Passing the Torch

by Deborah Mayhew

After serving two years as the chair of the UF Undergraduate Advising Council (UAC), it is time to pass the torch. New chair Robin Rossie from the College of Education has hit the ground running. Robin has lined up an impressive list of agenda items for our fall semester meetings. I know she’ll keep us on our toes with her enthusiasm, keen insights, and quick wit as she guides the UAC toward its goals.

Chairing the UAC has been a privilege.  The UF advising community is among the best in the nation. Our UAC members work hard to advance our profession, both by learning and teaching. More than 20 UF advisors attended the recent NACADA conference to learn new ways to improve advising. At least five UF advisors presented, teaching other advisors about innovations developed at our university. We have support for our profession from our administrators, as well.  Recognizing the importance of advising to the success of the institutional teaching mission, the UAC is housed in Academic Affairs and is overseen by the Associate Provost.

Over the past two years, we have adjusted to policy changes, budget cuts, and students with increasing needs. We have kept abreast of changes, found creative ways to “do more with less,” and continued to meet the needs of our students. In addition to staying up-to-date through our monthly agenda items, the UAC took on some additional tasks: 

• A UAC subcommittee found that HSAA students graduate successfully and on time and don’t need a lot of special attention beyond their special Preview session.
• For the first time, Santa Fe advisors were in attendance at our Annual Advising Workshop. 
• We reminded administration – often and loudly – that we must have a place in the conversation about the future of the student records system. 
• We submitted a report to Dr. Mair about gen-ed courses in different colleges, which he used to prepare for the Board of Governors meeting.

As a group, academic advisors contribute a great deal to the university. Over the summer, we updated the UAC Operating Code. The revisions increased the number of voting members from each area, with the intention of giving more advisors a voice. We also created a structure to provide support for the UAC Chair and a smooth transition as new leadership comes on board. Perhaps the most significant change is the development of a steering committee that includes the UAC Chair, the past-chair or the chair-elect, and the chair of each committee (campus affairs, professional development, and communication). The goal of the steering committee is to support the chair in the development of a strategic plan for the UAC.  Many thanks to Erica Byrnes, Maureen Cox, Dr. Bernard Mair, Dana Myers, Robin Rossie, Sallie Schattner, Kari Ward, and Andrew Wehle for sharing their time and talents in this process.

I would say that UF advisors are committed to advancing our profession, and they continually demonstrate the enthusiasm and intellect needed to do that.  At conferences, though, I frequently hear advisors say “we’re not there yet.”  It’s like a mantra. But maybe it should be more like our philosophy?  Do we really want to reach a point where we cannot improve?  I believe that people who choose to be academic advisors will never “be there,” because no matter how good we get, we will always strive to be better.  Isn’t that really the way it should be?  That’s the way it is at UF.

I want to thank everyone who participates in UAC.  In doing so, you strengthen our profession and our voice.  I want to offer special thanks to Dr. Bernard Mair, for his guidance, interest, and participation; to Erica Byrnes, past-chair, for her gracious support and mentoring; to Glenn Kepic, for keeping professional development in the forefront; to Maureen Cox, who chaired the best ever Annual Advisor Workshop and opened it up to our Santa Fe colleagues; to Jeff Citty, who helped define the role of the campus affairs committee; and finally, to my good friend and colleague, Kari Ward, whose talent for both writing and design have made the UF Advisor blog a publication that is highly anticipated every time.  I’m looking forward to what comes next!

New UF Honors Program Initiatives

by Dr. Melissa L. Johnson

The UF Honors Program has experienced tremendous growth in opportunities for our students over the past couple of years. Honors students can participate in our three sponsored student organizations: the Student Honors Organization and Honors Ambassadors which have a long-standing tradition of providing programming for our students, as well as our newest organization, Honors Without Borders which is a community outreach-based group.

First year honors students can participate in H-Camp, our new retreat for incoming honors students held in both August (regular admits) and January (lateral admits). Last spring, our students developed a new magazine called Prism, which highlights areas of interest to honors students. Over the past few years we have sponsored students to participate in Partners in the Parks, a week-long experiential learning program in partnership with the National Collegiate Honors Council and the National Park Service. And this year honors students have organized our first Dance Marathon team.

