By Lauren Knight
Special to In Motion
All students juggle many responsibilities and have multiple roles in their lives and Daytona State College students are no different. They are vastly diverse in what responsibilities they have both in school and in the community.
With a demographic ranging from as young as 15 to as old as 90, Daytona State students live multiple lives. Within this age range there are many different types of students who play many different roles outside of the classroom.
In a single Spanish class at Daytona State, for example, there can be found a grandparent, a fiancé, a husband, a wife, a student who speaks English as their second language, a dual-enrolled teenager, working students, married parents and single parents. All of them put aside their roles outside of campus and come together two times a week, every week, for an hour and 20 minutes to learn level one Spanish.
These students, starting with little to no knowledge of Spanish, grew to become friends and lean on one another to help learn the language. If observers closed their eyes and listened to the interactions in the classroom they could not tell that a 15-year-old girl is teaching the 27-year-old married woman how to pronounce a word. It just sounds like two students working together to help each other out.
There are struggles, however, for students who have a large burden of responsibilities outside the classroom. Those older than 18 are balancing work and school schedules, along with finding time to have a social life. Dual-enrolled students must balance high school courses with college classes, some earning their AA even before their high school diploma. In that process, some dual-enrollees miss out on the activities association with high school, such as prom and homecoming.
Kevin Ortega, 23, is a manager at Walgreen’s in DeLand and is taking courses at Daytona State to earn his Associate’s Degree in business. He is taking a course load of 12 credits, along with working five to seven days a week.
Chris Frierson, 21, a DSC student who recently quit his job and is busy searching for another one, also manages a stressful schedule. For him, it comes down to prioritizing. “Work,” is more important to him he says, “because it pays the bills.”
While Frierson believes “working is the biggest interference” when it comes to the importance of managing school and work schedules. Both agree they want to earn good grades, but both need to earn money.
The way students manage their schedules differ from person to person.
Other students at DSC are parents, work and go to school. Their children usually come first, then work, then school. Deadlines for classes are hard to make and studying for tests is not always a first priority, consequently they have to make it happen. These students, with all of the roles in their lives, often opt for attending school part-time to make room for everything else.
Angie Guy, 28, works at a tanning salon and goes to DSC full time. She is an expectant mother and is living through the stress of earning money to prepare for her child. She is also preparing her home and life for the new addition to the family, dealing with body and hormonal changes, and is finishing up her degree in Elementary Education.
“It is very important for me to finish college so I can give my child the best life possible,” she said, noting that DSC is preparing her for the future.
Daytona States helps manage life outside and inside school by offering resources on campus for students in need. Academic counseling is provided to every student. Counselors help create a manageable course load that keeps students on track with their degree without an overwhelming schedule.
A “Manage Your Success” course is mandated for students and helps them understand how to be successful in college, manage time and deal with outlying circumstances that can get in the way of their studies. It also introduces students to all campus resources that can help them achieve good grades when studies become stressful. These resources are available at the Academic Support Center, the Library and the Writing Center, among other offices.
Earning a degree is hard work especially when students have other roles and obligations in their life. Ortega, Frierson and Guy all are having different experiences and managing different stressors, but are making it work. They say others can too if they seek the help that is readily available on all six DSC campuses.