group meets every week, and they tell each other, I'm gonna start my application for next week. Right? And they start their application, or they are going to get their letters of recommendation, or they're gonna put their personal statement together.
Amber Narro:Whatever it is that they need to do, I'm gonna do some lab time this week so I can beef up my application. Whatever it is Yeah. To support that scholarship application, they're gonna they're gonna do that week. And then they come back the next week, report if it's done, and then they move forward.
Taneshia Drake:Or not.
Amber Narro:Or or not. Because sometimes, you know, you want the or not to not happen very much. Right? And we we we had to punt this week. All of us had to punt because of Yeah.
Amber Narro:Crazy orientation going on at Southeastern. We're scheduling students. We're very busy in the College of Honors and Excellence. Tee and I and doctor Perjopio are all three in that college. So we all three of us were like, this just this week.
Amber Narro:We'll be back.
Taneshia Drake:We'll be back.
Amber Narro:Promise. We're good. And me too. Me too. I've got some stuff going on now.
Amber Narro:So I'm I've reminded myself I've got I've got some time blocked out. I'm gonna get to my research for next time. But if you don't, I always say we throw cookies at you. Right? And then you if there's no real consequences to it, but you don't wanna come up two weeks in a row and say you didn't do something.
Amber Narro:Right? And it's about creating that community around you. And in this co requisite class, the same thing's happening with those students. They're seeing other people. They don't wanna be the only one that doesn't come in with their assignments.
Amber Narro:You know? When you're in a community and you've got kind of a responsibility to the group Absolutely. And you feel like, you know, if I don't come and say I've done something, nobody wants to come to a meeting three weeks in a row and say, we haven't done anything. People stop coming to the meeting. Right?
Amber Narro:Mhmm. You've got to create that sense of community. We were also talking about that yesterday when we talked about with Jim that now that fanfare's got a committee surrounding it and these people are coming together and talking to each other about what's going on, now I can promote what you're doing, and that happens in those scholarship and writing accountability meetings as well because as I'm going off and I'll hear other things, I'm like, Tee, you might wanna I I know you're doing that research in first year success. We've got this other thing that's happening over here or this other researcher is taking care of this. Y'all need to collaborate.
Amber Narro:Right? Yeah. And then all of a sudden it just really blossoms into something awesome. Mhmm. You know?
Amber Narro:And you're talking about that co requisite opportunity Right. For students to really create that community. We also do it in the first year success with our living learning communities. Mhmm. That's right.
Amber Narro:That is why all of the research says that engagement is so important.
Taneshia Drake:Engagement is important, absolutely. And you know, when we look at the peer mentorship, the engagement, sense of belonging, I always look at the friendships my students develop over the span of a year. And whenever they come back to my office, they're still with the same students. A year later, two years later, you know, hey, you know, such and such and I were going to hang out or we're engaged because this happens as well. This happens too.
Amber Narro:We have a honors baby. Really? A new honors baby. Yes. We have our two of our we had Levi and his wife, Emma.
Amber Narro:Yes. Oh my god. Spears. They had their sweet little baby in April. They were up here with her yesterday.
Amber Narro:We got to see her.
Taneshia Drake:I saw Levi orientation yesterday.
Amber Narro:Oh, day before yesterday. Sorry. I the orientation, we lose. But Tuesday, they were up here. She is gorgeous.
Amber Narro:She's gorgeous. She's just gorgeous. That's all I have to say. But they met in an honors class Yeah. And started dating, and they are now And they're married.
Amber Narro:Married and got a little honors baby. With a little baby honors lion. I love it.
Taneshia Drake:It's beautiful.
Amber Narro:It's my favorite thing.
Taneshia Drake:Love to see it. And, you know, those connections, those relationships, yes, we want them to succeed academically, but it's all about building your community too. And Indeed. Despite whether or not the students are in SE ten ten or ten ten or ten twenty or ten seventeen, in their SE class, they're getting community nonetheless. So just seeing them
Amber Narro:Don't you love that too?
Taneshia Drake:I do. Like, when you're
Amber Narro:when you're walking on campus and you've created little cohorts of people cohorts of people.
Taneshia Drake:And they friendships.
Amber Narro:Go and just hang out with each other and you see them in the lunchroom eating together and you're like, I did that. Have to become friends
Taneshia Drake:and they like
Amber Narro:each other and that's great. Yes. So it always helps their success and that is the thing, you know, and I I mean, even when you're thinking about it as we move into into our hobbies and and the things that we do, lots of people like to, know, meet with other people who are doing the same thing that they're doing because it's not just about liking to do that thing. It's holding yourself accountable to continuing learning in that. You know, I I think my my sweet little wonderful neighbor's in a knitting club and she she goes every couple of weeks and and makes sure that she is continuing on her project.
