Whether you are starting or continuing your college journey, you are at a moment of significant change in your life and moments of significant change bring with them tremendous opportunities for growth. You have the chance to reflect on who you are now and discover who you want to become in this new phase of life and develop your own sense of autonomy. You can explore academic majors and possible career paths as you continue to learn who you want to be.

Whether you want to be a teacher or an attorney, a counselor or a nurse, an executive or a writer, you share one thing in common with all other members of the AUM community. We, as human beings, are social beings – it’s simply how we are wired. Whether you are the most introverted of introverts or the most extroverted of extroverts, we still need to be a part of a community. As you begin your academic journey at AUM, you will find that you are a member of many communities, both on and off-campus. You will continually interact with members of the AUM community, and these interactions will play a significant role in your continued development. This frequent interaction with others forms a state of interdependence. College students depend on their instructors, but just as importantly, they depend on other students in certain ways. Building good relationships is important for happiness and a successful college experience. College offers the opportunity to meet a variety of people you might not yet have had a chance to meet in life.

The college social experience also includes organized campus groups and activities. Participating in organized activities requires taking initiative—you can’t be passive and expect these opportunities to come knocking on your door—but is worthwhile for fully enriching college interactions. You won’t know if a club or organization is a good fit for you until you give it a shot. Think about asking a friend or classmate to go to a meeting with you where you both can learn more about a club. The active pursuit of a stimulating life on campus offers many benefits:

• Organized groups and activities speed your transition into your new life. New students can be overwhelmed by their studies and every aspect of a new life, and they may be slow to build a new life. Rather than waiting for it to come along on its own, you can immediately begin broadening your social contacts and experiences by joining groups that share your interests.
• Organized groups and activities provide the opportunity for you to experience a great variety of social interactions. New students often tend to interact more with other students their own age and with similar backgrounds—this is just natural. But suppose you simply go with the flow and don’t actively reach out. In that case, you are much less likely to meet and interact with others from our diverse campus: students who are older and may have a perspective you may otherwise miss, upper-level students who have much to share from their years on campus, and students of diverse heritages or cultures about which you might know little.
• Organized groups and activities help you gain new skills, whether technical, physical, intellectual, or social. Such skills may find their way into your résumé when you seek a job or apply for a scholarship or other future educational opportunity. Employers look for well-rounded students with a range of proficiencies and experiences.
• Organized groups and activities are fun and a great way to stay healthy and relieve stress. As Chapter 13: Wellness discusses, exercise and physical activity are essential for health and well-being, and AUM offers a variety of good ways to get—or keep—moving.

When and How to Say No

For all the benefits of an active social and campus life, too much of any good thing can also cause trouble. Chapter 5: Time Management Skills will have several suggestions on how you can manage your time effectively so you are able to take part in the great student organizations we have here at AUM. Once you’ve developed friendships and connections within Warhawk Nation and have an active social life, you may feel you don’t have enough time for your studies or other obligations such as work. For many students, the numerous social opportunities of college can become a distraction, and with less attention to one’s studies, academic performance can drop.

Here are some tips for balancing your social life with your studies:

• Keep working on your time management skills, as you learned in Chapter 5: Time Management Skills. You can’t just go with the flow and hope that, after spending time with friends, you have enough time (and energy) left over for studying. Make a study schedule that provides enough time for what you need to do.
• Keep working on your study skills, as you learned in Chapter 8: Study Skills and Test Taking. When you only have a limited amount of time for studying, be sure you’re using that time as effectively as possible as you complete readings and assignments, prepare for class, organize your notes after class, and study for tests. Consider using the Pomodoro Technique, which you can learn more about using this resource from the WASC: CLICK HERE.
• Make studying a social experience. If your studying keeps you so busy that you feel like you don’t have much of a social life, form a study group. You will learn more than you would alone by gaining from the thoughts of others, and you can enjoy interacting with others without falling behind. You can even check out a group study room in the library!

Keep your social life from affecting your studying. Simply scheduling study time doesn’t mean you’ll use it well. If you stayed up late the night before, you may not today be able to concentrate well as you study for that big test. This is another reason for good time management and scheduling your time well, looking ahead.