 

UF Honors Camp, August 2012

With these opportunities in mind, we recently revamped our program completion requirements to better focus on the holistic development of honors students. Under our former requirements, students had to take four honors courses, as well as demonstrate involvement in one of the following areas: research, internship, study abroad, leadership, or service. Students typically applied for their Certificate of Completion after two years in the program. Students who met these requirements received a certificate and a notation on their transcript.We found that our students were entering UF with more credits from high school and therefore had very few general education requirements to fulfill. They also had less room in their schedules to take elective honors courses, as they developed intricate plans for double majors, dual degrees, and combined degrees. Coupled with fewer faculty available to teach honors courses each semester, we opted to change our requirements to focus less on completing honors courses, and more on involvement in a variety of areas of interest.

The new requirements, which are available on our website, have two major components: Students must graduate with honors in their major at the cum laude level which pushes program completion to a four year process. They must also earn at least 14 honors points, including eight academic points and six enrichment points. Academic points can be earned by taking honors courses, completing a double major/dual degree or minor, participating in research with a faculty member, writing a thesis, and other similar activities. Enrichment points can be earned by participating in study abroad experiences, internships, and a variety of leadership and service-oriented activities. Students who meet these requirements will receive a notation on their transcript, as well as a medallion to wear at commencement.

Students who entered the Honors Program starting in Summer B 2012 are required to follow the new requirements. Students who entered prior to Summer B 2012 may elect to follow the new requirements if interested. We are very excited about these changes to the Honors Program and look forward to developing more initiatives for our students. Please let us know if you ever have any questions about the Honors Program! We also maintain an active presence on social media, so please feel free to connect with us on Facebook or Twitter @UFHonors.

15 Things You May Not Know About the Good Life Course

by Dana Myers

Author’s note:  Many thanks to Dr. Vicki Rovine with the School of Art and Art History and Dr. Brenda Smith with the School of Music (both of whom are instructors for What is the Good Life? and members of the Humanities Steering Committee) and Professor Andrew Wolpert, the Humanities Common Course Coordinator, for graciously giving their time to talk with me about this course.

Most of us have read the overview of the “What is the Good Life?” course (HUM2305) sent out over the advising listserv, so most of us have a general understanding of the course.  And for those of us involved with Preview, we certainly know the mandatory nature of the course and some of the trickiness involved with creating a schedule for students who have already fulfilled their humanities requirements or who have ambitious plans of double majoring or pursuing pre-health or other majors that have tight first-year curriculums (e.g. art, to name just one).  But as every incoming freshman is going to be taking the class this year, perhaps it’s worthwhile to know a bit more about HUM 2305.

1. The course has lectures taught by 11 different instructors (or combination of instructors) hailing from various UF departments, including religion, architecture, English, art history, classics, music, philosophy, anthropology, planning, theatre and dance, and the Land Use and Environmental Change Institute.  These lectures range in size from 132 students at the smallest, to a whopping 590 students.  The large-group lecture sections meet twice a week for one period and are then broken down into smaller discussion sections led by TAs that meet for an additional period per week.  (I swear I will eventually get to some stuff you won’t likely know already!)

2. The What is the Good Life? course came from UF’s desire to have a rigorous and intellectually honest humanities course that every student would take, one that could not be completed via any accelerated mechanism nor taken prior to enrolling at UF.  UF established the Humanities General Education Task Force some years back to tackle this task.  This group submitted their final report and recommendation in September 2011.  And from that, the Good Life course was created.

3. The Good Life course was originally taught in 2010 as an honors course to 25 students, none of whom were freshmen.  It has subsequently been taught in a variety of formats to a variety of classifications, but has never been required.  In Fall 2010, one section was taught to all freshmen, except one senior.  This senior reported to the instructor that out of all the courses he’d taken over the last four years, this course was the one in which he was most interested.

4. After the Humanities General Education Task Force gave its final report, a Humanities Steering Committee was created to serve as an advisory board for participating colleges and to provide an avenue for assessing the course and making recommendations for the possible development and improvement of the course.

5. The course will be re-evaluated at the end of three years to determine if it is meeting the original objectives and may be potentially revised or possibly even taken out of the curriculum for first-year students.

6. Although the Preview workbook indicated the course would give some Gordon Rule writing credit, it does NOT.  However, the course does require students to write at least 2,000 words, so we can be rest assured that even though a student may come to UF with all 24,000 GR writing words met via accelerated mechanisms, he/she will still have to take at least one course with a writing component.  (Thank goodness!)

