OP的Kelli Rouse和团队为学生们创造了一个“家外之家”

Q. 你是什么时候加入火博体育的?你的背景和经历是什么?

I’ve been director here at Skidmore since September 2016.  
  
我开始在TRIO(联邦学生服务项目)做了几年的家教 at the University of Arkansas. After I got my master’s in higher education, I stayed in TRIO professionally for a while. Once I moved back to this area, I learned about the state-funded HEOP and OP programs. I started as an assistant director at Union 大学毕业，后来成为玛利亚学院的院长，然后来到这里. I just love it.

Q. What do you do in your role as director of OP?

Of course, overseeing and managing the staff and the budget. We have budget lines 和来自不同地方的资金，所以我必须协调这些努力并做出 sure they’re used appropriately. We are partially funded through the New York State Education Department, and we just received our five-year grant 从他们那里，这很神奇，但这确实伴随着相当多的文书工作. We 也从外部来源获得资金来自俄亥俄州代顿市的凯特林基金. 我们从他们那里得到一笔捐款，每年给学生留三到四个名额 from Ohio.

虽然我是导演，但我还是想时刻关注电影的动向 students. 我目前有大约25名从事卫生专业的顾问. 我建议他们确保自己走在正确的道路上，并帮助他们弄清楚 next steps. 
  
我仍然喜欢做一些编程，只是想保持节奏 students. 作为我职责的一部分，我在几个委员会任职，包括委员会 与校园内的其他管理人员进行跨文化和全球理解方面的交流.

Q. Why is this work so meaningful to you? 
  
看看和OP学生的互动从第一天开始，或者当他们来的时候 暑期项目或上课的第一天，到他们毕业甚至更长时间， 看到他们的成长和成熟以及他们如何进化和进入 themselves — that’s amazing. I think that’s what I love and that’s why it’s so meaningful. 

Q. What is the beauty of the Opportunity Program at Skidmore?

It’s family. It’s home. We try to make it home away from home. It’s a place where you can come and not be judged. You can be yourself. You can ask questions. You can 花点时间把事情弄清楚，弄清楚你是谁，没关系. It’s encouraged.

And then it’s also a place where we’re going to push. Oh yeah, we’re going to push. “Yeah, I know, that was really tough. But we’re scholars here, right? We believe in you, you’ve got this. What can we do differently? How can you progress?”

Q. What does holistic support look like to you? 
  
I’m going to ask you, of course, about classes. How are classes going now? What did you get on that exam? Did you go see a tutor? Did you speak to your professor? How did you study? When did you start studying? How’s your time management?

当然，我将把重点放在学术上——这就是我们在这里的原因——但它也 going to be, “Do you and your roommate get along? How’s that? How are you sleeping? When’s the last time you talked to mom or dad? When’s the last time you ate a vegetable? 我看到你带着8加仑的百事可乐来这里——今天就喝点水吧?"

通常情况下，如果学生在课堂外表现不好，就会慢慢受到影响 find its way into the classroom. So let’s address that, let’s talk about that. Let’s figure out the best ways to support you.

Q. What does success look like to you? 
  
我们必须向学院和州政府提供一些指标，所以我们正在寻找 at persistence. We’re looking at retention. We’re looking at GPAs. We’re looking at graduation rates, of course. We have to think about all of that.

But then I also look at personal growth. The maturation. Just being open and just kind of soaking it all in. To me, that is complete success — students who are more comfortable with themselves and more confident in their abilities. They feel good about their own growth and process and progress.

Q. What kinds of programming does OP provide to students? 
  
我们正在学习和倾听学生的需求，并试图提出问题 with programming that’s meaningful to them. 
  
我们一遍又一遍地听到的一件事是学生——尤其是 高年级学生——正准备出柜，他们会说:“我不知道该怎么做 to do some basic things that I probably should. Nobody ever taught me how to do my taxes or how to negotiate a salary. Or why would I lease a car versus buying a car? 当我去找房子的时候，为什么我要预付这些钱呢? Or I have two job offers — how do I determine which one is better?” So we started 一个叫做成人101的系列节目，这个节目非常非常受欢迎. It’s geared toward seniors and juniors.

