College

Magnifying a Unique Type of Student Housing

This article is part of the Student Welfare Series.

Students report on what it’s really like living in college town co-ops, their seldom spoken-of benefits, and the role they play in community college districts.

by Ava Vano

“Co-op.” What do you think of when you hear the word? Commune, party house, close-quarters, a billion roommates?

Aside from these misconceptions with some underlying truth to them, its residents find that co-ops provide students the opportunity for more affordable housing, a sense of community, and many other benefits. Living in a co-op myself, I interviewed ACC students living in co-ops about their experiences in an attempt to dissect its relatively unknown culture ever-present in Austin.

Student co-ops are housing cooperatives that students personally work to maintain. Most co-ops follow the system of doing labor to cut down on costs, thus making rent cheaper. Labor includes tasks ranging from cooking dinners to cleaning bathrooms.

Members receive kitchen access and meals, and utilities are included in the rent. Student co-ops typically range from about 15 housemates to upwards of 130 housemates.

From left, Ava Vano, Libby Connolly and Aiden Sharaba (Ally Stauber on top) at New Guild Co-op bake sale. The model of the bakesale was to pay what you can and all the proceeds went back into the co-op. Photo contributed by Ava Vano.

There is a co-op for everyone as there are academically focused, substance-free, plant-based, pet friendly options among many others. They are democratically run as members vote at house meetings on important house decisions such as budgeting, and the only requirement is to be a student, so tenants get the opportunity to meet many different kinds of people.

Libby Connolly (she/they) is a first-year ACC student. This is her first semester at New Guild and her first time living in a co-op. Moving out can feel isolating for many community college students who do not have the chance of living in a dorm or on some sort of campus. Co-ops seem to provide a solution to that problem, hosting a sense of community within their walls.

“I do feel a sense of community because it’s interesting to be in a space where I know everyone really well,” Connolly said. “Everyone collaborates together and mutually cares about each other and the house.”

Libby Connolly on move on the day at New Guild Co-op. Photo by Ava Vano.

Unlike the assumption that the aspect of affordability would incentivize many other community college students to live in co-ops – the opposite is true. Connolly shared her experiences living at New Guild this past semester, saying “It does feel a little weird when the majority go to UT, because my main goal is to transfer and they’re already there.” Co-ops seem to be an underlooked resource for community college students.

Foster Milburn (he/they) is another first-year ACC student who lives at a 21 St. Co-op. Foster speaks about the initial hesitance they had towards the co-op, saying “I feel at home now. At first it was a little scary, but there is something for everyone; it teaches you how to work together.”

“I’m way less isolated… I get support [from housemates] about assignments and get help with anything I might need,” Milburn said.

There appears to be a general consensus that co-op living teaches you how to find and work within a community. Isolation is a big problem for college students, especially in the post-pandemic world. Foster spoke about preferring living in a co-op rather than living in an apartment as they did in Dallas.

Reluctants Band at New Guild Co-op. Photo by Ava Vano.

“I’m way less isolated… I get support [from housemates] about assignments and get help with anything I might need,” Milburn said.

Communal living offers the skills and assets of everyone living under the same roof and provides mutual support. It is also beneficial to always have a group of people to talk to, vent to, or even just simply be around. “There’s always people around, but no one’s gonna question if you need to recharge. When you’re ready to come out, there’s always someone,” Milburn said.

Now for my personal experience living in a student co-op (New Guild, specifically). Moving from Fort Worth to Austin as a first-year at ACC was a jarring experience and I was initially unsure about living at New Guild. But, I could not feel more secure in my decision.

It’s saved me a lot of money not living in an apartment and I have built-in friendships with my housemates. There’s always something to do and never a dull moment. It’s also really motivating to be surrounded by other students with similar interests and morals as me. I truly enjoy helping out the house and have learned to consider the impacts of what I do or don’t do within the co-op.

I could not recommend it more, especially to ACC students, as it can be very difficult to make friends at community college and the affordability is virtually unmatched.

Student co-ops are an extremely important resource that has proved to be a beneficial facet to community college students. Democratically run and community-based, co-ops give students the opportunity to function within a group of students all working together to maintain a home.

Looking for a Job? Let Career Services Help

Story by Duncan McIntyre

Edited by Pete Ramirez

One of the most stressful aspects of college is figuring out what to do after you’re finished. From communications to STEM, students often wonder where their feet will lead them in today’s constantly shifting career landscape. Then they’ve got to think about resumés, interviews, cover letters – where to begin? Searching for a job can be overwhelming but fear not, Austin Community College’s Career Services has you covered.

“We’re here for [the students],” said ACC’s Career Resources Director, Trish Welch. During the week of October 24 through 29, Career Services is hosting Career Ready Week which is a full week of events to assist students with anything they might be having trouble with. From deciding on a major to dealing with anxiety in the job search, Career Ready Week has resources and events built specifically to help students succeed.

“We have a job fair; we have hundreds of employers who are excited to hire students, we have so many employers who have remote work and sign-on bonuses,” said Welch. Employers will be giving presentations and, for students actively looking for work, the job fair has full-time jobs, part-time jobs and internships.

There is also a session that examines the recent trend of working from home called Remote Control. “It’s how to find remote work. A lot of students are interested in remote work, but there are also hidden dangers,” said Welch. “We want to help you navigate that process.”

In order to make students more presentable to potential employers, there are sessions that help them look at their social media presence and credit reports. “Some jobs do pull your credit report,” said Welch. “It’s important to know what’s on your credit report, what your credit score is and how that may impact future employment.”

Career Services has a variety of tools available year-round as well. Edgar Medina is the supervisor of the first-of-its-kind kind Career and Transfer Center at ACC’s Highland campus. Medina said they offer, “career exploration, career guidance, job search, job readiness, resume reviews, interview preparation and mock interviews.”

