By: Nicole Plowright
Alamosa—“I am a Genius…I am a miracle worker…I am wonderful…I am a burro/a…I can kick ass!” These were the words many Adams State College faculty, staff, and students heard at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday October 29 for The Day of Reflection. The morning began with President Dr. Svaldi welcoming and introducing the key note speaker Victor Villasenor. Villasenor is an acclaimed best-selling author, who has written the novels Rain of Gold, Burro Genius, and Walking Stars. Villasenor spoke about the power of language, oral traditions, and how personal family histories empower us. He also talked about the strength of family and women, pride in our heritages, and that all adults have the power to affect the success of youth. Through his speech Villasenor shared his story and how he learned to combine his Mexican-Indian and American cultures and traditions.
The goal for The Day of Reflection was to collect data and opinions on how to assist Adams State to be a more successful institution. Part of this goal was to use the knowledge gained from The Day of Reflection to focus on how to overcome challenges the school faces as well as how to advance and empower the school as a whole.
The information was gathered by three sessions of table talks. Each session had two topics. All students, staff, and faculty were invited to these sessions, and had the choice of which topic they wished to give input. Session one was Student Support and Campus Expectations. This session provided discussion about how to better assess students’ learning and how professors teach. The tables dedicated to Campus Expectations discussed expectations between students and professors and how to better make those expectations known. They also discussed expectations of the students and how they are reflected in the community.
Session two included the topics of Diversity and of Campus Outreach. At Campus Outreach tables discussion about how to better reach out to the state of Colorado was heard. The discussion included how community and school outreach was well reflected, and should expand past the valley. At the tables dedicated to Diversity, ways that Adams was doing well and what to improve were discussed.
The third session was dedicated to table talks about Technology and Budget. At the Technology tables ways to better improve technology usage were talked about, as well as how technology is a very positive part of the school considering the size of ASC and its budget. The Budget tables discussed how for the first time in a while Adams is not in the red and why that is. They also discussed different ways to keep out of the red.
All sessions were facilitated by Barbara Catbagan, M.Ed. Catbagan is the Director of Counseling for the Transpersonal Counseling Psychology Department at Naropa University and the coordinator of multicultural courses for the undergraduate program.
What’s Been Said…