Priorities:South Plains College Student Priorities

Overview

Since the establishment of South Plains College (SPC), the focus of the university has been on the betterment of the student. While many aspects of life have changed since 1957, the college's focus has not. Increasing the capacity of the individual to learn, produce, and be enlightened has always been the focus. To be the first community college in the history to participate in a program such as the University Innovation Fellows Program is something that we take pride in.

South Plains College has continued to grow by adding satellite campuses including; Reese Technology Center, Plainview Center, and Lubbock Center. Innovation and entrepreneurship (I&E) are not a new concept to SPC, but we have yet to have a catalyst to grow this culture of I&E. With its roots firmly planted in the sense of community, South Plains College is centered on changing to suit the needs and opportunities of the community. Grants and contracts are available to students and faculty in order to pursue projects and research. in 2017, the Math and Engineering department secured a grant and intoduced the MakerSpace to be used for collaboration amoung all students.

Vision for I&E on campus.

We want innovation and entrepreneurship to reach the bulk of the student body. We want to engage students who are just coming into SPC for the first time as well as students who have been attending but haven't been involved. There is a major deficiency in the culture of I&E on campus and we hope that by introducing students an understanding of innovation and entrepreneurship, the culture will spread like wild fire. We want our students to not feel limited by their status or their background. We want them to understand that if they have an idea, all they need is the right mindset and the right tools to bring it from idea to fruition. Not all ideas will succeed, but we want our students to be able to learn from their failures and not feel trapped by them. This will allow them to find out what doesn't work when they fail, and then motivate them to keep trying!  

Strategy #1: Get Students Involved - Keeping the Spirit of "I&E @ SPC" and Help It Grow!

Tactic #1: Open A Makerspace

Our first priority is going to be establishing a place where students can come and learn about I&E, and feel free to share their thoughts and ideas openly. We want these students to learn from eachother as well as through hands on activities. Our first goal should be to find out what students are interested in I&E, and then expose them to all the hands on training provided to us by the UIF. We are meant to share our knowledge and watch what others can do with it! Once we've established a good background of I&E for these students, the next step will be to see what they can do with it. Working with Ronnie Watkins (Dean of Administrative Services) and Ann Epps (Director of Student Life) we will aim to open a room in the Math and Engineering building or Technical Arts Building since they are high traffic areas. 

Project Leader - Nancy Munoz, Timmy Friesen

Projected Completion Date: End of Spring 2017 semester 

Tactic #2: Teamwork Makes the Dream Work

Now that we've created SEARCh and equipped our students interested in I&E with the knowledge that they need, let's get them involved in identifying problems and proposing solutions! Let's find out what issues there are on campus that maybe the innovation fellow candidates have missed and let's see if we can find the best solution to these problems together! We would want to have monthly meetings where students come together, share what they've identified as an issue on campus and give a proposal on how they're going to fix it. We can accomplish a lot more as a team than as individuals. 

Project Lead - Nancy Munoz, Timmy Friesen

Projected Completion Date - This is a process that memebers of SEARCh and faculty will continually be working on.

Tactic #3: Just Do It! 

Lets work together to garner support from staff and faculty to make our ideas a reality. Once we've established issues on campus it's time to come up with the best solutions. We listen to the ideas presented, then in an open discussion we talk about the best possible solutions for each proposed topic. We discuss what needs to be addressed, and everyone works together to bring these ideas to fruition. We have leads on the individual projects and give eachother guidance and support throughout each stage. If something fails we take it back to the drawing board and we learn from our mistakes. The most important thing is that we push through as a group and continually gain experience from the tasks that we're trying to accomplish. 

Project Lead - Nancy Munoz, Timmy Friesen

Projected Completion Date - This is a process that memebers of SEARCh and faculty will continually be working on.

Strategy #2: Exposure

Tactic #1: Let's Get it Started in Here! 

We need the faculty and administration to understand just how important I&E is to the student body! Let's give our group of innovative students a voice to be heard. We need a way to reach the rest of the student body and engage them so they know that the culture is changing. We need to adjust people's thinking. To do this, we host speakers, but not just any speakers. We need speakers who are going to do more than just give a motivational speech about how great I&E is. We need speakers & events that will promote a culture of change, that when students leave, they feel as though they received something quantifiable and feel like they can take that something and apply it to their daily lives. This is what the student body wants, and as the leaders of this culture change, it is our responsibility to provide it. We also need to create a better platform for students to know what projects the different organizations are doing to improve the college. This project could include building an app, or creating a school-wide Google Calendar

Project Lead - SEARCh Group

Projected Completion Date - Spring 2017

Strategy #3: Make it sustainable! 

Tactic #1: Pass That Baton!

After the above mentioned steps, this machine that has been created needs to continually churn out people with this new mindset that has been repressed through traditional schooling. In turn, having people leaving with their minds expanded we will constantly need a fresh supply of new minds. Seeing their peers and students get excited, this will spark the next wave of students who want to be a part of this movement. To keep the system from collapsing we propose having a governing factor in the group. Of course you have the President, but then you also need the President Elect. Someone who you can train and entrust that once you've left the next semester, they will be able to pick right back up where you left off. To keep the system from crumbling everytime leadership has gone, this will be a necessary part of the group. We can do this for many different roles, leader/co-leader, treasurer, etc...

Our overall goal here is going to be seeing this group grow from semester to semester, and eventually have a chapter at Tech to encourage recruitment of students from SPC, to help contribute to the I&E ecosystem at Texas Tech and SPC. 

Project Leader - Sarah McLean and current SEARCh members

Projected Completion Date - Spring 2018

Strategy #4: Make Students Business Ready

Tactic #1: Develop Student's Online Presence

For our students to be successful in the modern age, they must have a professional online presence. We will begin holding annual LinkedIn Profile workshops so we can teach incoming freshman the importance of maintaining a strong online presence. In these meetings, we will teach the students about LinkedIn and how it can benefit their careers. After the educational presentation, we will begin assisting students individually with setting up their LinkedIn profile. We will encourage students to begin building their LinkedIn network once their profile is completed. 

Nathan Clayton (SEARCh Club) 

Timetable: End of Spring 2018

Tactic #2: Resume Building

this will encourage involement

make them business ready

Project Pitch Spring 2016, SPC and TTU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q215_OUzDSw

Project Pitch Fall 2016, South Plains College

https://youtu.be/N2zKrTA5Rko

Related Links

South Plains College

Nathaniel Clayton

Sarah Mclean

Tad Davis

Marshal_Head

Nancy_Munoz

Timmy Friesen