Hey everyone! Hope all is going well. Has your week been going by as fast as mine? It seems as if the time is just flying by. Unfortunately, I keep finding more and more homework and projects that are due—sometimes it feels as if there is just not enough time in one day to get everything accomplished. But then again I can’t complain, because it all seems to work out—I just keep reminding myself to take one day at a time, because that’s really all you can do, right?

Luckily, this past week started off great, as I had the chance to help out Janet Howard and her DREAM Students from Massillon High School!! These were junior and senior high school students who were given the chance to come onto our campus and shadow us for the morning, from 9:00-11:30am. When I first volunteered I worried that the students I would be taking around would be bored to death since I have no classes on Monday until 1:50pm, in which they would be on their way back to school by then. However, Janet Howard informed me not to worry and that she was sure I would be able to keep them entertained somehow.

I found out throughout last week who else was helping on this day and discovered that my friend Stephanie was actually in the same situation that I was, and concerned as well. We decided to pair up our groups of DREAM Students so that we could both show them all Walsh has to offer—while not technically going to a class.

It was a success! We picked up our students, I had 3 in my assigned group interested in Business, and Stephanie had 4 in her group which was interested in Management and Accounting. We began touring the Barrette center since we were right there, and wanted the students to get the feel for the building that they would be spending the majority of the time if they decided to go to Walsh for business degree. Stephanie and I decided that we would show them everything that we felt we missed out on when touring Walsh prior to coming here. Things such as which classrooms have the most comfortable chairs (Barrette center 137?) and what about where the game room and lounge is? Our students agreed that they would be interested more in these types of things than just setting through a random class where they have no idea what is going on for that day. We peaked into one of the business classrooms to give them an idea of the size of each class, and then we were off for some fun in the David Center.

Michael Koluch saw us coming as we entered the newly remodeled game room in the basement of the David Center, as he greeted us with an Xbox and Nintendo Wii to play on the big projector screens in the game room. The students loved it and quickly got involved—instantly interacting with one another, and asking us questions along the way. I think this was a great program in the regards that it was students with students, so there was no false perception of how the school was, or loss of interest because of an age difference of an adult tour guide. Instead the students could feel comfortable asking us anything they would like about our past experience at Walsh and what our thoughts and opinions were about the school.

After hitting up the game room, we took them on a final tour of the campus, and then headed to lunch where we dropped them off. It was great to see how excited these DREAM Students were about college; some even had their acceptance letters, and were eager to begin after seeing a typical life of a college student.

All of the volunteers agreed that it felt as if we had a positive impact on the student’s decision to work hard, and strive for a better education, because they could see firsthand that in the end, all the hard work and dedication pays off! The students were all so thankful, and it gave us a great feeling to know that we were an essential part of making their future brighter!

Well until next time, take care, and keep checking back in for recent updates

Remember if you ever have questions or comments you would like to share with me just drop me a line!

Take care,

Chris Burr