On any given school day, students at Salt Lake Community College’s Taylorsville Redwood campus routinely stroll through the hallways of the science and industrial (SI) building. It’s a seemingly popular space to hang out in between class periods, but Bonnie Odgen wants to change that.
“If a student is on the floor, I tell them, ‘Go to the STEM center,’” said Ogden, an engineering professor and student success manager for STEM Learning at SLCC. She says the center, located on the first floor of the SI building, is the perfect place for students to study and receive help with schoolwork.
However, STEM learning Interim Director Dr. Kamal Bewar said the center is often underutilized. It’s for this reason that he, Ogden and others in the program decided to put on an event called “(PI)zza with the Dean” on Feb. 21. The event offered students the opportunity to mingle with STEM staff and learn about all the center has to offer.
“We’re doing everything we can as a team to make [the center] more visible,” Bewar said.
The dean of SLCC’s School of Mathematics, Science and Engineering, Craig Caldwell, attended to meet students and answer questions about the STEM center’s many services. The school’s associate deans were also present.
“Awareness is the number one thing,” Caldwell said. “Just be aware that anybody is welcome to walk in here at any time. You don’t have to be doing tutoring, but it’s an option.”
In addition to meeting the dean and other STEM staff, students at the event were able to explore the STEM center, which consists of two floors of study space, independent work rooms and a large, glass-paneled room that hosts workshops.
Those workshops – totally free – let students learn and work with others as they review class materials and prepare for exams. The center also offers complimentary drop-in tutoring, project and research opportunities, and one-on-one appointments with student success managers like Ogden.
And, as Caldwell and Ogden contended, the center is a great place to simply do homework and meet people. Logan Madsen, a mechanical engineering student, joined the pizza party and took advantage of the time to study.
“I come here every day,” Madsen said. “I mainly just study, but sometimes I use the tutoring for physics and math.”
“I used to just study at home, and sometimes I’d get stuck on a problem for like three hours,” Madsen continued. “But here, if I get stuck on a problem, I can ask one of the tutors for help.”
The STEM center staff wants to ensure that students at SLCC are also wholly focused on becoming independent, active learners.
“What that means is that you empower students to take their learning and their outcomes into their own hands,” Caldwell said. “You’re not just dependent on going to class … This is a place where you can take an active role in deciding what [you] need and what [you’re] going to go for and engage with.”
The center has launched a brand-new program called “Student Success Ambassadors,” in which students at SLCC provide one-on-one help to fellow students. That help may include connecting students with tutors, directing them to workshops, helping them draw up a schedule plan for their time at SLCC, or even connecting them with resources outside of the STEM center.
“Connections help you be successful as a student,” Ogden said. “And we’re here to help people build relationships.”
For more information about the STEM Learning center at SLCC and the services they offer, visit the STEM Learning webpage.