Amber Narro:You wanna bring your success and show that you can
Taneshia Drake:Love that.
Amber Narro:Share with other people. You know, These things follow you through to your whole life and not and obviously, we're talking about things, hobby to academics to career path. Yeah. It's why the Hammond the Taneshia Pro Chamber exists. Right?
Amber Narro:Absolutely. We can all come together. We can all build business. We can all work together.
Taneshia Drake:Place of ideas.
Amber Narro:Absolutely. It is it is for us to join together, and it starts as children. Right? On the playground and moves into college. And when you're in college, Wayne Amom was talking yesterday.
Amber Narro:He's one of our first year success instructors as well. He's a senior adviser here at Southeastern. And he was talking in our academic session yesterday about going one of the biggest things that'll give you a little bit of worry. Right? Well, use the word worry, not anxiety.
Amber Narro:Not anxiety. We're there, right? You don't need help for this one, right? But you might, I mean, be aware. We also talk to our students about being aware.
Amber Narro:We don't dismiss feelings either here at Southeastern in that first year success class. We just wanna put real words to it, right? Yeah. And and look for look for things that are gonna assign us, some responsibility in giving those students some resources. But in Wayne was talking to the group and he was telling them, you know, last year during high school, when you walked by, you probably knew everybody you passed on the sidewalk, right?
Amber Narro:And you've probably heard him say this before and you come to Southeastern and now we cover a, you know, blocks and blocks of radius here. And and you could walk up a few miles in a day around this campus and then you might not know anybody from one building to another. Mhmm. And it gives you a little bit of pause. You know, it it it's a different environment.
Taneshia Drake:You think for sure.
Amber Narro:Know? Indeed. So, we've gotta surround ourselves with some people.
Taneshia Drake:We do. Our students in first year success, we we do a we have a variety of assignments and activities. One assignment that I do is to really break them out of their comfort zone a little bit. I have this assignment called seek a senior, and I give them a very detailed list of questions, and I say, go find a senior right now. Mhmm.
Taneshia Drake:Go out. Go talk to someone. Ask questions. Am I right now in class? Yeah.
Taneshia Drake:Go out right now. Find an upperclassman. It doesn't have to be a senior. If you find a sophomore, a junior, and ask some questions about their college experience. Because again, I tell them this all semester but if they hear some of the same things from students who are living the same experience, the journey right now today, the journey that they're experiencing today, they might listen to it.
Amber Narro:I'm stealing that assignment by the way. I need you to send that to me.
Taneshia Drake:I actually told
Amber Narro:about it.
Taneshia Drake:If you could record your senior, that's great but why not just bring him back to class? Bring him back to class. It's almost like show and tell. Show us your senior. And that that like I said, it it breaks them out of their shell.
Amber Narro:Do they bring them back?
Taneshia Drake:Yeah. They bring them They bring them back. Some of them record videos, and I ask them, you know, well, what did they say? Did they introduce themselves? Were they polite?
Taneshia Drake:Were they respectful? And, you know, they give me all the details and they say, oh, I was just hanging out before my statistics class, I didn't have anything to do, so sure. I remember my SE experience, and we didn't do anything like this, you know? But they slowly built community not only within SC, but within other students. And, you know, so when they see those upperclassmen at a tailgate, at, you know, a party or something, They recognize their face, and they know this is a person that I can go to if I need support or if I have questions.
Amber Narro:Right. And much So different in college Yeah. Than it was in high school. You're gonna see upperclassmen in your classes.
Taneshia Drake:Mhmm.
Amber Narro:You know? And that might be a little bit little bit scary. Yeah. You know, a little bit intimidating. Intimidating.
Amber Narro:But you'll be okay. Mhmm. It's and you'll get used to it very quickly, especially with so many students coming in with dual enrollment. Right? Yeah.
Amber Narro:And I'm not just talking about my honor students. Students across the board come in with with dual enrollment now. There's a lot of students. And, which means that they're taking classes while they're in high school as college students for college credit. And they're starting to test out of some of those early classes.
Amber Narro:And dual enrollment, I've got a I've I've got a love relationship with dual enrollment because it helps students save money on college. It definitely gives them a head start. But sometimes, I want students to to realize that when they get here, they need to protect their schedule a little bit in that first semester. You and I were talking about this just a little bit before Yeah. It started.