7. Professor Andrew Wolpert from the Classics department is the Humanities Common Course Coordinator who oversees the operations of the course (from budget to course planning and development).  While he said he cannot help advisors get particular students into particular sections (darn it, I tried!), he assured me there should be sufficient space for the rest of the freshmen needing the class this spring.

8. The course consists of about 50% “gateway” readings or experiences (some are video or multimedia) and 50% “pillar” readings or experiences.  The gateway readings are required of all sections, regardless of instructor.  Here are a handful (there are many more):  Vivien Sung’s  Five-Fold Happiness:  Chinese Concepts of Luck, Prosperity, Longevity, Happiness, and Wealth; Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha; Martin Luther King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail (1963); and Henry Thoreau’s  Where I Lived, and What I Lived For and Conclusion  from Walden.  The pillar readings are determined by the instructor, so one instructor’s course could look very different from another’s and yet still share the gateway experiences.

9. Some of the instructors were not familiar with all of the gateway readings, so the course actually requires a great deal of prep work.  Additionally, many of the instructors have never taught large-group lectures before so teaching this course is definitely keeping them on their toes!  And some are wondering whether UF can implement a cutting off of Wi-Fi during lectures! (Ack… too many smartphones!)

10. Seasoned HUM 2305 instructors say the course can help students find the right major.  One instructor said that a student who had completed the course sought her out to discuss how good he felt about pursuing his interest in becoming a writer.  (Yay!  This is a good reason for having first-year students take the course.)

11. Many of these faculty are excited about what HUM 2305 can teach students – teaching the students (and themselves) to become more comfortable with ambiguity.  As each lecture section discusses the gateway experiences and readings from different perspectives, students are hopefully led closer to understanding there are multiple truths in this vast world of “good”ness.

12. As to the mandatory nature of the course, some instructors report that students have had mixed responses:  some seem relieved to have not had to pick another course, while others have expressed discontent as they already have several humanities credits from accelerated mechanisms.

13. There are discussions happening about possibly offering Summer B sections of the course, and perhaps even an online version at a later point.

14. Some students beginning this academic year do NOT have to take HUM2305.  Here is a list of those exemptions (taken from Dr. Mair’s UF advising listserve’s post):

• AA transfers from the institutions in the Florida College System and State University System who have satisfied their institutions’ general education program prior to entering UF.
• Students enrolling in the Innovation Academy for the first time in Spring 2013. 
• Students enrolled in fully online degree programs. Students enrolling in these programs in the future will be required to take this course when it becomes available online. 
• Students who matriculated at UF prior to Summer B 2012, and who are required by the university or their colleges to change to the current catalog year. This exemption does not cover students who elect to change to the current catalog year. 

15. And finally… there is a plethora of information on the “What is the Good Life?” course website, including all the syllabi for all the large-group lecture sections.  You may want to check it out! 

Innovation Academy Update

by Dr. Jeff Citty

Many exciting and creative ideas are bubbling up from the Innovation Academy’s (IA) suite of programs and services: 

• First, IA’s Fall Connection courses and study abroad opportunities are in full swing, as we prepare for the IA students’ arrival in Spring 2013.
• Currently, we are planning to monitor IA students’ Fall Connection academic progress through communication from faculty members teaching the Fall Connection courses along with communication from the students. This will include announcements of important dates and deadlines, as well as contact information. 
• Additionally, we are planning a kick-off celebration called “Launch into IA” on January 4th, the Friday before class begin, in the Reitz Union Grand Ballroom. Further details will be coming in the next few weeks. 
• We are also in the development phase of a multidisciplinary team-based fall internship program for IA students’ sophomore fall semester.  Again, stay tuned for more details on this. 
• The next phase of the three-step orientation process--Gateways--launched on September 24th with the first on-line module in Sakai.  New Student Programs will release the additional two modules on October 8th and 24th. Students who have technical difficulties should be directed to the UF Computer Help Desk at 352-392-HELP.  All other questions can be directed to newstudentinfo@dso.ufl.edu or to 352-392-1621. 
• Lastly, we have created college level email listserves so that colleges are able to email IA students with college-specific information.

