Student Development at Valencia’s Osceola campus hosted “Finding my way through LifeMap,” an event with several goals, strategies, and resources to help focused scholars find success in college.
Several members of the Student Government Association, Valencia Volunteers, Atlas Lab, and Valencia Peer Educators were all there to help and explain all the benefits.
“A lot of students don’t realize how useful LifeMap is,” said Aida Gonzalez, a Student Development adviser.
During the event, students were encouraged to sign up and stop by every booth, and once they visited every booth they were able to receive food from Panda Express as a reward.
“I use it at the beginning of every semester to help pick what classes I want to take,” said Ruth Medrano, who works at the Atlas Lab, speaking about “My Education Plan.”
LifeMap has several purposes. It can be used to help organize finances, map out the classes each student needs for graduation, determine what career path to choose, and help form a resume or portfolio, among other functions.
There are six different sections; each was represented with a different booth to focus on what they have to offer. The sections are “Me In the Making,” “My Education Plan,” “My Portfolio,” “My Career Planner,” “My Job Prospects,” and “My Financial Planner.”
LifeMap is easy to access from any computer. Simply log on to Atlas and click on the tab that says “LifeMap.” There any student can go through and access any of the six sections. In each section, the student can choose to fill out their information.
In “My Portfolio,” students can upload pictures, word documents, and more. This helps to display work in the best way so that when students go to another college or job they can show what they have done towards that goal in an organized manner.
In “My Education Plan,” student’s expected graduation date and what classes are needed to graduate are displayed. If the student does not know what programs Valencia has to offer, “My Education Plan” can show all that is available based on what the student wants to do. Based on that the student can build a plan for the classes they would like to take, all the way up to graduation.
Those students who did notice LifeMap on Atlas seemed to think that it was only good for picking classes. One Valencia student, Monique Rodriguez, was lost before she had help from the “My Career Planner” booth. “I felt like I had no idea where to go with my career before visiting the career desk,” she said. “It helped a lot to understand what I needed to do to transfer.”
“Now that I know how LifeMap works, I use it all the time,” said Melissa Lawrence, one of the volunteers.
For students who are lost or are not completely sure what they plan to do in the future, LifeMap is one of the best tools to use. It is easy to use and every student at Valencia has access to it.