Campus Life at Auburn University at Montgomery

There is more to your college experience, of course than what you learn in the classroom. The combination of college experiences you have will be unique, whether you are living on campus or going to school at night after work. And you’ll grow during your time at AUM in ways that are hard to predict. There are many different facets to Campus Life, from where you might live on campus to your many great eating options. But there is so much more to your time at AUM. This section will provide you with an overview of the opportunities you have to get involved in the campus culture at AUM, but more in-depth information about AUM resources, offices, and departments can be found in Chapter 15: AUM Resources.

Student Affairs

At AUM, we want every student to be successful and thrive academically, but in-the-classroom learning is not the only way you can grow as a young adult. The Office of Student Affairs manages countless opportunities to expand your experiences beyond the classroom. From Student Government to Greek Life, from sixty clubs and organizations to intramural sports, you’ll have every opportunity to pursue your passions or find new ones.

“AUM students have a remarkable opportunity to broaden their knowledge while participating in activities that strengthen social and professional skills. We welcome you to campus and encourage you to take advantage of the offerings provided,” said Dr. Leon Higdon, Dean of Student Affairs at AUM. “I want to encourage students to have a voice, participate, and let us know their perspectives. It’s important to the university and it’s important to me. My goal is to champion the ideas and initiatives that will help students reach their full potential.”

What you’ll discover is that the things you learn outside of the classroom have just as big an impact on your life as the courses you study. You’ll build relationships and gain experiences and develop essential leadership skills that will prepare you to take on the life you choose with confidence. The connections you make in these clubs, organizations, and other opportunities can become lifelong friends and future job references!

Athletics and Intramural Sports

Sports are a big deal on campus at AUM. AUM transitioned to NCAA Division II after many successful years at the NAIA level, which featured 25 national championships. We currently field teams in 11 varsity sports — men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s cross country, men’s and women’s soccer, men’s and women’s tennis, baseball, softball, and volleyball — and compete in the Gulf South Conference. We have a rich history of great teams and cheering on the Warhawks is a big part of campus life. Maybe you want to be in the game, and not just a spectator on the sidelines. AUM also offers a number of club teams, as well as intramural sports leagues for more than a dozen sports.

Community Engagement

Receiving a college education is not just about what you learn inside a classroom. It is also about the experiences you have where you can take your class-based learning and do something with it. You may have participated in community service projects such as working with Habitat for Humanity or Meals on Wheels in high school or with organizations of which you were a member. These experiences help introduce us to the concept of service and community engagement, and through UNIV’s service learning project, you will be introduced to similar experiences that have an added learning component, experiential learning.

What is experiential learning?

Experiential learning focuses on providing students with opportunities to “learn by doing,” and reflect critically on that experience. It aims to engage students in projects and activities that are designed not only to further their understanding of a particular arena but also to immerse them in a transformative experience.

Experiential learning often takes the form of:

• Internships
• Service Learning
• Research & Creative Activity
• Study Abroad

Experiential learning, in all of its forms, is an active learning opportunity that will require you to do more than simply memorize a fact or a formula. The concept of experiential learning is deeply tied to Kolb’s experiential learning model (see image below) which encompasses concrete experience (in a situation/having an experience/ doing the work), reflection (critically reflecting on the experience), abstract conceptualization (comparing new knowledge to past knowledge/ making sense of), and experimentation (create and apply knowledge after lessons learned and knowledge gained).

“Service learning is a structured learning experience that combines community service with preparation and reflection. Students engaged in service learning community service in response to community-identified concerns and learn about the context in which service is provided, the connection between their service and their academic coursework, and their roles as citizens.” (Johns Hopkins University) It is an approach to teaching and learning in which you will use academic and civic knowledge and skills to address genuine community needs.

“Service learning is different from community service. Here’s an example to help differentiate between the two:

• Picking up trash on a river bank is a service.
• Studying water samples under a microscope is learning.
• When science students collect and analyze water samples, document their results, and present findings to a local pollution control agency – that is service learning.” (National Youth Leadership Council)

There are several types of service learning:

• Direct
• Indirect
• Research-Based
• Advocacy

AUM Students Making a Difference in Their Community

CLICK HERE to read an article from AUM’s Marketing & Communications team about a recent student-led service-learning project that one of our Spring 2020 UNIV 1000 classes put together.

