By Nicholas Hessing
- You graduated from FSU with a B.S. in Food and Nutrition. How did you transition to working with student athletes in your career?
So funny enough, initially when I went to college my intent was to be a an elementary school teacher. I had a change of heart after my first semester because I didn’t feel challenged in my classes. After some thought and changing my major a few times, I decided on nutrition. However, by the time I got to the end I actually realized I did not want to be a dietitian. I took a gap year and continued to work at my job in athletics in our Coaches Video Department. During that time I was exploring my options knowing that I wanted to work in college athletics because I had since I was a sophomore in college. In 2012 I started graduate school in the Sport Management Department. During my time in grad school from 2012 to 2013 I worked at the front desk in academics. I was often asking for tasks to help those on staff to keep busy while I was at the desk. Overtime the tasks got more intense and I would often work with Kacy and one of the other advisers at the time who helped me really understand what their job was. In 2013, I received my first caseload of three students to work with in a learning specialist capacity. I was hired in June 2014 as a full-time learning specialist.
2. What was your favorite class in school?
My favorite class growing up was always physical education. I was that kid! Probably because in elementary and some of middle school, school did not necessarily come easily for me. I had to work extremely hard at my classes and study a lot. It probably also had a lot to do with my love for sports and wanting to be outside though too! I grew up playing softball from the time I was 5 until I got to college. I also did cheerleading growing up too. In college I enjoyed my anatomy and physiology courses and my biology lab courses! Although I’m not in these classes right now when working with my students a lot of them take sociology classes. I really enjoy working with them on these courses because it is so true to our real lives and it really makes me wish I had taken some of these classes myself when I was in college!
3. What was your most challenging class?
The most challenging class for me growing up was always math. In the eighth grade they put me in an algebra course because I had always done well on the exams in my seventh grade class. However, they did a pre-assessment upon entering the course and I bombed it! The teacher reached out to my parents and said that I might not be able to stay in the class! Since all my friends were in the class I really wanted to stay in the course but also I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it. Thankfully my dad was willing to help me and so we sat at the kitchen table every night and he helped me with my math homework! I’ll never forget the long nights of tears and screaming at my dad and yelling, and being so frustrated with the class! However, after that 8th grade algebra class I actually was really great at math in high school. I haven’t taken math course in 12 years, so I would say it’s still my toughest subject!
4. Have you had a particularly memorable teacher?
I have had some great teachers during my time as a student! The ones that stand out to me from K- 12 was my sixth grade elective teacher, she is the one that actually encouraged me to run for student government in the eighth grade, as class president! That really got me into student government in high school and she was always just so supportive. It had nothing to do with academics but she really cared for her students and she made class fun! In the 12th grade I also had a literature teacher who actually went to FSU- he was just so animated and really brought literature to life!
5. What is your favorite spot on campus?
I would have to say that the stadium is my favorite spot on campus! Not to sound cliché! Aside from Florida State, as a whole, providing me a lot of opportunities, this athletic department has really brought me a lot as well! In my undergrad I worked in our Coaches Video Department- they are the people that record practices and game film for our athletic teams and I spent a lot of time at the stadium over my four years as a student. I still send many of my hours here and it’s just afforded me so many opportunities and is such a great place, with great people!
6. Do you work within a specific sport or all student athletes?
As a learning specialist we aren’t assigned to any specific teams but rather meet the needs of a specific student population! Typically we are meeting with students across all of our sports who may need additional academic assistance in regards to study skills, study strategies, time management, etc. Although not all of the students on our caseload have learning disabilities- we tailor our instruction based on individualized plans that meet the needs of the students that were working with.
7. Do you ever go to an FSU game to cheer on our athletes?
I always make it a priority to attend the sporting events of the student-athletes that I work with! For some of the sports that have a lot more games I might not attend all of them, but I really try my best to make as many as I can! Showing that we care about them outside of their academics is a huge component of us building rapport with them. Showing that we care about more than just their academics then helps us support them from an academic standpoint! Many of the students on our caseloads have never really been pushed academically before coming to college so academics is not an area that they feel super strong in. So, being able to build rapport break down that wall really allows them to open up to us so that we are better able to support them and understand their challenges as well as their strengths.
