Come on in, the campus is fine!

Remote services return to helping students in person

After a long absence of a majority of students and faculty at Pierce College’s campus, some are wondering which buildings have reopened for in-person services.

Look no further.

The Transfer Center, Counseling Center, Career Center and Library have all opened their doors again.

Transfer Center director and counselor Sunday Salter said transfer counseling services will be available on Mondays and Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Drop in services will be available to students that need help with anything transfer related, such as help with applications.

Salter also said that online Zoom services will be available

Monday to Thursday from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Fridays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

“We are going to maintain our online services because they are very well attended,” Salter said.

“Since the pandemic, we have served way more students than before.”

Salter said that the workshops will continue to be exclusively online to limit large crowds on campus.

In the past, students could only meet with university representatives from University of California Los Angeles, California State University Northridge and California State University Los Angeles, but now with online services, they can also meet with the University of California Berkeley, University of California Davis, University of California Riverside and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

The appointments with university representatives are available on the Pierce College website by going to the transfer center page. According to Salter, the giant bell that students ring in celebration of being admitted into a university is currently not being used.

“The energy, excitement and fun has been missing, so we’re excited to get back in person and celebrate our students together,” Salter said.

The General Counseling Office is also now open Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Counseling Center Chair Danielle Lendor said that express counseling services are currently being offered. That includes prerequisite clearances, help with changes of major or campus, referrals, math and English placement, unit overload petitions or quick questions.

“We are happy, willing and able to serve them the best that we can within the services that we offer,” Lendor said. Lendor said the use of services by the students have been steady and consistent. Lendor also said there has been no change when it comes to how busy the office can be.

“We’re generally pretty busy and I don’t think that’s changed,” Lendor said. “During the pandemic or even pre-COVID, we were very busy which is still consistent [now.]”

Another service available to students is access to the college’s library, which is available Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Fridays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The library’s main goal is to help students with their research and information needs. Library Department Chair Lauren Saslow said that the group study rooms are currently closed due to poor air circulation. Saslow also said that students should be wearing a mask at all times and use the check in service each day when they arrive on campus.

There have been retirements and transfers, which is why the library has been closing early in the evening.

“Otherwise things are pretty much the same as usual,” Saslow said. “A lot of the same students who came here before are coming back again and it’s going well.”

The Career Center will be open on campus starting Sept. 20, 2021. Open hours are from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mondays to Thursdays.

Wendi Meckler, the Career Center Director and Counselor said a one hour appointment can be made using Cranium Cafe, but can be hard to find due to not having many career counselors. Career transfer mentors and interns who are graduate students, are trained to do all that a career counselor can help with. A meeting can be done over live chat or the Zoom lounge from the Career Center website.

“The sooner that students know how to do resumés, interviewing, [and] LinkedIn, the sooner they can possibly get an internship or some work experience,” Meckler said.

Meckler said there have been new requests to make videos for the virtual classes because certain counseling classes have a career aspect. Before switching to online, counselors were asked to featured a $100 MasterCard giveaway and information about money management and self starting businesses. LACCD also provided refreshments for attendees. tanas.roundupnews@gmail.com present to classrooms which now doing it online has created a shift.

“We used to have in-person events like the job fair and major fair,” Meckler said. “ We’ve had to come up with creative ways to switch that to the virtual experience.”

Meckler said it has been a challenge that is still being worked on to be as helpful as an in-person experience, which is still a work in progress. She hopes that the fairs will return sooner than later, but it is unknown when that will be.