For students at Seton Hill University (SHU), there have been opportunities to attend campus activities that highlight financial, personal and professional development.
Skilled presenters covered topics that are helpful to incoming and returning students. Activities such as “Getting Involved on Campus,” “Staying Healthy,” “From home to Campus,” “Being Successful throughout College,” “Living on a College Budget” and many more have been offered for students to attend to learn about various life topics. Events take place in the Havey residence hall.
“The first six weeks for first year students are proven to determine if they will stay at the university. If the student has a good first six weeks, they’ll stay,” said residence life director David Zlockie. “As long as they feel connected they feel like they can be successful, they’ll have a great time here.”
On Oct. 1, they presented “Living on a College Budget.” “I feel like this is so important because kids will get a direct hands-on opportunity to learn effectively on how to budget,” said Zlockie.
Speaker Doina Vlad came to speak to the students about finances, budgeting and planning. “It’s hard because you have to spend money, but there isn’t a lot of income coming in,” said Vlad
The session consisted of lessons about checks, debit cards and over drafting, credits cards and credit score, checkbooks and planning ahead. The largest tip that Vlan could give to the students was budgeting. “By not budgeting and no planning, you can damage your credit score, and they don’t always realize how long that will follow them.”
“My hope for tonight was for students to see the small minor mistakes that they can make and how they those can actually really hurt them. They should be aware and informed to avoid that,” said Vlad.
Another topic covered was entitled “Dear God, Where am I?” which was presented by Sister Maureen O’Brien.
“The conversation went very well,” said O’Brien. “Students spoke openly and freely about the challenges of college life and ways to cope in positive and healthy ways.”
The sessions concluded on Oct. 8 with “Writing Your First Resume.” The sessions averaged around 50 students in attendance.
“All in all, the events that we’ve had have been really successful including this one and I’ve gotten a lot of good feedback. I like that we’re really helping kids out,” said Zlockie.