我们还做了一个火博体育将简历和求职信放在一起的疯狂三月系列， interviewing skills, getting them prepared for internships. A lot of times we’ll partner with the Career Development Center. 
  
For our sophomores, we started a major declaration party. They have to declare in 或者他们不能注册课程，所以我们鼓励 them along the way. I have to sign off on all the forms, so I go in there with my 然后我们有一个自拍墙，他们可以在那里拍“我声明过”的照片. They decorate cookies with their major on it. So it’s just a celebration of like “Hey, this is a big deal. I’m really proud of you.” 
  
我认为对一年级学生来说很重要的一个项目是讨论他们的期望 their experience and their time here. And what does that transition look like? So we work with them a lot specifically about transitional issues. 
  
We also have a book club, and it’s very relaxed. There’s no judgment and instead encourages the students to read and have dialogue and conversation.


And every single month we have something called OP lunch. It’s an opportunity to get to know us (OP staff) as humans, not just administrators. So we go in there, we turn 播放一些音乐，我们让他们选择他们想听的音乐类型，然后 we have lunch. We just have a conversation.

Q. How does advocacy play a part in OP programming? 
  
因为我们的部分资金是由纽约州教育部提供的，所以我们会 前往州议会大厦，让我们的学生向立法者讲话——所以，倡导. 在大流行期间，一切都是虚拟的，所以它仍然更少 and fewer students are going. But since then, we’ve done it in different ways. We 有一个社交媒体活动，我们可以虚拟地与立法者或他们的 工作人员，这对学生们来说真的很好，他们能够说出自己的想法 story of why OP is important and what it means to them.

But then we thought, how can we expand that? So one of the conversations we’ve had and actually turn into a workshop is about self-advocacy. Like, how do I advocate for myself in a job interview? It’s a skill set that I think you just don’t always naturally have.

Q. What would you say about your OP team? 

I’ve got a good team — pretty stacked. I love it. Everyone has a very specific role, but we also communicate all the time and come together all the time. I’ll say, “Hey, Meg. I was thinking about doing this. Let’s partner and do this program together. Or hey, Travis, you have to get on the road and do this. Do you need me to come along with you? 或者，如果你不能去博览会，你需要我帮你去吗?” It's quite a bit of that. It has to be.

Q. How long have you been cooking and baking? 
 
Oh gosh, actually, I was baking as a kid. My mom is a great baker. My grandmother was phenomenal. 但我的曾祖母是我所知道的最好的面包师. She got up and made homemade biscuits every single morning. I still actually have one of her Bundt pans. Yeah, so it’s in my blood. But I remember baking as a kid and “哦，这太酷了”，但直到我真正喜欢上它 in my mid 20s or early 30s.

我觉得现在我可以更自在、更自由地说:“我 might have a recipe to guide me, but I’m going to make it my own.” I love that about cooking. And then just know that yeah, you’re going to mess some things up. Like, “Oh, that was a fail. Well, I forgot that was on, that burned up.” You know, everybody does it, right? But just keep going.

有几个俱乐部邀请我做示范，或者只是为他们做饭. Or just bring food. Like red velvet cupcakes and banana pudding. “Sure, no problem.” And then the Cooking Club asked me to be their advisor. I was like, “Yeah, that’s awesome. I love it.”

Q. Do you also bring home-cooked food into the office?  

I do. So the one thing I’ve not learned to do is cook a little bit. 我父母在这里，我姐姐和她丈夫还有两个孩子，还有我丈夫. So we still have family meals just about every Sunday. Because of that, I’ve never learned how to cook a little bit. That is just a skill I do not have. So a lot of times I’ll cook and my husband’s like, “Were you expecting an army?” I thought I pared it down, but apparently I didn’t. 

很多时候，我们的国际学生，尤其是在假期来这里的学生， just need a home-cooked meal and I’ll bring it here. And then sometimes I just get 被烘焙虫击中，我就是不能停止烘焙，但我不能在家里吃 because I’ll eat it too much. So I’ll bring it in here and the students are really happy to receive it.