The program also has counselors who can administer career assessments and help students decide on majors. For even more fine-tuning, there are specialists who work with students to research labor market information.

If you’re looking for even more help on your post-academic path, Career Services also offers the Strategies for Today’s jobs class. It is a 4-week intensive course that walks Riverbats through the job search process from start to finish. Katie McClendon is the Supervisory Coach for the class. She said the class is there to, “Identify a target job, prepare materials, build a network, negotiate a salary, be ready to interview and also to think a little about their career progression and development,” said Katie McClendon, supervisory coach of the class.

The instructors for Strategies for Today’s jobs are well-versed in the Austin job market and specific industries that students seek employment in. They also provide one-on-one coaching to make career obstacles more manageable.

Paige Swanton and Cristian Ortiz are two students who utilized Career Services to further their educational and career aspirations. Ortiz first enrolled at ACC in 2016. He took one class at a time until he decided to challenge himself academically.

Ortiz became a career scholar, which is a scholarship for students who are pursuing a career straight out of school. After receiving the scholarship, he decided to focus on his career and future.

Ortiz was given an opportunity to work with other career scholars on a job agency and has since pioneered a student-led peer-to-peer employment agency.

Swanton connected with Ortiz as a fellow career scholar. She learned about a job opportunity through a career scholar discord chat and now works for ACC as a tele-recruiter.

Swanton has high praise for Career Services and recommends them to other students. “Everybody helps, if you need something they have someone for you,” Swanton said.

For Riverbats looking towards the future, Cristian added, “None of us are perfect, and most of us have a lot of time to perfect ourselves. If you are worried like I was, we have time – it’s just a matter of building those skills.”

For more information on Career Ready Week, the Strategies for Today’s jobs class or anything related to finding a job, visit the Career Services website here.

ACC Student Life Hosts Virtual Enneagram Workshop Series for Students

Written By: Marissa Greene

How familiar does this scenario sound to you? One day while bored on the internet you decide to do what most people do when bored on the internet — you take a personality quiz. Whether it be just for the fun of it or for personal development, after a quick google search, you have thousands upon thousands of options to choose from. Whether that be the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator assessment, the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire, or perhaps you simply want to find out if you would be a Hufflepuff or Gryffindor while as student at Hogwarts, a personality test might have shaped you in one way or another.

Despite whatever preconceptions you may have about personality tests, there may be one that you might want to know more about, and that is the Enneagram of Types.

“The Enneagram of Personality Types is a modern synthesis of a number of ancient wisdom traditions, but the person who originally put the system together was Oscar Ichazo.” According to The Enneagram Institute.

Ichazo was searching for a systematic approach to applying all of his teachings on “psychology, cosmology, metaphysics, spirituality, and so forth, combined with various practices to bring about transformations of human consciousness,” (The Enneagram Institute). He, and a group of psychologists and writers, Claudio Naranjo and John Lilly, visited Arica, Chile in the late 1960s and early 70s to study Ichazo’s findings and most notably, the Enneagram symbol.

Although the Enneagram Symbol has ancient roots in Greek philosophy, the symbol was “reintroduced to the modern world by George Gurdjieff, the founder of a highly influential inner work school,” according to The Enneagram Institute. Which is what many of us may be familiar with today.

The Enneagram of Personality Types is a set of nine numbers that represent nine basic personality types.

One: The Reformer
Two: The Helper
Three: The Achiever
Four: The Individualist
Five: The Investigator
Six: The Loyalist
Seven: The Enthusiast
Eight: The Challenger
Nine: The Peacemaker

Although these numbers give some foundation to the lengthy process of fully understanding the enneagram system, these numbers don’t solely identify the individual. As a matter of fact, everyone will resonate with each of the numbers to a certain degree.

However, unlike other personality typing systems, The Enneagram of Personality Types functions differently because there is no “official” enneagram test.

“Technically, we really are not supposed to take a test to identify our number. It’s one of the reasons why I don’t push a test or workshop” said Lauren Christian, a Student Life Coordinator at Austin Community College.

For the Fall 2020 semester, Christian has been hosting a virtual enneagram workshop series with ACC Student Life that breaks down the nine basic personality types into three triads: the gut, the heart, and the head. These events are dedicated to helping students better understand The Enneagram of Personality Types and discover their conscious or subconscious motivations.

“Two different people can have similar actions for very different reasons and very different thought patterns behind them. So the enneagram is a personality typing system that looks at the motivations that a person has learned through their life,” said Christian.

Through this enneagram workshop series, students will be able to learn not only more about their motivations but also get a better understanding of those around them and how to communicate with them. Not only that but also how to utilize information from the enneagram workshop to identify better ways to be productive.

Through Christian’s own personal experience learning about her enneagram number, she shares how she applies this concept to combat situations where she feels the least productive.

“One of the common things about the nine’s is that momentum is one of the biggest things. So if you slow down, it takes a lot of energy to get back out of it. If you get going, you can keep going,” said Christian.

Christian also states that because she has learned more about the enneagram system, she is able to make personal reminders to keep her momentum going or even communicate her needs to others when in need of help.

“It can help you better understand ‘Why am I slowing down?” or “Why am I speeding up?” That can be applied to school work, relationships, and things like that,” said Christian.

There are two workshops left for the remainder of the semester. On Oct.19 the workshop will cover enneagram numbers two, three, and four that make up the heart triad. On Nov. 9 the event will wrap up the series with enneagram numbers five, six, and seven, also known as the head triad. Students are encouraged to participate in all the workshops no matter how much background knowledge one has about this concept.

“Come with any questions you may have and be ready to look at yourself and your motivations,” said Christian.

For more information on the Enneagram Workshop Series or to RSVP, visit the MYSL Website.