Recruitment and admission for the next year’s class began on August 1st and the IA interest is showing some growth over last year’s numbers with some assistance from the IA flyer. We have approximately 4% more applicants this year than at the same time point last year, but we are still early in the application process. Click here if you are interested in obtaining an IA flyer for your office

IA FAST FACTS

334 IA students confirmed enrollment in IA

312 IA students completed the two day Preview session

225 IA students completed housing contracts for Beaty East

173 IA students enrolled in Fall Connection courses

7 IA students are studying abroad

3 IA students featured on our website in the “Student Spotlight”

2 IA majors have been added--Computer Science & Digital Arts and Sciences

Please continue to check the IA website for more exciting information.  My thanks to all of you for your assistance in helping make the Innovation Academy successful at UF.   Go Gators!

Meet Julie Crosby: UF@ Santa Fe Center Advisor

by Julie Crosby

I’m Julie Crosby, coordinator of the University of Florida @ Santa Fe (UF@SFC) Center at Santa Fe College in Gainesville. For SFC students working towards transferring to UF, it can be a challenge to determine and connect with the right academic program at UF. As the “Gateway to the Gators,” the center exists to help our students make these connections.  Students often come to me for general UF information and referrals. I help them determine the appropriate college and advisor, provide contact information, and encourage them to seek UF advising early. This fall, I’ll be co-sponsoring the October 10^th Gator Day @ Santa Fe event with the SFC Academic Advising Department, so please mark your calendars!

Prior to this position, I was Volunteer Coordinator of the Florida Museum of Natural History and before that an educator of middle, high, adult, and alternative education students in Putnam and Alachua Counties. I’m a graduate of UF (M.Ed, minor in Ed. Leadership), Flagler College (BA, English), and St. Johns River State College (AA). I have three daughters and I’m very excited that--if the Mayan calendar is wrong and all goes well--all of them will be in college at UF and SFC before 2013 is over! Woohoo! My husband, Scott, is also a Gator (BSFRC).

There are several ways for UF advisors to deliver information to SFC students through the UF@SFC Center. One of my main roles is to advise SFC students who are interested in the online degree programs of the Heavener School of Business and the College of Health and Human Performance; likewise, I also recruit and schedule advisors and program coordinators from all UF colleges to present information sessions and/or offer regular walk-in advising sessions at SFC. I’ve hosted wonderful presentations by UF staff representing six colleges this year, as well as monthly advising sessions from CALS. It has been a pleasure to meet so many of you and see the passion you have for your majors, programs, and colleges!

I also focus on promoting UF programs, activities and organizations, pre-professional exploration events, etc. that are open to SFC students.  Announcements--which lead to some great connections between SFC/UF students, staff, and faculty--can be targeted to students in a particular major or broadcasted to the SFC community as a whole. Our Facebook page is www.facebook.com/uf.sf.center.  If you "Like" us, we’ll "Like" you right back and happily promote your programs and events.

As coordinator of the UF@SFC Center, my ultimate goal is to bring in advisors and other representatives from every UF college to meet with targeted populations of SFC students at least once during the year.  My students are hungry for information and very eager to become Gators!  It’s so gratifying to see their response when they are exposed to UF's major options, career opportunities, and advisors who help them make well-informed decisions and eventually realize their Gator dreams!

Let’s partner to bring UF to SFC and vice versa!  Please contact me if you’d like to discuss scheduling an information or advising session:  julie.crosby@sfcollege.edu or (352) 381-7137.

Advisor Review: Exploratory Students at UF

Advisor Liz Kazungu serves as chair of the exploratory committee in UF's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.  This committee works to provide students who have not decided on a major with the information and resources they need to make timely and well informed decisions.

by Liz Kazungu

With the 2012-13 Academic Year just around the corner, I thought it would be a good idea to offer a review of how exploratory majors work.  To start, entering freshmen who aren’t certain about their major can declare one of three exploratory categories that most closely represents the major(s) they are considering:  Exploring Humanities and Letters, Exploring Science and Engineering, or Exploring Social and Behavioral Sciences.  Likewise, students who are having second thoughts about their declared major can change to one of these exploratory categories.  Students can remain in an exploratory major for the first three fall/spring semesters only (not counting summer).  Unless a student is attending part-time or withdraws from one of her first three terms, there are no exceptions to this policy.  By the end of the third semester--before registering for their fourth--exploratory students must declare a major.  As an example, students who entered UF as freshmen in Summer B or Fall 2011 must declare a major before they can register for Spring 2013. 

