Young college students are still developing their skill sets and are often uncertain about how to achieve their goals. At Salt Lake Community College, there is a program specifically designed to help students become better students, employees and people.
Brandi Mair is the coordinator for the StrengthsQuest team at SLCC. StrengthsQuest is a strength-finding program that lets you know what your top strengths are and gives insight on how to be a better you, “by students knowing what their strengths are and being able to use them in class, personal relations or career, studies show that they thrive better, stay in school longer and are more likely to use it in school when they know their strengths,” said Mair.
There are a lot of benefits in finding your strength through the StrengthsQuest team, and in their workshops, as Mair explained, “students can learn to become more self aware and accepting, understand their lives in terms of calling and vocation, become more effective leaders, improve their interpersonal relationships and readily become members of the campus community.”
StrengthsQuest is developed by the Gallup Organization, and is currently doing a study with Purdue University and many other major universities across the nation that includes more than 30,000 college graduates and their experiences after college. All the participants took the basic test that gives the top five strengths which include purpose, social, financial, community, and physical.
When it comes to graduating with an associate’s degree, only 6 percent of students are thriving in all five areas. Most thrive in purpose well-being, followed by social well-being and community well being. They do suffer more in financial and physical well being.
In collaboration with Gallup, many college campus leaders, including Salt Lake Community College, have designed and developed curricular and co-curricular programs like workshops and training sessions to engage students in the discovery, development and application of their strengths.
StrengthsQuest started at Salt Lake Community College in summer of 2011, but was only available for the staff members to use. In fall of that same year, Mair started a class called “Strengths Based Leadership.” Students enrolled in that class would benefit in doing the strength test for free and learning more in depth how to become a leader. One year later, Mair started the Strength Team, held in the Student Life & Leadership office and composed by four student leaders.
Any students interested in participating and learning more can do so in the following ways; ask your teacher to hold a lecture from the Strength Team, where they will make a free presentation for the whole class, or attend one of the workshops the Strength Team holds every few weeks, or contact Brandi Mair at Brandi.Mair@slcc.edu.
The next scheduled workshop is Nov. 9 from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Taylorsville Redwood Campus Student Center, Parlor B. The theme is “social well-being, how to use your strength and strength of others to make your relationship better.” You may contact Brandi Mair prior to the workshop to get a free evaluation.
