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Nervous about starting at Michigan State? Worried about your class schedule, living away from home, or where to even start? The Spartan Orientation Station (SOS) is a podcast hosted by New Student Orientation staff and was created by students for students. This podcast will launch twice a week throughout the summer, and each episode will feature a unique interview with campus departments discussing their services, common misconceptions, and fun Spartan engagement opportunities. When you need help at Michigan State, it is okay to signal SOS! Don’t worry – MSU is there for you.
You're listening to the Spartan orientation station on Impact 89 f n, the podcast by students for students. Now this week's episode. Hello, Spartans, and welcome
Ali Cramer:to the Spartan Orientation Station. We are here today with another exciting episode to talk about the Spartan Experience Record, or SER, where students can keep track of their campus experiences and involvements. My name is Ali Cramer. I'm a recently graduated senior with a major in neuroscience and minors in computational math, science, and engineering, as well as pharmacology and toxicology. And during my time as an undergraduate here at Michigan State University, I was involved in a variety of on campus involvements, including undergraduate research, HSTAR, the honor students actively recruiting as well as heavily involved in the Model United Nations Organizations here on campus.
Sav Hamed:Hi, everybody. My name is Sav. I am also a recently graduated senior. I graduated with a degree in genetics and genomics and two minors, one in History, Philosophy, Sociology of Science, and the other in Bioethics. When I was an undergraduate student, I was pretty much involved with, the Impact 89 FM, which is a radio station on campus and new student orientation.
Sav Hamed:We have today with us, Sarah Schultz, the director of Spartan Experience Record. She is excited to provide us with valuable information regarding your Spartan Experience Record. So, Sarah, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your role at MSU?
Sarah Schultz:Yeah. Absolutely. So excited to be here today. Once again, my name is Sarah Schultz. I use sheher pronouns, and I serve as the director of the Spartan experience record for MSU, which means I get to have the wonderful privilege of leading a campus wide initiative to help students, have that formal recognition and verification of their learning beyond the classroom.
Sarah Schultz:So I get the opportunity to work with students and with faculty staff to bring this all to, all to together in a meaningful way.
Ali Cramer:So what exactly is the Spartan experience record?
Sarah Schultz:Yeah. Absolutely. The Spartan experience record is the MSU verified record of your engagement and learning accomplishments beyond the classroom. So as a Spartan, you'll engage in many wonderful experiences outside of the classroom, such as on campus jobs, leadership experiences, student organizations, things that you are doing and learning. You would now have a formal record of to complement your academic transcript.
Sarah Schultz:So can you touch
Sav Hamed:a little bit more on how you request and access your Spartan experience record?
Sarah Schultz:Yeah. Absolutely. There's a direct way that you can request an official copy, and that is from through the registrar's office. So you would go to, their website and go through the transcript request process, and there's a checkbox there that students can then curate their record from that step. That is the formal route to go if you want an official version to review or or to share.
Sarah Schultz:But I also mentioned, visiting our website and reviewing the experiences, under your account in the platform. Because that'll give you, especially as a new student, you can start tracking and getting a sense of where you've engaged outside of the classroom. Are there things you're participating in that aren't included there? That means that's a a green light to check-in with my team and I to help get things added. So first and foremost, the registrar's office, but second would be reviewing that information in Spartan Experience record platform.
Ali Cramer:Perfect. And then I know there are a lot of different activities, obviously, with over a 1000 RSOs, not to mention campus jobs, research opportunities. There's a ton for students to do here at MSU. Yeah. So can you talk a little bit about what activities qualify to be included on that, Spartan experience record?
Sarah Schultz:The wide variety of experiences that that you have listed are direct example of opportunities we include. Undergraduate research, on campus jobs, internships, leadership roles and experiences, interesting things you find in conversations through faculty that we we may not be aware of on a website that we would would look for you to tell us. Student organizations, volunteerism in the in the greater community. All things that, there are as shared, there's over 900 organizations, for example. We anticipate over 20,000 students or more engaged in undergraduate research.
Sarah Schultz:Those are all things, students are doing beyond the classroom that we can bring together for you on the Spartan Experience Record.
Sav Hamed:So is there a specific place that I can find all of the experiences that do qualify to be on the Spartan Experience Record?
Sarah Schultz:Yeah. It's a great question. Our best place to start would be by reviewing our SCR catalog. So, within the platform, there is a database that you can search by keywords. So let's just say using an example, if you're interested in media, you could search the word media and see what opportunities we have approved in the record.
Sarah Schultz:And if through your search something's not populating, that's a green flag for you to then go ahead and check-in with our team so we can help you and work with the correct faculty and staff to get the experience included in the Spartan experience record.
Ali Cramer:Perfect. So you just touched a little bit on you know, if it's not included, really just reach out, contact your office, and you'll set students on the right path to getting that added?
Sarah Schultz:Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. We we always love to get, suggestions from students as the size of our campus. There's so many wonderful learning experiences occurring beyond the classroom that we have a list we're aware of, if you will, of things we can find on websites, through our wonderful campus partners.
Sarah Schultz:There's lots of unique experiences that we aren't necessarily aware of, that are that occur throughout the institution. So encouraging students to check-in with us and ensure those are added, is is is our primary goal, of course. So what are
Sav Hamed:the benefits of using the Spartan Experience Record? And I know that the transcript looks at academic achievements, but how does this differ from maybe my resume? So, with the Spartan Experience Record, there's wonderful opportunities and value to you as
Sarah Schultz:a student depending on if you're a new student or if you are for furthering your journey as a Spartan. As a new student, we are a great resource to find opportunities to get involved with. We're one of the few resources on campus that brings learning moments beyond the classroom together from colleges, from larger divisions into one place. So I think there's a lot of value there if you're looking for something. I'll use my example again using media.
