The Lumberjack



Students Serving The Cal Poly Humboldt Campus and Community Since 1929

Tag: Student resources

  • HSU Student Resources to Get Through the Pandemic

    HSU Student Resources to Get Through the Pandemic

    Student resources for school, finances, food, housing and counseling

    Here is a list of resources Humboldt State is offering for students. Click here for a student-created site of community resources. Click here for the site in Spanish.

    Educational advice:

    Enoch Hale is the director of the Center for Teaching and Learning at Humboldt State University. He provided five tips to help students with online learning during the shelter in place order. His tips revolved around being kind and flexible.

    “Kindness is having the patience and the benefit of the doubt to know that everyone else is struggling,” Hale said. “Be flexible—no one signed up for this and we are going to have to be agile in our expectations in the changing patterns.”

    Five tips to help with online school from Hale:

    1. Don’t ignore feelings—reflect on them so they don’t manage us.
    2. Communicate with professors more, not less.
    3. Log on more frequently. Check your emails and canvas more often. Not all courses will be on Zoom.
    4. Set a schedule, use a study calendar and stick to a routine.
    5. Check the Keep Learning website.

    Finances:

    HSU Coordinator of Student Services for the financial aid office Morgan McBroom provided financial advice to students. McBroom suggested students in a crisis contact the financial aid office.

    For students who are hard-pressed for money, there is a student emergency loan that ranges from $500 to $1000. It is a short-term loan and can come within a few days. Financial services will work to help students pay it back. Students who have not used all of their student loans from the previous semester may also still have access to them.

    Due to the COVID-19 crisis, students’ loan interests are being waived, but the estimated date that it will stop is in June. As of now, the end date hasn’t been established. If you are an HSU graduate, you can have your loans waived for a year with no interest.

    Contact: finaid@humboldt.edu or (707) 826-4321.

    Housing:

    In addition to her advice on financial matters, McBroom also provided housing advice. There is emergency housing available on campus. The off-campus liaison is a resource if you’re struggling with rent.

    Contact: housingliaison@humboldt.edu

    Food:

    1. The recreation room on the first floor of the Jolly Giant Commons offers pre-made bags with food items. This happens twice a week on Wednesday from 10 a.m. until 12 p.m. and Thursday from 1 to 3 p.m. Vegan and vegetarian meal bags are also available.

    If you cannot make those times due to isolation or quarantine, contact mira@humboldt.edu and she can set up a delivery time.

    2. Oh SNAP! can also help you load your student ID card with J points. You need to express a financial need for food support. If you have over $40 in J points, you need to wait until your card is under $40. You can receive $60 every four weeks, but this is subject to change. If there is an increase of funds there could be an increase in the amount given to students. You can also donate your J points to help students in need.

    Contact: ravin.craig@humboldt.edu.

    3. For extra help, try applying for CalFresh, a state-funded program to help pay for food. Students not working 20 hours a week can apply for CalFresh, except for students in the Educational Opportunity Program program, students with specialized grants and work-study students. You can qualify for up to $200 a month for groceries.

    Contact ravin.craig@humboldt.edu if you need help with the application process or would like to see if you qualify.

    Counseling:

    Mira B. Friedman is the lead for health education and clinic support services. She provided information about counseling for students.

    HSU Counseling and Psychological Services is offering virtual appointments.

    Students can call (707) 826-3236 to make an appointment. There’s also a 24/7 hotline for immediate crisis outreach for students to speak with a therapist by phone at (707) 826-3236.

  • Oh SNAP! Farm Stand Feeds Students

    Oh SNAP! Farm Stand Feeds Students

    In addition to nonperishables, Oh SNAP! offers fresh produce twice a week

    Oh SNAP! is an on campus resource with a goal of helping Humboldt State students get food. During the fall semester, weekly stands of fresh-picked produce are available to students. Cooking a nutritious meal can be financially strenuous, but Oh SNAP’s farm stand is available twice a week.

    For students like HSU junior and microbiology major Matthew Peter it was their first year using Oh SNAP! to get their groceries.

    “This is technically my third time,” Peter said. “Now I’m trying to make an effort in coming.”

    The farm stand wasn’t the only service that Peter used, he was also familiar with the Oh SNAP! food pantry which provides nonperishable ingredients to make full meals.

    Peter says he enjoys the farm stand because he feels canned goods can go to students that need it.

    “I feel veggies are more volatile, for lack of a better term,” Peter said. “If there’s any leftovers they will have to be used that day, whereas cans can be stored for later.”

    Since the farm stand sets up twice a week, students have the opportunity to attend both days which Peter says he has started doing.

    Linda Mateo and Pand Moua at the Oh SNAP Farm Stand on Wed., Sept. 25. | Photo by Alberto Muro

    Unfortunately, not all students are aware of the Oh SNAP! program. Valerie Hernandez, a HSU senior and art major, says this was the first year she is using the program and didn’t recall it being mentioned during orientation.

    “Some people think they need to fill out paperwork, but no, it’s easy for students,” Hernandez said. “All you need is your student ID. I forgot mine at home but they can still help you.”

    If you accidentally forget your ID, like Hernandez did, don’t be alarmed because the volunteers at Oh SNAP! can still pull up your information.

    HSU senior and social work major Pand Moua volunteers at the Oh SNAP! farm stand every week and says the program also assists students in applying for alternative ways of getting food.

    “We have a ton of resources for students on campus,” Moua said. “We even help with Cal-Fresh applications and faxing.”

    Cal-Fresh is a resource that alleviates complications for students who do not have time to access the food pantry or farm stand.

    The Oh SNAP! food program is located at room 114 of the Recreation Wellness Center. Moua says that for students with disabilities, the location can be difficult to access but there are resources on campus to help.

    “Disabled students can use the Students Disabilities Resource Center for transportation and come get whatever they need.”

    The services provided by Oh SNAP! goes beyond food distribution, it also ensures the well being of HSU students.

    The growing season for local farms affects the operational days for the farm stand, but the program should be accessible for students even after finals. The academic calendar on HSU’s website has the farm listed until the end of the year.

  • 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.”

    AAtutoringhub-.jpg
    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

    .AAtutoringhub--3.jpg

    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.