The Lumberjack



Students Serving The Cal Poly Humboldt Campus and Community Since 1929

Tag: Services

  • HSU Health Center Remains Open

    HSU Health Center Remains Open

    Students on campus can still reach out to medical services

    The Humboldt State University campus is closed to the public, but the Student Health Center expects to remain open for the remainder of the semester to help any students remaining on campus. The health center is limiting face-to-face contact as much as possible, but is still helping students without physical appointments when possible.

    “We’re doing everything we can to help minimize the risk of exposure for students and Student Health and Counseling staff by limiting as much face-to-face contact as possible,” HSU Director of News and Information Aileen Yoo said. “For emotional support, for instance, students can talk to a CAPS counselor over the phone and, in most cases, if preferred, Zoom.”

    The Health Center is still offering other essential services like prescription refills and COVID-19 testing.

    “For those who are sick or suspect they have COVID-19, we have urged them to call before visiting the health center,” Yoo said. “When it comes to COVID-19, our main focus is assessing the student and collecting swab samples if we think that’s necessary.”

    “It is normal to have ebbs and flows with your mood and productivity levels but if you get “stuck” in a dark space for an uncomfortably long time, consider reaching out to get help such as from a counselor at CAPS.”

    Jennifer Sanford, director of Counseling and Psychological Services and associate director of student health and wellbeing

    The Health Center set up white triage tents in front of the building to help students check in and get assessed. If a student tests positive for COVID-19, the Health Center will work with county health services to make sure the student gets the treatment they need.

    During a pandemic, the disease itself isn’t the only medical problem facing students. The Center for Disease Control warns the stress of a pandemic can cause or worsen mental health problems, and recommends calling a health care provider if symptoms persist.

    The Director of Counseling and Psychological Services and Associate Director of Student Health and Wellbeing Jennifer Sanford asked students to consider reaching out to Counseling and Psychological Services if they feel their mental health is deteriorating.

    “Pay attention to how your thoughts and attitudes in any given moment are impacting your mood and overall wellbeing,” Sanford said. “Talk with others, connect. It is normal to have ebbs and flows with your mood and productivity levels but if you get “stuck” in a dark space for an uncomfortably long time, consider reaching out to get help such as from a counselor at CAPS.”

    Sanford said that this can be an uncertain time, but it’s important to see social distancing as community care.

    “The reality is that in our physical distancing, we are displaying compassion and care for our elderly and medically compromised,” Sanford said. “We are allowing our healthcare system to better manage the flow and care of patients, and we are caring for ourselves by lessening our own risk.”

  • A new learning experience

    A new learning experience

    No more paying for individual tutoring or hiding away in dark basements. Tutoring is now free for all students.

    The HSU Learning Center opened its brand new tutoring hub on the ground floor of the library. Su Karl, Learning Center Director, said the new facility cost $100,000 to build.

    The hub was funded mainly by a $4 million grant by the Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) STEM grant, which was awarded to HSU last year by the U.S. Department of Education.

    “The new space is a lot more spacious and inviting. It was made possible by the HSI STEM grant,” Karl said. “That grant allowed us to build that up.”

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    Students working on computers in the library Photo credit: Ahmed Al-Sakkaf

    Angelica Huerta is a Chemistry major and is a tutor for Chemistry, Math, and Physics. She is one of many students who like the new facility.

    “Now I like it way better than last year it was in the basement,” Huerta said. “It was all weird and lonely.”

    Mia Arnold and Katy Davidson, both majoring in biology, are also happy with the new location and setup of the tutoring center.

    “Now it’s accessible and you can see it,” Arnold said. “Downstairs, it was dark and confusing it was like a maze.”

    “It’s a solid setup, I like how it’s more open and you don’t have to go to the basement,” Davidson said.

    Also thanks to the grant money, the Learning Center started this year with a budget increase of around $12,000. All tutoring services for about 50 subjects including individual tutoring are now free. Last year, students had to pay for tutoring or find their own groups

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    Finding a small group was difficult for some students, Karl said. Some students schedules didn’t fit with others and some students were shy of reaching out to other students, she said.

    “That just didn’t seem fair, it didn’t seem right,” Karl said. “There were too many hoops for students to jump through.”

    Huerta thinks the fact that all these roadblocks stopped a lot of students from getting tutoring.

    The Learning Center opened in 1998 and was located in house 71, then moved to the library basement in 2009. Though all tutoring services were transferred to the library ground floor, few staff offices remain in the basement.

    In the past tutors had little or no training and were also hired or laid off based on demand. Karl said in the past they would hire many tutors, many of them were getting very few hours and it didn’t make sense to train them.

    “Some of them didn’t get the very best training because we didn’t have the funds to train them well,” Karl said. “The grant allowed us to increase training for our tutors.”

    This year, the center employed 85 tutors, compared to 110 tutors last year. All tutors are a part of the California State University Employees Union – Unit 11.

    “We’ve been trying to be more systematic about not just having quantity in terms of tutors, but having tutors who are well-trained who have enough hours,” said Karl.

    Although the Math, Science and General tutoring labs fall under the umbrella of the Learning Center. In the past, they were located in different locations throughout the library. The Math tutoring lab was on the second floor of the library while the other tutoring was in the basement.

    “The Math tutoring was all the way up on the second floor of the library, not a lot of people knew about the Math tutoring lab,” Davidson said. “It was also a smaller more confined space.”

    Now they’re all situated in the same area, making tutoring more accessible for students. The new tutoring hub has become a one-stop-shop for tutoring.

    “It’s much more helpful and easier to have the two places together,” Huerta said.

    The HSI grant which helped fund the Learning Center’s expansion and reforms were awarded to HSU and divided over five years.

    Though the improvements made are great, they aren’t sustainable over the long term. HSU is only receiving the HSI grant for a five-year period. When asked what will happen after five years, Karl said that’s up to the university or other grants.