Amber Narro:Do not pile on in that first semester. No. You know, give yourself an opportunity. I know that you have I I tell students, use dual enrollment as your down payment to give yourself some time to explore your first semester. You know?
Amber Narro:Don't use it as an opportunity to to, make sure that you get into harder classes that are just gonna be that are really gonna challenge you. That change from high school to college is difficult. And the classes that you took in high school as dual enrollment classes are not the same as those that you're taking in college. You do get the same credit. You do get the same information and content Mhmm.
Amber Narro:In those classes. Absolutely. So you've earned those grades that you've made in those dual enrollment classes. I'm not dismissing that at all, but it is a different experience when you get here because you're not taking those classes every day
Taneshia Drake:Right.
Amber Narro:Like you were in high school.
Taneshia Drake:When you're in high And
Amber Narro:daily accountability comes to play. You're only taking them on Monday, Wednesday, or Tuesday, Thursday. Yeah. You've got seniors in those classes. They're not all your friends.
Amber Narro:The teacher is not as as they're all day for you. They've got a different schedule across the campus that they've gotta go deal with. So you've got some real scheduling things that happen. Right? I had I I always remember I had a student several years ago when I was still in communication who said, came by your office and you were not there during your office hours.
Amber Narro:And I went What?
Taneshia Drake:You don't say.
Amber Narro:I was totally in my office during office hours yesterday. I know. I may I may have gone to the bathroom. They were like, I waited for you. You never showed up.
Amber Narro:They went to our classroom.
Taneshia Drake:Oh, this happens all
Amber Narro:the Yeah. Yeah. So they didn't know that my and and it's on my syllabus. I say it during class. They're on the first day, they're getting so much information just compounded at them.
Amber Narro:I mean, just think of orientation yesterday. We were wore out at the end of the day. Those students were on information overload. I watched them. I was at the end of the day.
Amber Narro:I was over at the dorm watching them all come in, showing them the classroom over at Ascension Hall for my honor students, and they were wore out. Too much information, and you can just miss that little thing. Detail. This isn't where my office is. My office is my office.
Amber Narro:I have my own personal office. This I don't have a classroom here.
Taneshia Drake:You know, that that perception of college readiness and what they believe to be readiness, we have a lot of students who believe that our classroom is our office. Mhmm. And what we do is we really try to use that first semester to teach them the basic lingo of college. So we see a lot of students who come in with dual enrollment credit, and they have this idea that they need to rush the college experience because they've already, you know, got their foot in the door a little bit. But what they don't realize is that your experience in dual enrollment is not going to be the same experience when you get here.
Taneshia Drake:The schedule changes. You can't expect to have sixteen, seventeen hours of college credit and get the same experience that you had in high school. Mhmm. That stress that I mentioned earlier, these are those newer responsibilities that they're exposed to. So that's pretty much why we're seeing the induced level of anxiety and, you know, the academic stress but teaching them the basic lang the languages that we use here, that jargon, a lot of the things that they haven't been exposed to yet, we have to spend time and and teach them.
Taneshia Drake:And do. Letting them know your professors are not housed in their classrooms, you know? Accountability, how to advocate for yourself. Even communicating with parents. I have a lot of students who come to me and ask, you know, hey.
Taneshia Drake:Can you email my mom? Or can you write? Can you can you let them know what's going on? Or I don't know how to put this into words. Can you email my professor for me and ask them about makeup?
Taneshia Drake:So it's just teaching them the basics of
Amber Narro:what need. Is no.
Taneshia Drake:Absolutely. Absolutely. We can't. No.
Amber Narro:You know? No. Number one, we've got laws that protect our students against that. Mhmm. And secondly, that is not good for them.
Amber Narro:Yeah. You know, we have got to make them do that for themselves so that they can we're we're you know, I always told my told my kids, I'm not raising kids. Yeah. I'm raising adults. Adults.
Amber Narro:You know. Adults. I'm raising you to become productive adults. I am training you.
Taneshia Drake:And that's that's that's why I try to shift my mindset as a higher ed practitioner instead of meeting students where they are. Challenge them a little bit. You
Amber Narro:know? Make em uncomfortable.
Taneshia Drake:Make them uncomfortable. Do things. Go talk to somebody. Yeah, do hard things. Go find someone that you don't know.
Taneshia Drake:If you need support, I'm going to tell you who to go to but you have to you have to learn how to have
Amber Narro:that Put your shoes and socks on and walk over there. Go over there and
Taneshia Drake:get it done. Have a conversation, you know? So, it's challenging for them, but I get a kick out of it. I enjoy it. I love it so much.
