With fall registration beginning April 9, counselors are preparing for the rush.
Cheri Souza, a counselor in the Maida Kamber Center for Career Exploration, Transfer and Graduation Services, said the center will host a registration workshop Tuesday, April 10, from 11 a.m. to noon. The workshop will take place at Maida Kamber Center, and Souza said students who attend will learn how to use STAR and MyUH to understand their degree plans.
“We’ll teach them some little tricks and tips,” Souza said. “A lot of students don’t realize they can search for writing intensive courses (on MyUH), for example. There’s a lot of things they can do, and we show them how to use it to make a plan.”
In addition, the Maida Kamber Center will start increasing its walk-in counseling sessions to Monday through Thursdays at 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
“Since Monday (April 2), we’ve had a lot of students come in for counseling,” Souza said.
The center, which is comprised of seven counselors, is expecting the same amount of traffic as last fall. Souza said that by November 2011, about 900 students met with a Maida Kamber Center counselor for Spring 2012 registration.
Quinn Hamamoto, 18, switched her major from culinary arts to liberal arts. She said she visited a counselor in each department to make sure she would be on track of her academic journey.
“They’re very helpful because they can make better choices for me that I wouldn’t have made,” Hamamoto said.
Souza recommended that students come up with a plan to follow so they can graduate on time.
“We’re a free resource,” she said. “We can help students, but walk-ins are typically only 15 minutes.”
Sandra Dejanovic, 26, said at first she did not know what classes she should register for.
“At the time, I didn’t figure out what I was going to do,” Dejanovic said. “But this summer I’m going to start taking the pre-requisite classes like English and math.”
Students who need more than 15 minutes with a counselor should call ahead and make an appointment, Souza said. One of the most common concerns amongst college students is the rising cost of tuition, Souza said.
“A lot of students are very conscious about the price increases,” she said. “They want to make sure they take whatever they can here at KCC before transferring to a four-year university.”
One of the goals for the Maida Kamber Center is to encourage students to take advantages of programs like Ka‘ie‘ie and financial aid. Souza also said students do not realize it is possible to graduate in two years.
“The sooner they come in, the sooner they can take advantage of their time at KCC,” Souza said. “Don’t wait until after the registration period on your last semester (to see a counselor).”
Dejanovic said her counselor is beneficial.
“I talked to my counselor,” Dejanovic said. “They’re actually really helpful and they give me a lot of information.”
For more information on the Maida Kamber Center, visit www.facebook.com/kcc.mkc.