Student Success Programs News from February 2022

Thank you to several Orientation Programs student staff members, as well as Student Success Programs staff, for volunteering to represent the department at recent Admissions tabling events!

Span Plan Blood Drive

Span Plan Nontraditional Student Support Services held its second annual community service event, in which they hosted a blood drive and collected 15 pints of blood. Span Plan student coach Mary Keller hosted the Span Plan table and is pictured above.

Events

ASC invites department to share workshop opportunities

The Academic Success Center wanted to share some updates/information regarding the Academic Skill Workshops being offered this semester! Please encourage your students to sign up. Some of the workshops they will be hosting include:

Maximize your Time – registration will open beginning of March

• 6:30 p.m. March 30

Create your Finals Game Plan – registration will open beginning of March

• 5:30 p.m. April 11
• 7:30 p.m. April 19

All workshops take place in our space (Wiley C215). More information including workshop descriptions, registration links and the workshop request form can be found ASC's website.

Purdue Promise Out of Darkness Walk

As a ScholarCorps campus, Purdue is required to facilitate at least one service event per semester for 21st Century Scholars at Purdue. One of the annual events we participate in the Purdue Out of Darkness Walk, which benefits the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (Indiana Chapter).

In addition to reporting on staff and student participation, we are also asked to report on campus and community partner participation if others engage with us. Thus, we invite you to join us this year!

This year’s walk is scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday, April 2. If you are busy that day, you can also just sign up to fundraise through June. (Raising $100 by April 2 will get you a T-shirt.)

Here are some resources if you want to learn more about AFSP Purdue and the Purdue Out of the Darkness campus walk.

• Instagram
• Facebook Event
• Twitter

Staff shoutouts

Purdue Promise staff members recognized for student support efforts

The Office of the Provost recently surveyed students who were on academic probation during Fall 2021. The goal was to learn more about their experiences and their needs—as connected to our commitment to continuous improvement in offering support to students who are facing academic struggles. In the survey students were offered the opportunity to indicate who among Purdue faculty and staff had been particularly supportive to them. Purdue Promise staff members Joe Strickler and Tyra Baker were specifically identified by a student as someone who helped and guided them during their time on probation. From Heather Servaty-Seib, associate vice provost: "I wanted to thank you for the positive impact you are having on our students’ lives. The work you do matters--you are making a difference."

Student Success Staff members receive 'Thumps Up' recognitions in Purdue Today

I would like to thank Jamie Richards, Jazmine Clifton and Kelsey Jordan for co-coordinating opportunities for all new staff in Student Success Programs to meet with each unit in the department. As I have a lot of new staff that have been hired in the last year in this ongoing pandemic, I appreciate that they have had the opportunity to visit the different units over the past few weeks to meet all of our colleagues. I have also enjoyed the opportunity to meet new colleagues from other units. Coordinating something like this for a department as large as ours is challenging, and I appreciate their extra effort. -- Michelle Ashcraft (Purdue Promise)

DRC staff member Hunter Duncan introduces guide dog, provides insight on service training and etiquette

Meet Katie, access consultant Hunter Duncan's guide dog, a two-year-old black lab who loves to nap, play and cuddle! Katie has trained extensively to assist Hunter in navigating various environments safely. As part of Disability Awareness Month, which is in March, Hunter agreed to share information about guide dog training, misconceptions and helpful etiquette tips.

Q: Where was Katie trained, and how long did her training take?

A: Katie was trained at Guide Dogs for the Blind in San Rafael, CA. She lived with her puppy raisers from 8-weeks old until she was about 12-months old and then returned to GDB for her formal training in guidework, which she completed in about 3-months. Training can take longer for some dogs, but for Katie, she completed her formal guide training and passed with flying colors! The training process for formal guidework includes elements like traffic training, working through crowds, public transportation, navigating barricades, and targeting (finding things like curbs, stairs, etc.)

For the handler, the training process takes 2-weeks. The guide dog is fully trained, and on Day 2 of training, the handler and guide dog meet for the first time. Then, the rest of the training is spent in learning how to work together as a team. The first week is created around 1 or 2 "basic routes" that the handler and guide dog work together on with the expertise of an instructor. Then, Week 2 is a much more personalized week of training where the dog and handler navigate environments that are more personalized to their home environment like hiking, sidewalk-less routes, indoor guidework, etc.

Q: What is something that people might be surprised to learn about Katie, or guide dogs in general?

A: Many people are surprised to learn that guide dogs respond to their handlers' commands during guidework. This means that a guide dog is provided directions (commands) from their handler on where to go. The job of a guide dog is to navigate their handler safely, whereas their handler is in charge of the directions and informing the dog on where to go. Just like a guide dog, a blind or visually impaired person goes through years of orientation and mobility training in order to learn how to navigate various environments, cross streets, and work through crowded areas. As an example, guide dogs do not read traffic signals for their handlers. A guide dog is told by their handler on when it's safe to cross a street. Other fun facts about guide dogs are that guide dogs love finding things (in fact this is one of Katie's favorite things to do). For example, they know how to find: escalators, elevators, chairs, doors, curbs, and stairs. This is called "targeting." People also often think that a guide dog is "always working." This is not true! A guide dog has plenty of downtime where their harness is off and they are not actively guiding their handler.

Guide dogs are also one of the only service dogs who are trained to do what's called "intelligent disobedience" where they will not follow through on a command because they've found it too dangerous. For example, if a handler is crossing a street and the dog sees a car coming into the crosswalk, and the handler gives the "forward" command, the dog may choose not to move forward because it's unsafe.

Q: What are the top three things people should know related to Guide Dog etiquette?

A: I think guide dog etiquette is always a learning process. The top three things I would suggest would be:

1. Distraction: Please do not pet, talk to, or acknowledge a guide dog when you see a guide and their handler working. This includes all instances where a guide is actively working (in harness) even if the dog is not actively guiding and is just sitting calmly next to their handler in a coffee shop. I know it's hard to do because they are so cute, but please know that they are doing a job and your petting them or stopping to talk to them (or make dog-noises at them like whistling, clapping, etc) to try to get their attention is actually harmful for the team and could cause further danger late on in guidework.

2. Guide dog handling: Please remember that a guide dog is an extension of the handler and should not be treated as a separate entity. Guidework is embedded in teamwork. A handler and a guide dog work together to navigate the environment.

3. A guide dog's purpose is to support their handler's independence and safety. Our partnership is all about a team's equal access and participation in the environment. Having a guide dog allows the handler to be unencumbered by the environment.

I think it's important for people to know that it's OK to ask questions. I would rather have people ask me questions than make assumptions about me, my dog, or what it's like to work with a guide dog. The more questions we ask, the better educated our society becomes and the more inclusive our culture and environment can be.

Congratulations to McKalaih Mitchell and Tyra Baker for Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) certification