Amber Narro:Watch them grow in.
Taneshia Drake:Watching them grow, watching that little light bulb go off, and then just watching them thinking back to that research, just watching them go from, I don't think I'm ready for college to, oh yeah, I can do this plus, you know? I'm I'm actually thinking about a master's in that first semester already. Let's wait. Let's let's wait until the spring and do your academic plan and see if you're even committed to this major first, and then come back in a few years and we can talk about a master's. But the research has been very, very interesting.
Taneshia Drake:Like I said, it's it's been challenging me a lot, just as I prepare for advising students, but also in the classroom. So I'm a part of the Momentum Scholars for the Louisiana Board of Regents, and our project this semester has been
Amber Narro:What does that mean?
Taneshia Drake:So Momentum Scholars, we have a cohort of higher ed faculty and staff who come together from each Louisiana system school system. So for you all, we have our MacNeese UNO, well not UNO because they they moved on, but all the ULS systems come together. So each college has a group of Momentum scholars who talk about pedagogy in the classroom. So our task is
Amber Narro:How to teach? Pretty
Taneshia Drake:much is surrounded about surrounded around tilting. So transparency in learning and teaching. So what that means is we take our pedagogy, how we teach in the classroom, and we shift it to where the students are able to articulate it a little bit better. So looking at those objectives that we use going into the classroom, what is your purpose? What is your task?
Taneshia Drake:What is the criteria for this particular assignment? And making it a little bit more understandable to the student. So for first year success
Amber Narro:What that means is that after that class is over, the student can say, here's what I learned.
Taneshia Drake:Here's what I learned. Exactly. So with a class like first year success, you can't really do that. With a history, yes. You know, with a biology and anatomy, absolutely.
Taneshia Drake:But with first year success, we teach students how to be college students. So the only true way to assess that is by graduating. Mhmm. Retention. You know?
Taneshia Drake:So one thing that we've been looking at is really helping the students to develop career ready skills in that first semester, that first and second semester. So we'll take basic assignments like academic mapping and planning and identify skills that the students can take away and use in an actual career. Mhmm. So for them, it's not just busy work. It's not just something that, oh, I could just do this online.
Taneshia Drake:You're actually taking something away from this that you can use in your career. So that's been very, very helpful and very eye opening because it changes our mind about SC as a class, but then also about the assignments that we do too. Very cool. Mhmm.
Amber Narro:What have been the most important findings of your research thus far, Taneshia?
Taneshia Drake:Paying attention to the language that the students are using. We always say, oh, they're so tech savvy. They're the high generation, which is true. They are, but I think they're just being exposed to videos and language that they're seeing on digital media, and they're using that to describe the feelings that they're having in that moment. And I
Amber Narro:do think it's important that you said that within that context because I think that we have to watch our language around these students as well. I think as higher education practitioners, to borrow your word, and also as parents, we say, oh, they know everything. They they know the technology on this. Mhmm. Try to get them into Canvas for the first time into their learning management system.
Taneshia Drake:It's a workday. Yeah.
Amber Narro:They are interested. They understand the tech that they're exposed to just like we do. Mhmm. Right? Mhmm.
Amber Narro:You know, we didn't know how to use the car radio until we started playing with it after it turned from knobs to butt to to digital. Right? So we have to learn, and it's not you know, student I can promise you this. No student who's ever come to Southeastern knows how to turn the how to turn on the technology and use it immediately. They've got to have some help, and so does so do all parents.
Amber Narro:If you haven't seen it before, we've gotta show you how to use it. So tech savvy, you're only as tech savvy as what you've been exposed to.
Taneshia Drake:Been exposed
Amber Narro:to. So let's talk about that real quick. You know? They can open Yes. Maybe.
Amber Narro:Maybe. Maybe. Yeah. You can open a TikTok. I can't.
Amber Narro:I don't have it on my phone. I'm not interested in that. But I can I can give Instagram and and Facebook a whirl? Yeah. Right?
Amber Narro:So it depends on what I have zero interest in TikTok. And let me just tell you why. There's too much stuff going on. There's too many blinking lights.
Taneshia Drake:It really takes time.
Amber Narro:I just can't my my brain there's too many blinking lights on TikTok.
Taneshia Drake:It takes time. That's me with Facebook. I don't even have the app anymore.
Amber Narro:I've I'm I'm done with a lot of it. The AI situation with you know, I need to be able to trust what I see and I'm just not I'm just kinda over it right now, you know. So and I do feel and let me just also say this, I feel your students Mhmm. Coming together in those face to face areas a lot more than they used to. Post COVID, I think they all started to hide a little bit because we taught them to do that.
