Concord New Hampshire College

It is another rainy day in Michigan this morning. I am sitting at Panara Bread on Michigan Avenue and just reading about this restaurant. It is a different kind of Panara Bread, it is one of three non-profit ones.  You order your food and they give you the estimated amount for a contribution. They only give change and you drop your contribution in a box in front of the register. I just think this is such a good cause with so many people out of work here in Michigan, what a great way to help others.  I am going to try to come in often and contribute as I don't want it to close, we need good places like this.

I am not sure if any of these located near the Concord New Hampshire college campus. It would be a great place for one though with people going to their evening adult college classes after work, they would surely get the business when classes let out.

Well, I faxed an offer on a house today. This is the first time in my life I have ever wrote a check to pay cash for it.  It will be mine, all mine and I will have the title to the property; man that is going to feel good.  It is a small home, only two bedrooms, only 800 sq feet but it is only me, the kids are grown and why do I need anything bigger? I don't!!

Got to run...have a good day, I hope it isn't raining on all of you.

Since arriving at Granite State College, I have met with students at our Concord, Claremont, Conway, and Rochester regional campuses and hosted an online chat for our distance learning students. The message has been consistently positive when it comes to the quality of education and services students feel they are receiving from GSC. I have also spent enough time with staff throughout the college to know that there is a very high level of student caring that exists throughout the college. The Granite State College mission of access and opportunity is one staff embrace and students appreciate.

At the same time, colleges and universities must learn to go beyond caring about students and ensure that their practices, systems, and policies are "student-centered." Which means that we anticipate student needs and align our practices, systems and policies in a way that enhances student success and minimizes student frustration.

Over the past several months we have taken steps at Granite State College to better align our practices, systems and policies with student needs and goals. For example, more than half of our students are now enrolled in online courses, so in order to better support our distance learning students we have recently added new online tutoring services. We are also introducing new self-service capabilities that allow students to better plan their programs of study. And we are focusing attention on course scheduling to ensure more rapid tracks to degree obtainment.

This student-centered focus will be core to Granite State College as we engage in a process of continuous improvement moving forward, and find new ways to serve the evolving needs of adult students throughout the state of New Hampshire and the region. 

We have all been communicating since we were toddlers, what more can we possibly learn about communication after forty plus years of practical experience?  A lot!  One of the core courses required for an adult college degree is a Communication class.  I decided to take the Small Group Communication course which was being offered as one of the weekend college classes at Granite State College during the summer semester of my freshman year.  My plan was to get all of my core classes out of the way as soon as possible so that I could concentrate on the business and elective classes I was actually passionate about.  I had no idea communication would become one of my passions.  I had been running PTO meetings during the previous academic year for my daughter’s charter high school.  I thought I was doing fine as the facilitator of these meetings but after taking the small group communications class at GSC I realized I had been less than effective in this role.  When our PTO meetings resumed in the fall I utilized the use of “ice breakers” to help create a sense of comfort, ease and familiarity between the group members.  I was also able to identify and draw out participation from the members that were less than enthusiastic in playing an active role in the group.  Through my learning and understanding of the group dynamics of our PTO I was able to become a more effective leader in this group and therefore elicit more active participation and positive results from our meetings.

After I found the real life advantages achieved through the knowledge attained from my first communication course I immediately decided to take another as an elective in my adult college program.  The next available Concord NH Classes offered included Presentational Communication.  I had hoped to gain the knowledge and expertise to adequately present power point reports in my other adult college classes.  Much to my surprise the course was really more about public speaking without the aid of visual presentations but instead being able to simply speak to an audience without the distraction of any other medium.  This course made me the most uncomfortable of any course I took over my undergraduate career but I gained the most useful knowledge, experience and confidence than I did any other class.  Since completing this course I have spoken at press conferences, to the House of Representatives, to the University New Hampshire System Board of Trustees and to the audience of the GSC 2010 commencement ceremony. 