CLICK HERE to read an article from AUM’s Marketing & Communications team about a recent student-led service-learning project that one of our Spring 2020 UNIV 1000 classes put together.

Watch the following video created by a UNIV 1000 class in Spring 2020.

Warhawk Wisdom

Humility is the recognition that our own intellect and efforts are not always enough to succeed in a particular situation. Service learning provides us a way to lend our intellect and efforts to individuals, communities, and organizations who need a helping hand.

Considerations Before, During, & After Service Learning

The following is not a conclusive list of questions related to the topic of service learning, but they provide a solid starting point for students who are about to participate in this type of learning.

Before Service Considerations:

1. What needs do you see in your community? What issues concern you?
2. What do you hope to accomplish through your service learning project? (much of this speaks to your values)
3. What do you aim for your service project to accomplish?
4. What knowledge and skills are you aiming to gain or strengthen?
5. What organizations and agencies mirror your aims/intentions? In what ways do these establishments coincide with your beliefs/attitudes? What populations are served? What mission guides them? Why does this organization exist (think, for example, of the historical)?
6. What are you most looking forward to? What precautions do you have?
7. Does this project further your personal or career goals? (It doesn’t have to. This is just a critical consideration)
8. What racial, socioeconomic, cultural, gendered, environmental, or general social issues are encased in your project/undertaking? What societal issues does this work tackle?

During Service Inquiry:

1. What impact do you believe you are having on those around you and the populations served?
2. What are you learning about yourself and the environment in which you are immersed?
3. How does your service link back to your values, and worldview? How is your service tied to any course-related notions?
4. Do you have a more careful consideration of why such an organization exists/ or why your project was created?

After Service Reflection:

1. What knowledge did you gain?
2. What impact do you believe you had?
3. What stories do you have/meaningful experiences can be relayed to your class or future employers?
4. What did you learn about yourself (views, abilities, etc.) as well as those you served and the possible impact on the community?
5. If you were to do it again, what would you change/do differently?
6. How meaningful did you find the experience? Explain.

AUM’s Experiential Education & Engagement Center

AUM’s Experiential Education and Engagement Center (EEEC) was established to develop experiential education opportunities related to all aspects of your college experience. These experiences include but are not limited to service-learning, internships, study abroad experiences, domestic travel experiences, and undergraduate research. The EEEC acts as a communications hub that helps link students with community and campus partners offering these learning experiences.

Getting involved in these opportunities helps develop career skills and competencies that will enhance your resume and add more value to your college experience at AUM. They can also help you get greater exposure to potential employers by providing you with an opportunity to show them how you excel.

An additional component of the EEEC is our Peer Mentor Program. This program recruits and hires undergraduate Warhawk Leaders who are sophomores and above that want to help their fellow students by sharing their insights and advice. The EEEC staff offers development training for peer mentors that will help them develop key leadership skills. These skills are transferable to future work opportunities.

The EEEC is also here to support faculty and staff by offering professional development training that helps them incorporate experiential education methods into their work. The EEEC is available to consult with individual faculty and staff who want to have a better understanding of experiential education teaching methods or who want to develop new ideas on how to implement experiential learning into their programs.

Warhawk Wisdom

“For me, the best part of going to college was the opportunities available to me as a student to grow and learn about myself. When I started college, I was not sure what career I wanted to pursue in the future, so I took advantage of whatever opportunity I could find on campus to explore a new career field or volunteer for something outside of my comfort area. I never thought I would enjoy teaching or working in higher education, but thanks to an internship (that I really did not think I would like), here I am!

Part of the purpose of college is to learn about yourself, but to learn you must ‘do.’ So, get out there and take advantage of the college experiences available to you. They will add value to your experience here at AUM and they will help you develop skills that you will take with you long after you have graduated.

Warhawks Fly Higher!” – Brenda Plympton, Learning Specialist & Research Coordinator, EEEC