Sarah Schultz:You can find some things that maybe are in a college, but, wow, I didn't realize there's also impact. It might be a way they discover impact as an example. So great database to search and find opportunities. Our focus of the co curricular record, is on learning. So we also wanna ensure students are really receiving a well rounded holistic education.
Sarah Schultz:So there's also ways if you're really interested in expanding in a certain transferable skill area, meaning as, for example, your your communication skills. Do you wanna learn better how to analyze and evaluate data? There are ways you can search by learning outcomes. So I share that as depending on where you are in your journey, that might be something you're you you wanna bolster. If you you recognize you want to go, into a certain field and have a certain career path in mind, how you may wanna further shape your Spartan experience as a sophomore or a junior.
Sarah Schultz:There's great ways to to do that along the way. We talk a lot about, with our work and students have gotten a lot of excitement. When you look at the actual a copy of your Spartan experience record, we directly include a short description of the experience as well as the learning outcome. So there's some really beneficial information to review and synthesize to add value to your experience. Beyond, some of the first information I shared on how you can use it, a lot of the record encourages reflection.
Sarah Schultz:So there's great ways for you to reflect on the learning you've engaged in beyond the classroom and to look across experiences, to learn about your transferable skills, but also think about those next steps of how this could help shape your resume, for example, how this could help shape interview responses. So I really love the the opportunity Spartan experience record presents to students in the ways that it can meet you at various places along your Spartan experience. And, we're really there to encourage you along the way in your growth and development, and really allow you to see that along the way as well.
Sav Hamed:I know you've mentioned, like, the descriptions that are associated with each, like, I guess, experience that you've had, who comes up with those descriptions? Is it your office or is it the student org itself coming up with those types of descriptions?
Sarah Schultz:Yeah. Great question. So all the information that we gather, can be within a collaborative process. So students can be a part of that and and faculty, staff most importantly, as the the final, intra or entry if you will, comes from faculty staff. So we need them to essentially approve the learning experience for us to say, yes.
Sarah Schultz:This is the learning outcomes. Yes. This is what students are going to do to, accomplish that, and this is how we're going to assess that. So there's this full picture of learning that, really is the foundation to the record that faculty, staff help ensure, and students are more than welcome to be a part of that process.
Ali Cramer:Perfect. So if students are interested in learning more once they get to campus, are there resources or events that they can attend maybe throughout the year to learn more about their SCR?
Sarah Schultz:Yeah. Absolutely. We we always have a variety of events, definitely beginning in the fall semester that new students we more are more than, would be excited to have attend. We have some workshops that that tend to focus on introducing our resource. We'll we'll be at a variety of tabling events, with participation as an example.
Sarah Schultz:But we'll also have some some new opportunities. I have a brand new full time staff member joining whose focus is on student engagement. So I know we have a lot of excitement with new opportunities to connect to students and get them excited, specifically first year students as well.
Sav Hamed:And I know throughout this conversation, we've talked a lot about how you can access your SER throughout your college education. But what about after graduation? How can I access it once I've graduated?
Sarah Schultz:So for, experiences, for students who have graduated, if you are a recent graduate, you have up to 6 months post graduation to inform my team and I that you'd like to see an experience added. And since we are a newer initiative, we launched in fall 2020. We are very much in a growth phase. So the chances of you not having something are higher at this point. So we share that to say, hey, please reach out to us.
Sarah Schultz:We will work with you and the proper faculty staff to ensure your experience is included. As we have plenty of students who have started to, share this beyond, for employment alongside graduate school application. So having a really full picture of their learning beyond the classroom is really important. But, also to mention, the the record is something you can request beyond indefinitely. So just like your transcript, that's a a document that will be owned by you essentially after that 6 months.
Sarah Schultz:It just won't change after that. So yeah.
Ali Cramer:Perfect. And then our favorite last question of every podcast, what is your favorite part of working with students here at Michigan State?
Sarah Schultz:Oh, sure. That's a great question. So I this is kind of a fun full circle moment for me. I've worked in higher ed now 10 years, and love the opportunity to invest in students to help you all learn and grow along the way and also propel your future. So, so much of my work with is focused with the co curricular record on learning.
Sarah Schultz:So it allowing you to see what you've learned beyond the classroom, how you've grown. Wow. I didn't recognize I grew so much in my communication skills through this. And, wow, I didn't think about how I might use that in the future or how I wanna care for people, make an impact. Seeing those moments, if you will, and that transformation over time and getting to encourage that, create a a initiative that further shapes that, is of great meaning, to to to my to to to me, for for the opportunity to work with Spartans day to day.
Ali Cramer:Perfect. Well, thank you so much for sharing with us information about Spartan Experience Records. I know this, along with some of our other podcasts that will be coming your way, hopefully give you a clear picture, and you can start exploring what involvements you want to have once you're on campus this fall. Please join us next time for our podcast featuring career services. And until then, have a great day.
Narrator:Thank you for listening to this episode of the Spartan Orientation Station on Impact 89 FM. Let us know what you think by connecting with us on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram atmsu_ns0.