Balancing School Work

Many first year students are getting use to the idea of college. College can be hard especially balancing school work and personal life. Sometimes students do not know where to ask for help, or for an advice. There are other times where a student is just afraid of asking for help. Jennifer Juarez, an advisor at LARES says that she understands where students come from because she had the same college experience since she got her undergraduate degree at UIC. “Our student perspective back in the day kinda helps the student a lot.” Just like Cristian and Jamie, who are juniors at UIC, regrets not going to LARES their freshman year. They go to LARES for tutoring.

LARES is an academic support group for students. LARES is an acronym for Latin American
The couple times the student goes back again they would find the door being open. The open door can signified that the students are always welcome, it shows a friendly environment and LARES advisors are there to help the student.A student can feel more comfortable with the door open. Not only is the door open, but the people who are working at the front desk also greets the student with a smile. They would ask with the same smile if the student has an appointment or needs help.

As a student, waits in the lobby for their advisor, the chairs are in a circle. The chairs face each other. The order of the chair or the arrangement can indicated that LARES advisors wants the students to greet each other. There is a table in the middle of the chairs. On top of the table a student can find flyers about upcoming events at LARES and UIC. There is also a flyer with the advisors and their information. There are orange, reddish, and brownish leaves hang around the wall. The decorations in LARES makes the office look more peaceful and
The students looks relaxed and comfortable.These two words are not what someone would expect because the student would usually feel tense about the subject. The students at LARES are friendly to each other and helpful. The instructor in charge of the tutoring session even made a joke with them and laugh. Students would come and leave out the room smiling to each other.
Jamie and Critian are juniors who attend to LARES tutoring and they help each other and explaining how they came up with their own answers. Another students who goes to tutoring seem to be doing the same thing and helping each other. Jamie finds LARES to be very helpful and “without the tutoring I would not be passing my chemistry class.” She also said that, “My advisor helped me find the path to my career. I knew what I wanted to do with my professional career and they just guide me to that path.” Cristian did not started coming to LARES his freshman year which he regrets, “ No, I came here my sophomore year. Wish I could have come here my freshman year.” I asked them if them how they met. If they met through the LARES tutoring sessions. Cristian said that he meet Jamie during the tutoring sessions and after they first meet they been helping each other. LARES is a friendly program that can help a student in various ways. Jamie comment about LARES that “it is a good place to get help and meet new friends.” Jennifer Juarez also says that, “Aside from