During their first three semesters, exploratory students should actively explore possible majors, narrow their choices, regularly meet with advisors who advise for the majors they are considering, and take tracking courses for their prospective majors.  When meeting with exploratory students, advisors should stress the importance of critical tracking and help them assess 1) if the majors they are considering are realistic and, if not, what alternative majors are there and what are their tracking requirements and 2) how they should schedule their summer and third fall term so they are prepared to declare a major by the end of fall.  A common mistake exploratory students make is taking only general education courses until they decide on a major.  Unfortunately, this strategy can leave them unprepared to declare a major at the end of their third term. 

Choosing a major can be a difficult decision, but there are various resources available to help students make that decision.  Since exploratory majors are classified under Liberal Arts and Sciences, my college hosts workshops and offers an exploratory website that features a host of resources.  In addition, you can contact us via email, call (352) 392-1521, or refer students to 100 Farrior Hall.  Also, please encourage exploratory students to review the CRC website or visit them on the first floor of the Reitz Union.  The CRC offers one-on-one career planning sessions, online major and career assessments (CHOMP), as well as workshops that can help them with their decision-making.

As an informed community, I'm certain that UF will help exploratory students find their way!

Student Financial Affairs Announces Changes to Tuition and Fee Deferment for Academic Year 2012-2013

by Diane Hurtak

Diane Hurtak, University Bursar's Office

Generally, students receiving financial aid such as federal aid (accepted Perkins and Direct Loans and predicted Pell Grants), state aid (including Florida Bright Futures scholarships), institutional aid (Turner grant) and/or college awards, are not expected to pay their tuition and fees by the end of the second week of class as they are unable to control when these monies arrive on campus. 

In the past, students receiving any financial aid were able to have their fees deferred for 8-10 weeks.  Effective Fall 2012, the deferment period will be reduced to six weeks.  In addition, students who receive only private funded loans and scholarships will no longer be granted a tuition and fee deferment. The deferment period for veterans, graduate assistants and merit scholars will not be reduced.  Also note, students receiving only federal loans must accept them by 5:00pm, Thursday, August 30, 2012 or they will not qualify for a tuition and fee deferment.

Fall 2012 Tuition and Fee Payment Deadlines

Aug 31   Tuition and Fee Payment Deadline             

Oct 12   Deferred Tuition and Fee Payment Deadline for Students with Federal

            and/or State Funded Financial Aid        

Nov 16   Deferred Tuition and Fee Payment Deadline for Veterans,

            Graduate Students on Assistantships, and Merit Scholars

Prior to the end of the second week of classes, advisors might want to remind their students to confirm their tuition and fee deferment by logging into my.ufl.edu/Main Menu/My Campus Finances/Student Center.  Tell them to look for the yellow star under the Service Indicator heading with “Deferment” in the Indictor Name.  If students have questions about this issue, they can contact the University Bursar at (352) 392-0181.  

Reflections on UF’s 6th Annual Advising Conference

by Kari Ward

I don’t know about you, but the 6^th Annual Advising Conference held at the end of January taught me a lot about the UF advising community.  At the gathering, advisors from UF and Santa Fe came together to share their ideas and accomplishments with others who share their profession.  On an individual level, we learned about the kinds of projects and issues UF advisors are working on and we also had a rare opportunity to listen to the thoughts and life experiences of one of our most beloved advisors.  Jill Lingard’s interview with Dr. Matheny was, by far, the highlight of my day—I so appreciated Dr. Matheny’s humor and candor and I feel privileged to have witnessed such an historical event.  Dana Myers’ “Walking the Line” panel, which focused on ethical decision-making, also gave me real insight into the individual thought processes advisors engage in, as well as the commonalities and differences in our advising philosophies. 

On a broader scale, the advising conference allowed me to compare administrative and advising practices among colleges.  I felt thrilled to finally get an answer to a long held question.  For years, I’ve wondered why UF is so decentralized.  Wouldn’t it be better, in terms of consistency for our students, if everyone had to follow the same rules?  But through various discussions at the conference, I realized that instead of creating dissonance the decentralized model recognizes that colleges, like students, have individual needs, interests, and backgrounds and that the “one rule fits all” model would actually disadvantage our students. From now on, I will look at colleges as “cultures!”

