FSCC students welcomed with renovated areas

Friday, August 21, 2015
Loretta George/Tribune photo Robert Goltra talks to Cindy Bartelsmeyer in the renovated Fort Scott Community College Student Union Thursday morning. The room is now divided in two - a student lounge and a tutoring center. The new Greyhounds mural was painted by Kelsey and Brittany Thomas, former FSCC students.

Fort Scott Community College students who like to bounce ideas off one another while studying have a new place to gather.

The Student Union in Bailey Hall has been partitioned off and the east side is reserved for groups of students who wish to study together. The site is named Student Success Center (SSC) Tutoring Center, and is adjacent to the SSC Research and Technology area. The research area has computer stations available.

There are big screen TVs with a large table, surrounded by six to eight chairs in the tutoring center.

Students can bring class notes to the site, enlarge them on the screen and work together with classmates, Bob Goltra, dean of student services said.

Goltra said last year's courses in which students had the most grades of D and F will have a study group available in the SSC Tutoring Center.

"We'll have a team of 15 peer tutors, work study students, who will be doing the tutoring," Goltra said.

Work study is a federally funded program for students, he said.

The Student Success Center was renamed two weeks ago from what has been known since 1972 as the Maximized Individualized Learning Lab (MILL).

The research and technology area is located in the former MILL, Goltra said.

Students will be doing research, working with a tutor or testing at this location, which will remain a quiet area.

Services offered

Services offered at SSC are courses for students who need additional academic support, assessment testing and practice testing for such tests as the ACT and Compass placement, DeAnn Welch, director of the SSC, said.

The SSC is open to the public.

"The public can set up an appointment for one-on-one or small group help," Goltra said. "Last year we had a peer mentor program with Fort Scott High School. We encourage high school students to use the SSC."

"We are not only here for students, but the public," Welch said. "We are geared to help anybody."

There is pre-employment testing available which is sometimes needed in business and industry, she said.

There are hundreds of continuing education courses offered for life-long learners in the community, with a fee required for each six-week course, she said.

Renovation

The Student Union was recently renovated by volunteer students and employees of the school, Goltra said.

A group of student athletes helped Goltra remove the old carpet.

"The maintenance staff stained the concrete and furnished it all using college resources, he said.

The room dividers used to separate the SSC from the Student Union lounge area were put in storage following the Gordon Parks Museum being relocated from the Student Union to the Ellis Center, he said.

Former students Kelsey and Brittany Thomas worked through Wednesday night completing the new FSCC logo on the east wall of the large divided room, Goltra said.

For more information about the SSC contact Welch at (620) 223-2700, extension 4300. The center is open 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday.