I’ve mentioned before that being a part of your major’s student organizations is a really good thing for a lot of reasons:
- it plugs you in with your peers and professors,
- it opens doors for you in terms of job networking,
- it will frequently include an element of service that will build you up as a person and a community member.
And I believe very strongly in all of this. I’ve been in my family and consumer sciences student org, SPAFCS (Stevens Point Association of Family & Consumer Sciences), for three years already. And so I get excited when SPAFCS does cool stuff and I can use it to illustrate the good work the students of my major are doing. I get doubly excited when I can use my experiences through SPAFCS to show off cool stuff someone ELSE is doing. In this instance, I’m talking about SPAFCS’s recent visit to Madison Area Technical College’s Truax campus, where we got to tour the new building for the School of Health Education.
SPAFCS headed out to Madison a short while ago in order to attend a regional meeting of WAFCS, the Wisconsin Association of Family & Consumer Sciences. The meeting’s business aside (a part of which was getting to hear from an FCS professional about the textbook she is currently co-authoring), we were shown around a new building on Truax’s campus. The dean and associate dean of the college hosted us, giving us a tour of all the state-of-the-art facilities the school contained and answering our myriad of questions about their programs.
Because health occupations careers fall under the field of family & consumer sciences, we were naturally very interested to hear about this all. Because health occupations are a part of what FCS teachers may teach, and because it is a growing field in popularity in high schools, it’s relevant that we know where that path can go after high school. And it’s incredible to see a school so passionate about its students and their academic enrichment. MATC’s program really shines, and seeing the breadth and depth of its programs was incredible.
SPAFCS members had a great time continuing to network with the wonderful professionals that comprise WAFCS, and it was really something else to get to see the composition of the programs at MATC as well as to get to explore a different school route than the university we attend. I personally was just blown away by the campus and staff at MATC, at its gorgeous sprawling campus, at its tutoring center and at the incredible composition of its programs through the newly housed School of Health Education. Meeting passionate professionals always kindles my own excitement to move forward into the teaching profession and to be a part of helping students to find their way toward their own ambitions.
And it’s yet another opportunity that I would never have gotten had I not been a part of my major’s student organization.
-Amy
Amy Vida is a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point majoring in family & consumer sciences and English.