The medical petitions seminar exposed everyone to some of the amazing things that go on at the university level.  Learning about the Dean of Students “Culture of Care” philosophy, which was born out of their desire to show greater sensitivity to students in crisis, showed a measure of compassion that we don’t always see on large university campuses.  And Dr. DeSantis’ using his presentation as an opportunity to obtain advisors’ feedback on the medical petitions process also showed me how important and productive it can be for advisors to share their opinions and work collaboratively with offices that may or may not directly relate to advising.

On an even greater scale, academic advisors had the opportunity to learn about the state of our university and higher education from Drs. Glover and Mair.  I was surprised and proud to hear that other institutions look to our school as a model for advising, student retention, and graduation rates.  The administrators’ presence and message at the conference showed me that advisors’ efforts are, in fact, valued on this campus.  I savored every moment of the spontaneous Q&A session we had with Dr. Glover, grateful for the freedom we have to take part in such an open discussion and for the rare chance to hear my colleagues direct thoughtful and pertinent questions to a higher level administrator.

The coordinators of the conference—Maureen Cox (chair), Karen Bray, Erica Byrnes, Sarah Eberhardt , Glenn Kepic, Jaime Little, Deb Mayhew, and Dana Myers—did a fantastic job of organizing the event.  The time, thought, and energy they put into planning was fully evident to me--holding the conference in spring demonstrated their sensitivity to advisors’ schedules, the morning plenary session with Dr. Matheny showed their desire to engage and entertain us, and the sessions they featured wholly addressed our needs as advisors.  I will close by saying how proud and thankful I feel to be a part of the great advising community at the University of Florida.  I hope you feel that way, too!

StrengthsQuest

by Leslie Pendleton and Beth Nahlik

Think about the days you feel on top of your game. Everything is going right and you easily find energy to move onto the next advising appointment or project.  Opportunities to be at our best should happen every day.  How can we make sure that we, and every member of our team, are using our strengths at work?  How can we help our students use their strengths in school?  How can we teach them to leverage their talents in the classroom, in student organizations, in their relationships, their career, and throughout their lives?

Leslie Pendleton, Director

Florida Opportunity Scholars Program

Over the last three years, UF has used the Gallup Organization’s StrengthsQuest (SQ) assessment to do just this.  The assessment, which is widely used in corporate America and higher education, helps students and professionals identify their personal strengths.  The SQ assessment is an online tool that takes only 30 minutes to complete.  Centered on 34 identified talent themes, the SQ reveals each individuals’ top five strengths. 

Student Affairs, the Center for Leadership and Service, New Student and Family Programs, the School of Business, the Department of Recreational Sports, and most recently the College of Dentistry and Office of Human Resources have implemented SQ in various ways.

Beth Nahlik, Assistant Director

Center for Leadership and Service

New Student and Family Programs is using SQ in their work with Preview staffers.  Students’ results are now incorporated into Preview training and feedback sessions, and they are also used as a conversational tool to help staffers get to know each other better.  The School of Business is using SQ in Warrington Welcome (First Year Florida) classes to help students discover their talents and integrate them into their academic and career plans.  SQ training is continued in their Florida Leadership Academy and in business student organization experiences.  The Department of Recreational Sports has incorporated SQ into the UF performance appraisal process and staff meetings.  Cat Cramp, Associate Director for Recreational Sports, says “Focusing on what people bring to the team helps individuals feel valued and we get to learn more about our colleagues in the process.”  SQ can also lend itself to academic advising.  For example, advisors with SQ training can help students identify their areas of high talent which, in turn, can help them select a major or career that will allow those strengths to shine.

Want to learn more about SQ?  The Gallup Organization offers free webinars for those who are interested.  If you would like to take the assessment, you can purchase an instrument for $10 by emailing info@strengths.ufl.edu at the Center for Leadership and Service. If you’d like to learn more about the instrument and how you can use it with your students, or if you’d like to schedule an appointment for you to learn more about your strengths, please contact Leslie Pendleton or Beth Nahlik.  Perhaps one of the greatest benefits to working in higher education is the continual opportunity to learn more about ourselves and to capitalize on what we do best so that we can help our students be their best!  SQ is yet another tool that we can use in this process.