8. If so, do you recall any exciting games or big plays?
The national championship year was obviously very memorable. I would say the whole season was just fantastic! But I will say probably my biggest memory was when one of my students caught a pass between two defenders at Louisville in 2014 and scored the first touchdown of his college career! We had been losing that whole game which was usually what was happening in 2014 but then we always came back to win!! I had anxiety the whole game, but that touchdown really changed the direction of the game, so I was really excited for my student.
9. What is the usual day of a learning specialist?
A typical learning specialist day is spent working with our students. We are often making sure they are where they’re supposed to be and sending them reminders about what they need to accomplish for the day! When we’re in our sessions our focus is based on students’ individualized needs, so there may be one student who is working on reading strategies, while another might be working on study strategies and another we may just be working on time management and organization. So, although the days are the “same”, the lessons with each student differ by day and based on the individual student that is in the session.
10. How do you approach helping a student athlete on a research paper?
From a learning specialist perspective research papers are often the most challenging for our students to write and compose. Many of them have not had prior experience with research, so getting all of the nuances about it can often take an extended period of time. One of the things that we do is assess the knowledge that the student has of research and figure out what they know and what they don’t know. From there we can decipher which direction we need to go based on the student and their capabilities. Often times, I start with just explaining what research is and why it’s important that they support their ideas with sources. Many of the students are not familiar with citing sources so we discuss that too. I like to show them many examples. I have a reference sheet in my office that I have them take a picture of so they can keep it in their phone and anytime they need to write a paper and cite a source they can use that as a reference! I think the biggest thing is providing students with resources that they can reference back to. Often times our students don’t necessarily remember it after the first few times, but we can use resources to help their recall. In subsequent session we reinforce those ideas over and over again, and eventually the student is be able to perform that skill independently. I would also say it is important to break down the steps of research for the student. Loading them with too much information at once can be really overwhelming for them.
11. What has been one of your most impactful moments working in higher education?
My job is so rewarding on a day-to-day basis! Although it is not always easy, it is the little moments where I see new skills and ideas, and ways that they’re doing things click in their minds that really make me enjoy my job. Those are the moments and reasons why I do this job. Our goal is to get them to graduation, however for me it’s so much more than graduation, it’s making sure that they have skills that they can use throughout their life and go on to be successful. So although I celebrate their graduation with so much joy, I always reflect back on all of the little moments that it took for them to get there, and that is what brings me joy and so much happiness about working in higher education.
12. Which do you prefer: working in the office or remotely and Zoom?
I definitely prefer working in person! Being able to build those relationships face-to-face is so important and although the transition to working remotely via zoom has its challenges, it has actually gone better than expected. Don’t get me wrong, I have been enjoying my time at home and spending a little bit more time for myself, however I can’t wait to get back and see the students! My dog is going to be really sad when I have to come back to the office though!
13. And finally, do you have any advice for our tutors?
The biggest piece of advice that I can give is to meet the student where they are as opposed to where you think that they should be. Patience is also a great skill to have in a job like this! It’s important to remember that not everyone learns the same and we need to take that into consideration when working with our students. Often times the students that work on learning specialist caseloads don’t really know what questions to ask when it comes to doing their assignments which may be why they think they have nothing to do in a tutoring session. Sometimes they just don’t know where to start, or what to ask. My suggestion would be to talk with them and learn more about their experience with the subject matter and their experience with the skills needs for that subject. More than likely if you’re just starting to work with a student who may not have a lot of academic confidence they may not be willing to divulge their academic challenge areas to you. So, it’s important to build rapport on a basic level and get to know them as people because then they’ll be more likely to open up about where their challenges lie in regards to that subject!
Thank you for all you do to help our student-athletes and our SAAS department! We couldn’t do it without you!