糖心视频

Written By: Ian Silvester

Starting college often can feel overwhelming, but the University of Arkansas 鈥� Fort Smith鈥檚 ROAR First Year Advising Center helps students navigate the excitement, nerves, and challenges by providing academic guidance and support beginning the summer before classes and continuing through their first year on campus. 

鈥淲e typically start working with our first-time entering students and students who are coming in for the fall semester in the month of May,鈥� said Kayla McIntosh, director of first-year advising, noting this gives students enough time to register and have access to necessary records to avoid multiple appointments at the ROAR. 

However, McIntosh and her team of professional advisors don鈥檛 just meet with students before school starts. They meet throughout the year, hosting group advising sessions as well as one-on-ones. 

One of the biggest misconceptions about advising is the belief that want an advisor tells a student is set in stone, McIntosh said. In reality, 鈥渋t鈥檚 a partnership,鈥� she added. 

鈥�(Advising) is a collaborative process. Your advisor is there to guide you, but ultimately the student has the onus in their decisions and can make decisions after they leave an advisor鈥檚 office. We really encourage students to be good advocates for their academic progress and become very familiar with their degree plans and use their advisors as tools and resources,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut there is a time when your advisor is going to tell you, 鈥楬ey, this is a time where you can鈥檛 pass go and collect $200. You have to do this thing if you want to graduate in this timely fashion.鈥欌�� 

The ROAR First Year Advising Center at 糖心视频 serves students across all disciplines. It鈥檚 the first step in a three-part advising process all Lions will go through while attending 糖心视频. McIntosh said students begin at the ROAR, where they are guaranteed exposure to 糖心视频鈥� student support services, before being assigned a college advisor and a faculty advisor starting their second year.  

鈥淲e get to be the experts on the first-year experience and really help students settle in and get their foundation,鈥� McIntosh said proudly. 

Advising is all about successfully progressing students from the ROAR to their college advising centers and, eventually, to graduation. 

鈥淲e try to not only forecast what is coming up in the next semester or to get a student registered for classes. Our advisers are doing quite a bit of follow-up with students and looking in their academic records more often than they鈥檙e even aware of,鈥� she said. 鈥淭here are a lot of things that might start in the advisor鈥檚 office. They may say, 鈥楬ey, I need you to go see the experts in financial aid or visit the registrar鈥檚 office to turn in grade replacement paperwork.鈥� Advising really touches a lot of things that are the responsibility of other offices.鈥� 

From first-generation students who aren鈥檛 even sure where to start to students who come from generations of college graduates and know exactly what they want to do, there鈥檚 always value in meeting with an advisor, McIntosh said. 

鈥淲e want the student to understand their degree requirements and understand that there are a lot of things that interact with advising that really aren鈥檛 necessarily advising, but we鈥檙e going to talk about it anyway,鈥� she said. 

Those conversations can unearth bumps in the road that may delay a student, McIntosh added. 

鈥淪ometimes the fastest way forward is actually to take it a little bit slower to do the things that you need to do to be able to pay the bills, keep the roof over your head, stay fed, and be able to succeed academically because your college education could end up costing you a whole lot more money.鈥� 

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• ROAR First Year Advising Center
• Advising