1.1: 1.1 Show Up. Work Hard. Ask for Help.

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“The Starry Night Jigsaw Puzzle” by Curt Smith is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Some years ago, we were walking around campus when we saw a poster taped to a door that really struck us. The poster was created by our Dean of Student Affairs at the time, David Satterlee. The poster had three simple statements:

Show Up

Work Hard

Ask for Help

At the time we saw the poster, we had been teaching college success courses for some time. We were struck by how almost everything we taught students about success in college could be broken down to these three simple statements. Let’s take some time to delve into these statements.

Show Up

Of course the most important part of “showing up” in college is attending class. Attending means being physically present with your in-person or remote classes or regularly logging in to your online courses. Showing up not only means a physical presence but also a mental presence and active engagement in the course. Have you ever been sitting in class but realized you zoned out and can’t remember one thing the instructor said for the last 20 minutes? Have you ever been watching a video for an online course and had to rewatch the video because you were scrolling through social media on your phone? When we do these things, we are not actively engaged or really “showing up.” Showing up means a commitment to be physically and mentally present while participating in our courses.

Work Hard

Working hard looks different for everyone. We need to ask ourselves “am I completing my course work to the best of my ability?” Working hard is about doing the best you can at all times. Many students waste time on distractions such as video games, social media, etc., and these distractions can contribute to procrastination. When we procrastinate, we typically do not produce our best work, and we cause ourselves unnecessary stress. In most cultures, college is a privilege and not a right. We need to treat each college course not as an obligation but instead as an opportunity to learn something new and bring us closer to achieving our educational goals.

Ask for Help

In our United States society, sometimes we have the mistaken notion that asking for help is not a good thing. Some people see asking for help as a sign of weakness. We challenge you to rethink these thoughts. Asking for help is the sign of a strong person who is not afraid to admit they don’t know everything. None of us knows everything! Asking for help when we struggle or do not understand something is important in school, in the workplace and even in our personal relationships with others.

What does asking for help look like in college? A student fails a test and instead of blaming themselves or the instructor, the student seeks out free tutoring or help from an instructor during the instructor’s office hours. A student is undecided about their major and career selection, and they are starting to feel frustrated so they seek help from one of the college’s career specialists. Asking for help is important. Make the commitment to always seek out help when you struggle with anything in college. HACC has many resources to help you, and you will learn about many of those resources during this course.