Taneshia Drake:Right? It was okay.
Amber Narro:But now It was the norm. Now, six years post COVID, they are coming out. They are more engaged. They want to be at the things. I have never seen we said this over and over last year, and I don't think it's just because it was the hundred year celebration and there was a lot of things going on.
Amber Narro:I think we are continuing to see that trend with these students wanting to get out and feel those relationships. They saw their older brothers and sisters kinda go into into a little hive and and hide out. They don't wanna be like that. They wanna come out and and have some lived experiences.
Taneshia Drake:It's it's the FOMO. The fear of missing out.
Amber Narro:Good.
Taneshia Drake:You know?
Amber Narro:Get out.
Taneshia Drake:They definitely wanna be a part of things. Very good. Connection.
Amber Narro:So, watch your language, people. Don't assume things on on others or assume you have some sort of disorder because you're nervous. Absolutely. Nervous is okay but also be able to pick out when you need to go and and seek some help and you might need to go seek some help just to find out that you're just nervous and that's okay too.
Taneshia Drake:And that's okay. And that's okay. Okay. And just be
Amber Narro:be open. We have those resources here at Southeastern. I do wanna make sure that we, let parents and students who might be listening know that they can always go get some help at the counseling center if they need to. It's free of charge for all of our students, faculty, and staff.
Taneshia Drake:And staff.
Amber Narro:As well. Mhmm. To go and and and have somebody listen and see if what you're experiencing is something that you can just do through life adjustments or maybe you need a little bit more help and we can certainly Skill development. Yeah. We can definitely help with that.
Amber Narro:But watch your language until you go and you talk to folks, right?
Taneshia Drake:Get out there, you know? Yes. Just just get out of your comfort zone. College is a new experience for all of us. And that first semester alone is it could be pretty scary, but we have so many support systems here at Southeastern, especially your first year adviser.
Taneshia Drake:I mean, we're in the classroom with them one to two times a week. We're in our offices. Always use that Grey's Anatomy comparison where the Christina Gang, Tater Meredith Gray, their person reference. So, just getting out of that comfort zone and being open to experiencing newer things.
Amber Narro:Love that. Love that. So Tee said it here, watch your mouth. Right? You better watch your mouth.
Amber Narro:Watch your language. Yes. I love it. I love it. Thank you so much Thank you for coming and having sharing.
Amber Narro:This has been super fun. Yes. Gotta do it again as as you're getting some more information on these students. I think this is particularly interesting to our public Yes. To understand how we can help our students become, more successful in college.
Amber Narro:Just, you know, and develop that that confidence. Right?
Taneshia Drake:Yeah. I think from here, what we're gonna end up doing is using our end of semester questionnaire and comparing those results from that college readiness. So once we get more information, we can we can whack through it.
Amber Narro:I love it. Writers accountability groups. We're going to be meeting and y'all should have them too. If you don't have a accountability group for your hobby, for your Anything. Professional, anything, whatever.
Amber Narro:Go find some.
Taneshia Drake:I've really been enjoying it.
Amber Narro:Find some people.
Taneshia Drake:Yeah.
Amber Narro:So, get a get a nice little group.
Taneshia Drake:I do try.
Amber Narro:Yes, indeed. I like it. Mhmm. Alright. Thanks, Taneshia.
Taneshia Drake:Thank you.
Amber Narro:Doctor. Taneshia Drake been talking to me today about some of her first year success research here at Southeastern and we're gonna continue that effort in making sure that all of your students are well prepared and understand their first year experience through some of her research and that of many other people in that department. First year success folks gonna gonna give you a shout out right now and say that y'all are awesome. You're working hard all through this the summer to make sure that those first year freshmen or first year students are very, prepared and and ready for their first day as well as their entire college experience. We appreciate all of you in the College of Honors and Excellence as well as our admission team who is putting together orientation.
Amber Narro:It's an awesome experience. We've been able, our dean has challenged us to go into all of the different sessions at, at orientation, and what we have all come together to put together for our freshmen this year is pretty special. So definitely send your students to Southeastern. We'll take care of them and Absolutely. And make sure that they're they're awesome adults.
Amber Narro:Right?
Taneshia Drake:Adulting. That's what we do. Absolutely. Adulting one zero one.
Amber Narro:And indeed. Thank you so much, and join us again here on Thursdays and Fridays at 09:00 on ninety point nine FM, The Lion. We're at the Lion's Roundtable. I'm Amber Narro. Y'all have a great day.
