Category Archives: Experts on Campus

Active Minds Session Recap

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On April 19, the Active Minds student group and the Health and Counseling Center hosted an engaging discussion on ways to support your student during this time of transition. We greatly appreciate the student leaders and staff members who offered this opportunity. For those who were not able to join the call, we’ve compiled some of the information and resources that were shared, including insight into what students want parents to know.

Please see the UP Virtual Resources for Mental Health Support, which was compiled by UP’s Academic Health Network and shared during the session.

Student Feedback for Caregiver Support Meeting

Leading up to this parent/caregiver session, Active Minds surveyed their peers online to better understand how they were feeling about recent transitions and what they would want their families to know. While most of the survey participants were currently living with family during quarantine, about one-third were not. You can view answers to the survey below.

What has been the most difficult part of being home with family?

When asked what kind of advice caregivers would benefit most from, students ranked the following:

  • How to support my mental and emotional health during quarantine
  • How to give me privacy and respect boundaries
  • How to communicate feelings/emotions with me
  • How to support me in academics

What would you like your family to know/learn about in regards to your being back home for quarantine?

  • Even though I am living under your roof once again, I am still an adult.
  • Just because I am sad about missing school doesn’t mean I’m not thankful to be home.
  • Stop telling me to “suck it up,” “stop whining,” “be thankful for what you have,” etc. It doesn’t help.
  • Alone time is healthy.
  • Just because your coping mechanisms are different than mine doesn’t mean they are better or more helpful.
  • I have grown and changed since going away and my responsibilities are my own.
  • Just because I didn’t go home doesn’t me I don’t love you.
  • It is hard to be constantly checked up upon or micromanaged when I am at home when I am so used to being independent and on my own. Instilling guilt is not helpful – it is toxic.
  • It is really hard to be away from friends and significant others. Facetiming and texting is not the same as in-person interaction. And yes – we are excited to be with our families, but we are supposed to be at school and it is okay if we are sad about it. We also have routines at school that are just not replicated at home which is hard. I would say to my parents: I love you, but I miss my friends and school.
  • Part of the reason I am not coming home is to support their safety and well-being.
  • For parents of seniors who are not moving home until after graduation, please be gentle with them. Seniors are trying their best to figure out post-grad life, especially in this pandemic.
  • The importance of honest, non-accusatory, emotional communication with I-statements!
  • I would like them to know that schoolwork has not gotten any easier and that I am grieving for the loss of graduation and the closure I hoped to obtain with professors and classmates.
  • After being at college, we see ourselves as being different people from the people we were at the beginning of the year. We have gotten accustomed to living on our own and making our own decisions. Please be patient with us as we adapt to living at home again and we will do our best to follow what you would like us to do. Please also understand the quick transition we all had to make and that we are still feeling some emotional grief at losing half a semester and having to say goodbye to UP and our friends in just a few short days. There is some healing that needs to happen as well. We understand that this situation is for the greater good and we are doing our best to stay positive, but it is a difficult time for us to be at home and doing online classes nonetheless.
  • I do not have free time on my hands as my siblings who are also adults but not in college now do have. I am still taking 19 credits and trying to achieve the best grades possible. My schoolwork sometimes needs to come before chores for me and I should not get yelled at for this.
  • I’m not a child anymore and this isn’t a vacation – please understand that.
  • School is honestly the last thing many people are worried about at the moment, but it feels like such a determining factor for our future. How can parents/caregivers support us in figuring out how to handle our lack of caring about school? 
  • We are still students and still have an immense workload. Trying to finish off school in this scenario is stressful enough, not even counting in the fact that we’ve been ripped away from our in-person classes and the support of friends. In some cases, we have spent four or more years away from our parents to accomplish our school work. Being back at home now is not the same as it was in high school or being home for a break. Privacy and space as well as independence is crucial.

For more information regarding this session, please feel free to reach out to parents@up.edu, and we will connect you with the appropriate resource.

First Year Focus: Maximizing Your First College Summer

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As the school year winds down, first-year students will often feel a wide range of emotions (probably more this year than ever): relief upon finishing their first year, excitement for summer freedom, sadness to be away from their friends for even longer, and uncertainty about sophomore year. Courtney Campbell, Program Manager of First Year Programs in the Shepard Academic Resource Center, shares how your student can maximize their summer to ensure a great start to their second year on campus.

When in college, summertime offers a new and different taste of adult freedom. With freedom, as the Eleanor Roosevelt quote goes, comes responsibility. Here are three things to put on your student’s radar during the summer months to help them avoid the “Sophomore Slump.” The learning continues even after classes end in April!

