The counselors in Germanna’s
new Career and Transfer Center have a question for GCC students:
“Do you know what you want to
study and do you know where you want to transfer?”
Marie Hawley and Sheryl Williamson want to make sure students are on the right path--that there are as few missteps as possible. Missteps can be costly both in terms of time and money, they say, slowing students on their way to degrees and costing thousands of dollars in extra tuition and lost earnings.
Career Counselor Hawley
says of the new Center:
“This is an opportunity for
students to really put together their career interests, things they’d like to
study and make sure the pieces fit together to transfer for a bachelor’s
degree.”
Hawley said that when it comes to certain
programs at universities where Germanna has a guaranteed transfer agreement,
“we have to inform [students] that you cannot just do general studies and
transfer--you need a degree focus.”
For example, she said,
Germanna may have a guaranteed transfer agreement with a university, but not
guaranteed entry into its business school without certain prerequisites.
Transfer Counselor Sheryl
Williamson said: “We try to encourage students to look ahead. … What sometimes
happens is that student graduates with that mentality transfer, they are then
faced with taking additional math classes.”
“Or not admitted to the
program,” Hawley said. “But if you prepare properly, you can align yourself.”
“If you start at a four-year school, you have
to declare a major by your junior year,” Williamson pointed out, adding that
Germanna students should be thinking about that major before they transfer.
“The sooner you know where you
want to go and what you want to do, the sooner you can match up your course
work so it transfers more seamlessly,” Hawley said.
The Career and Transfer
Center also offers assessments through the Virginia Education Wizard,
counseling and information sessions and workshops in resume writing and mock
job interviews. It also brings representatives from over 40 colleges and
universities on campus as part of an annual College Fair. This year’s event
will be held from 9 a.m. to noon at the Daniel Center in Culpeper and from 1
p.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 21 at the Fredericksburg Area Campus in Spotsylvania.
The Center also offers
resources “to help identify career paths students may not even know exist,”
Hawley said.
It also helps connect
students and employers for internships.
Williamson and Hawley have
over 50 years of combined experience in education.
The Career and Transfer
Center is located in room 228 of the Dickinson Building at the Fredericksburg
Area Campus in Spotsylvania.
The Center phone number is 540/834-1841.
Email addresses for the
Center:
Career Counselor Marie Hawley
mhawley@germanna.edu
Transfer Counselor Sheryl
Williamson swilliamson@germanna.edu
Sabrina Dunaway sdunaway@germanna.edu
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| Career and Transfer Center's Sheryl Williamson and Marie Hawley |
