Jacqueline Michaud
South Bureau Chief
Broward College’s Student Life presented the 2019 Spring Seahawk Resource Fair & BBQ on Thursday, January 17 in the South Campus Breezeway.
From staying safe on campus to helping save lives, BC’s South Campus Resource Fair keeps students in the know about what our college has to offer- beyond choosing courses. Exploring the depths of BC’s education, the resource fair encouraged students from all walks of life to be informed on matters beyond the classroom. The abundance of beneficial information, great representatives leading the way and a welcoming buffet allowed for an incredibly fun social gathering with a wealth of knowledge available at our fingertips.
A few honorable mentions of the resource fair include Learning How to Stay Safe on Campus. In this time in our lives, it is imperative that as students, staff and volunteers alike on any campus have an educated perspective on preparation, self-responsibility and community care to stay safe. As a way to aid students in successfully staying safe, The Guardian app was created. This app allows students to call campus safety, call 911, setup timers when walking alone so if your timer goes over, campus safety officials receive an alert and are apprised of your location in the event a student needs help. There are many more features and to download the app, go to your app store and type in The Guardian. Download, put in your phone number- and the rest of your student data is uploaded and ready to go.
Further resources introduced at the fair included Free HIV and STD testing on-site. If you were unable to make it to the fair, students may go to The Broward House in Wilton Manors. This clinic encourages walk-ins so students can always be aware and informed about their body.
Another amazing program is called The Gift of Life, the only bone marrow registry to be founded and directed by transplant recipient Jay Feinberg, CEO, who in 1991 was diagnosed with Leukemia but found no matching donor in the registry. Four years later, after hosting hundreds of drives, which included over 600,000 volunteers being tested, this prompted Feinberg and his family to fund the Gift of Life Marrow Registry. Students can download the Gift of Life app and register as a donor. When you are matched, you will be contacted and possibly save a life. Before registering, students can visit www.giftoflife.org for further information on the program.
The abundance of resources at the fair continued to provide materials on how to help Women in Distress, academic advising guidance, Terracycle Team Green approved recycling materials for the Spring 2019 semester, enrollment verification and withdrawal dates and information on the CLEP Program, which allows students to test-out of their courses at $89 a test, and still receive the same academic credits as if they took the entire course. Visit clep.collegeboard.org or more information.
Full of life and helpful guidance, the resource fair was not only fun, exciting and a great way to meet and great people, but it provided unity and information any student could find useful. On that note, the last honorable mention was BC’s Seahawk Outreach Services program, also known as S.O.S- a program that provides resources for BC students who may be struggling academically, have housing/home and food issues and need guidance with community resources.
BC student, Brittany Wheatley, was the host of this section of the fair and said “this program changes students’ lives and is happy to be a part of such an impactful program.” Students interested should contact sos@broward.edu or Coordinator Roslyn Oddman at 954-201-8407.
This event showed unity, compassion and most of all- a wealth of information for BC students all in one place. If you missed it- do not worry. Use this article as a guide or contact a representative in the Student Life office. It is because of events like this that we as a student body can continue to grow, prosper and succeed- with a little bit of a BBQ treat to finish it off.
michj1@mail.broward.edu
Photo: Students become well-informed about South Campus resources/Courtesy Jacqueline Michaud/The Observer