The next and most relevant communication course I enrolled in at GSC was Interpersonal Communications.  In this class I learned about many aspects of communication which I was not currently utilizing in my daily interactions with others.  I learned how to identify and communicate with different personality types.  I learned how my own personal communication style was perceived by others.  Most importantly, I learned how to LISTEN, not just hear what others were communicating to me.  During the difficult years of trying to communicate with my teenage daughters I had read numerous books and attended countless workshops to assist me in this impossible task.  It was not until this Granite State College communication course that I actually understood what the authors and social workers were trying to explain to me during those years.  This was a huge breakthrough in my life, both personally and professionally.  I now understand how to “hear” what others are trying to tell me and how to assure that others “hear” what I am saying.  My relationships, learning and daily life have all been enhanced by this new-found understanding of effective communication and its positive effect on my life.

The most profound lesson I learned from my Communications Professor, Dr. Stenho, is that I am lifelong learner.  I knew I would learn about new business strategies and concepts, I had hoped to learn to become a better writer and understand the science behind today’s environmental crisis by attending adult college courses but I never thought I would learn anything new or useful about communication.  The knowledge and experience I have attained from the numerous communication classes I took at GSC has prompted me to attain my MBA in Organizational Communication.  The lack of an effective communication channel by many of my past employers has always been a concern of mine and I now believe I can make a difference in this respect at any organization I may become involved with.

Are you a lifelong learner?  Do you enjoy attaining knowledge which enriches both your professional and personal life?  If so, stop hesitating and contact an academic advisor at Granite State College today.  This  is the first step in the rest of your life.  After all, it is your turn!

Many of you may have noticed that there are quite a few changes happening in the Financial Aid world right now. A new legislature was passed stating that all schools are now required to switch their lending program to Direct Lending(meaning the government will now be providing Stafford loans as opposed to private lenders). Are you wondering how this will effect you?

The good news is that for the most part it will be seamless for students. You will be required to sign a New Master Promissory Note (MPN) with Direct Lending, but other than that, things will remain the same in terms of how and when the aid is disbursed.

The real change will happen behind the scenes at the Adult Financial Aid office here at Granite State College. We have been working feverishly to make sure we are ready for the July 1st deadline imposed by the government.

What was the reason behind the switch you ask? The intention is to provide increased funding for federal grant programs such as the Pell Grant. Now, rather than private lenders collecting origination fees from students and using them towards their own services, the Department of Education will now take the fees charged for the Stafford loan programs and funnel it back into the Federal Grant programs.

Also, over time, the Department of Education is planning to lower the Stafford Loan Interest rates, making educational loans more affordable for students.

In order to make the process of signing the new Direct Lending MPN easier for our students, the Office of Financial Aid will be making visits to the Rochester NH College, the Claremont NH College, the Conway NH College and the Manchester New Hampshire College to assist students and answer any questions. To find out the specific times of our visits, please contact the regional centers. Also, as always, students are welcome to stop in and see us at the Concord New Hampshire College at any time.

 If you've ever taken a social psychology course, you might have heard about Milgram's obedience experiment.  If you haven't (but maybe would like to?  We have them at Granite State College in adult online classes) here's a quick synopsis:

In 1961,  an infamous Nazi war criminal, Adolf Eichmann, went on trial in Jerusalem for his part in the mass deportation of Jews during World War II.  His defense was that he was "only following orders."

Stanley Milgram, a Yale psychologist, wondered just how far people would go to "follow orders."  Before he began, he asked fellow psychologists how much they thought "a normal person" would shock a fellow human being if ordered to do so by an authority.  His colleagues said that only the most disturbed would do so.

Stanley set out to find out.  He set up an experiment where people thought they were shocking another person.  It started out slowly, but continued to increase.  Why did they do it?  A stern, convincing experimenter, dressed in a lab coat and seemingly in authority, told them they "had to do it."  And the amazing thing is, 65% of them went all the way to 450 volts.  (Luckily, the "shock generator" didn't really give out any voltage and the other person, unhurt, was just acting.)  The world was stunned, and social psychology students continue to be horrified.   