1. Reflect on the First Year

It is very easy for students to turn in that last final exam in April and think “I did it – now on to summer!” and completely disregard the immense transition they have just gone through. After some deep breaths and celebrations of success, your student should think critically about their first year at UP. Some questions you can ask your student to help with this reflection are:

  • How did your study habits have to change from high school?
  • What was your favorite/least favorite class? Why?
  • What did you accomplish this year that you are proud of?
  • What advice would you give an incoming student?
  • What do you wish you would have done differently this year?

These open-ended questions should spark a great conversation between you and your student. By answering and reflecting on these, your student should be able to process the growth they’ve done over their first year and also hear their own advice for best practices as a student.

2. Build an Employable Skill Set Online

Summer jobs are a great way to spend time gaining transferable career skills and save up some spending money, but the reality is that COVID-19 may have impacted your student’s internship and summer job plans. Here is my favorite piece of advice I received in college, which I think still applies now:

“What career do you want after college? Find a job description right now that you would consider your ‘dream job.’ Read the required skills section, and from there figure out what jobs you can get now that relate to those bullet points. Once you graduate, you will have tangible evidence that you are a great candidate for a similar role. Need strong customer service skills? Go work where you’ll encounter all different types of people. Need knowledge on a specific topic? Find a place you can learn on the job!”

Even though summer job and internship plans may have shifted, it doesn’t mean that students can’t start working towards their “dream job” by following a similar mental exercise and then building their skill set online! CollegiateParent offers ideas for free and low-cost online courses and certifications. UP also offers free certifications in specific skills through LinkedIn Learning, which even allows employers to view which courses students have completed. Students can access LinkedIn Learning through their MyApps portal.

Your student can also reach out to the UP Career Center to get their resumes and cover letters polished over the summer. The Career Center is available virtually!

3. Read for Fun

Students have been told what to read for 8 months and may feel some negativity toward picking up another book. To combat the dislike of reading, suggest that they pick up a book for fun and read it. Even one book over the summer for their own personal enjoyment can reverse some of the negative thinking when it comes to the act of reading. There are so many books out there that follow current events, are based on technology, or are just plain fun fiction. If your student doesn’t know where to start on finding a book, have them visit this common reading website which has specially curated lists for college students!

Also, don’t forget about your local public library. Many of them have e-reader options. And what college student doesn’t love free things?

Overall, your student might feel like their life flew past them at 90 miles an hour during their first year at college. This summer can still be an opportunity to learn – but maybe at 30 miles an hour instead. Taking things slow and being intentional with how they spend their time will help bridge the gap between their first and second years.

Courtney Campbell works in the UP Shepard Academic Resource Center specializing in First Year Programming. Courtney’s goal is to ensure the successful transition of all first-year students to UP’s campus and through to their second year. Courtney is a great example of someone who went to college as a pre-health student and graduated with a different career path in mind. After receiving her BS in Biochemistry from the University of Texas at Dallas, Courtney taught high school math and college preparation in Atlanta, Georgia through Teach for America. Her work with students guided her to pursue her M.Ed. in Professional Counseling from the University of West Georgia with an emphasis in College Student Affairs. Courtney’s passion for First Year Programming can be traced all the way back to her first on-campus jobs as an undergraduate – Orientation Leader and First Year Workshop Leader.

Mental Health: How to Support Your Student

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In our March parent newsletter, mental health was the most clicked on topic. We know this topic is vitally important and weighing heavily on the minds of both our students and our families. Join Active Minds and the Health and Counseling Center this coming Sunday, April 19, for a discussion on ways to support your student during this time of transition.

Active Minds is a nationally recognized club that works with the goal of promoting mental health awareness and ending the stigma surrounding mental illnesses across college campuses. The University of Portland’s Active Minds chapter has partnered with the Health and Counseling Center to bring parents and care-givers a space to learn how to support their students now that they may be back home from school.

This parent-oriented event will include a discussion led by Paris Schaefer, the Assistant Director of Counseling and Training at the Health and Counseling Center, and Dr. Sarina Saturn, a UP psychology professor and the Active Minds Club Advisor. Topics will include:

  • How to maintain structure
  • Accepting and acknowledging you student’s grief
  • Maintaining personal space
  • How to reach out for more help when needed

In addition to a discussion on how to support your student during this difficult time of uncertainty and transition, there will be a Q&A portion where parents can ask questions.

This meeting is limited to parents only, excluding the Activ­­e Minds student leaders who will join to share the student perspective when appropriate.

This discussion will be held via Zoom this Sunday, April 19 at 4 p.m. PST. You can join the meeting by using the link zoom.us/j/894795387. Please email activeminds@up.edu for any questions or concerns about the event.

We also encourage you and your student to check out the Self-Help Resources compiled by UP’s Health & Counseling Center. For those who missed it last month, we also encourage you to check out our “Managing Mental Health” tips.