{"id":4000,"date":"2026-10-29T09:00:46","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T14:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/?p=4000"},"modified":"2026-10-28T21:17:32","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T02:17:32","slug":"when-in-doubt-turn-to-these-jccc-campus-resources","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/2026\/10\/29\/when-in-doubt-turn-to-these-jccc-campus-resources\/","title":{"rendered":"When In Doubt, Turn To These JCCC Campus Resources"},"content":{"rendered":"

Photo By: Josiah Ann Nelson<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Johnson County Community College has a resource for just about everything, but finding the right ones isn\u2019t always straightforward. I found mine through conversations with professors and, once I joined the Honors Program, with its advisers as I figured out what I wanted from my college experience.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

These are the three I keep coming back to and the ones I\u2019d point any student toward first.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Honors Program<\/span><\/b><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s clear something up first: the Honors Program is not a secret club for students with perfect transcripts.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It does have requirements, but they may be more within reach than you think. Students who make the Dean\u2019s list or President\u2019s list are automatically invited to join.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When you apply, only the GPA you\u2019ve earned here is considered, not your cumulative GPA, so a rough semester at another school won\u2019t hold you back. Once you\u2019re in, you\u2019re expected to maintain a 3.5 GPA to stay in the program. Not sure it\u2019s for you? The program suggests taking a single Honors course to see if it\u2019s a good fit.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What you get out of it is more than a fancy line on your transcript. Members get their own honors advising and a faculty mentor, plus extra preparation for transferring to a four-year school. It also quietly saves you money. Honors students in good standing get an automatic scholarship that typically covers three credit hours of honors coursework each semester. If you\u2019ve ever wanted to spend a week living and learning in a national park, honors students are eligible for exactly that through Partners in the Parks.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For me, the most valuable part of Honors has been Regan Baker in the Honors office. Staying in good standing isn\u2019t as simple as it looks on paper. Beyond keeping your GPA up, you\u2019re also tracking honors points and making sure you complete your exploratory experiences, and it\u2019s easy to lose track of where you stand. Regan has helped me sort through all of it and make sure I\u2019m on pace, which has taken a lot of the guesswork out of the program.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Stop by GEB 140 or set up a time with staff at honors@jccc.edu.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Financial Aid<\/span><\/b><\/a> and <\/span><\/b>Scholarships <\/span><\/b><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the tip I\u2019d give every student: fill out the JCCC Scholarship Application. One application puts you in the running for hundreds of scholarships offered to students here. Most are worth somewhere between $100 and $2,000 a year, and a few of those stacked together can make a real dent in a semester.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Put two dates in your phone right now. March 15 is the priority deadline for the FAFSA, and April 1 is the priority deadline for the scholarship application. You have to do both every year, which is exactly the kind of thing that\u2019s easy to forget. The FAFSA isn\u2019t technically required for scholarships, but filing it gets you considered for need-based and many department scholarships, so skipping it means leaving money on the table.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If the FAFSA makes your eyes glaze over, that\u2019s what the Financial Aid team is for. They offer free in-person help, and you can book an appointment at 913-469-3840. They also meet over Zoom, and the office is in the Student Success Center.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When I first enrolled, someone from the department reached out by email and encouraged me to apply for scholarships. As a homeschooled student, I hadn\u2019t expected my placement test results to open any doors, but they thought I might qualify for a few. I applied, and after I was later accepted into the Honors Program, I received an honors scholarship as well. It was a good reminder that it\u2019s worth applying even when you\u2019re not sure you\u2019ll qualify.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Career Development Center<\/span><\/b><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The biggest misconception about career services is that they\u2019re for people walking across the stage next week.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

They\u2019re not.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You can start using the center as soon as you enroll, and your student ID number is all you need to access its resources.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Need someone to tell you your resume is three pages too long? A Career Coach will review it, along with your cover letter. You can practice your interview skills before the real thing or show up to a First Impression Dinner. The Emerging Professionals Program is another way to build your networking skills. And if you still have no idea what you want to do, that\u2019s fine too. The center can help you figure it out through informational interviews and job shadowing, along with volunteer opportunities.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I started using the center after it was recommended to me, and I ended up leaning on it a lot. Once I decided an internship would count toward my Honors requirements and give me hands-on experience in my degree field, I went in for help exploring employment options and getting my resume in shape.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Find them in SC 252 or call 913-469-3870. They\u2019re open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Where to start<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

College is a lot easier when you know where to go for help, but I didn\u2019t find any of these on my own. Someone pointed me toward each one at the right time, sometimes a professor and sometimes an adviser or an email from the department.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Consider this your version of that conversation. They\u2019re all here, and they\u2019re all free to use. The hardest part is just getting started.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What you get out of it is more than a fancy line on your transcript. Members get their own honors advising and a faculty mentor, plus extra preparation for transferring to a four-year school.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":4001,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_ppma_block_editor_authors":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[365],"class_list":["post-4000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life"],"author_meta":{"display_name":"Saul Epstein","author_link":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/author\/sepstein\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/files\/2026\/10\/IMG_1886-300x225.jpeg","coauthors":[{"link":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/author\/gabrielle-thompson\/","display_name":"Gabrielle Thompson"}],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Life<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Life<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 22 hours ago","modified":"Updated 1 day ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on October 29, 2026","modified":"Updated on October 28, 2026"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on October 29, 2026 9:00 am","modified":"Updated on October 28, 2026 9:17 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"authors":[{"term_id":365,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"gabrielle-thompson","display_name":"Gabrielle Thompson","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","author_category":"","first_name":"","last_name":"","user_url":"","job_title":"","description":""}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/files\/2026\/10\/IMG_1886.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4000","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4000"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4000\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4004,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4000\/revisions\/4004"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4000"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=4000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}