Here we are, almost 50 years ago, and this was tried again, this time on a supposed "reality" TV show in France.  Here's a clip of it, and you don't need to speak French to realize that the people in the audience are given the chance to "shock" a person.  It's pretty sobering:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCamiWs-KMs

The director of the TV show was horrified to find that time time, 81% of the contestants agreed to go all the way.

It was reported that "One contestant interviewed afterwards said she went along with the torture despite knowing that her own grandparents were Jews who had been persecuted by the Nazis."

Well, not everything that you learn in adult classes and adult online classes is quite so grim, but I promise you, it's always interesting and thought-provoking!

Give some thought to opening your mind to new ideas by taking a college course.  You can take a course in Concord NH at our Granite State College Concord campus or at any of the other eight campuses we have across New Hampshire, or you can take it in an adult online class from wherever you are.  You can even take it in a combination, where some of the classes take place in the classroom and some take place online.  

What do you do with your spare time? If you are like most people, you probably don't have a lot of spare time. You are probably running from one thing to another. Maybe you have a job and a family and friends that you juggle your time for. But what about in the evening? Are you sitting in front of tv watching commercials for New Hampshire Colleges and Universities? Maybe an add for a Concord NH College, or a Manchester NH University caught your eye. But you say to yourself, "no way, not me, I can't go to college."

But why not you? Do you realize that you could be taking courses at home on your computer instead of watching tv? You could be enrolled in a course at Granite State College right now at home, or you could be in Rochester, Concord, Manchester, or any number of locations sitting in a classroom and learning new things.

Oh, I lost you again. You say to yourself, "I can't sit in a classroom. I am too ____," (old, tired, busy..) But what if you went to class one night a week? Everyone else in the room is just as busy as you. Even most of your instructors are working somewhere else during the day. They know what it is like to juggle responsibilities. So instructors give you work that is geared to help you in your profession, classmates support one another and suddenly, TADA! You have taken your first course.

Give it a try! Granite State is a place where adult learners can grow and learn and only by giving up a tv show or two!

Part of what knits humanity together is the common ground of our shared experiences.  It is on this common ground that we build our relationships.  My job at Granite State College in New Hampshire places me at a crossroads where I meet people who are going through many of the same learning and life experiences I had as a student and  I have the opportunity to share a bit of what I learned, hopefully making it easier for the students. 

Recently, a new student came to the Concord NH office for a meeting with her adviser and to register for her first classes.  She didn't come alone.  This student was accompanied by her father - and her one-year-old twins!  Her dad would care for the children while she attended to the business beginning her journey towards a degree.

As we talked, I learned her twins were preemies, born months too early.  She was surprised to learn that I, too, had a preemie - 35 years ago! - and that my preemie would soon be making me a grandmother for the first time!  Our conversation went off the adult college education track, veering over to the "mommy track," as we compared our experiences.  How early did our babies arrive?  How much did they weigh at birth?  How long were they in the hospital? 

She asked me if I had had a hard time finding clothes for my preemie, did it take long for my daughter to catch up developmentally to the children in her age group.  I told her how in the beginning the hospital took surgical masks and cut them in two to use for diapers.  On the wall in my office, she could see visible proof, my daughter's recent photo, that babies born as tiny as hers grow up to be perfectly normal adults with perfectly normal lives. 

And I, the experienced, older of the two, learned something from her that I hadn't known before.  While identical twins come from the same egg, they each have their own amniotic sac.  Well, almost all of them do.  This student's twins actually shared an amniotic sac which put them in the category of the rarest of identical twin births! 

College is so much more than book learning.  It is "life learning."  In telling our stories we not only share a piece of ourselves, we pass on the benefit of our experiences and in the process make our lives and the lives of those we interact with richer by far.