Just a few short months
ago (probably more than a few) I was blogging about my new job with ICAN at the
Eastern Iowa Office in Hiawatha, moving here from western Iowa after 34 years
as a public school educator. Now it seems I am blogging about another
transition. I am moving back to western Iowa after an 8 month stint in the
Cedar Rapids area.
Tomorrow I will be
moving to Sioux City, and on February 26 I will become the Northwest Iowa Student
Success Advisor for ICAN. For those of you who don’t know, the NW Iowa ICAN
office is on the campus of Western Iowa Tech Community College. There is
another part-time office in NW Iowa on the Northwestern College campus, and I
will be stationed there approximately once a week, at least for now. When I am
at either office, I will be available for appointments to do FAFSAs, create FSA
IDs, help with corrections or verifications of FAFSAs, help interpret financial
aid awards, work with students on college planning and career exploration
topics, and all of the other free services ICAN continues to offer across the
state. Some days and many evenings (through May, anyway) I will be travelling
to schools in the NW Iowa territory to do Freshmen Transition, College
Planning, and Financial Aid Presentations. I am really looking forward to
connecting with some counselors I know from my recent work as a western Iowa
high school counselor, and I am very excited about meeting new counselors in
the NW Iowa high schools. It will also be very exciting for me to meet the
families of NW Iowa who want to take advantage of our services. When I arrive,
it will have been several months since anyone has been in Northwest Iowa full-time,
although we have had people from our offices and from other entities filling in
to help families and schools as much as possible. I look forward to making the
Sioux City and Orange City ICAN offices bustle with people and activity again.
Before I sign off as a
Hiawatha Student Success Advisor, I would like to say that it has been a true
joy to work with the Hiawatha ICAN staff and the many counselors and families I
have met in Eastern Iowa. I started as an ICAN rookie, and everyone was very
patient and supportive as I found my way into this new position. One thing I
feel qualified to say from my experiences growing up in SE Iowa, attending
college in central Iowa, living most of my adult life in Western Iowa, and now
working at ICAN in East-Central Iowa, is that Iowa is FULL of terrific people!
No matter where you go in this state, you will find hard-working families and
caring professionals. You will find good schools and counselors and teachers
who really care about what they are doing. You will find excellent colleges –
of all sizes and types – that will prepare students for whatever career they
choose if the students are willing to put forth the effort to achieve. I am so
very proud to call Iowa my home, and if you are an Iowan reading this, I think
you should be, too! I have truly enjoyed my time in eastern Iowa (living in
“the city” for the first time), and I very much look forward to connecting with
people who I know and who I don’t know yet in the northwest part of this great
state!
My schedule for the Sioux
City and Orange City offices is now open for appointments beginning on Feb. 26.
We try to keep the schedule open around 60 days in advance. You are welcome to
schedule your own appointment at: www.icansucceed.org and “click” on Schedule Now. You may also call our toll free
number (877-272-4692), and anyone who answers can schedule an appointment for
you.
Mary Joan
ICAN Hiawatha Center
Soon to be ICAN Sioux City & Orange City Centers
