{"id":11534,"date":"2018-10-11T05:00:15","date_gmt":"2018-10-11T15:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/workable-level.flywheelsites.com\/?p=11534"},"modified":"2018-10-10T22:58:26","modified_gmt":"2018-10-11T08:58:26","slug":"dsso-seeks-to-fill-30-openings-for-note-takers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kapionews.com\/index.php\/2018\/10\/11\/dsso-seeks-to-fill-30-openings-for-note-takers\/","title":{"rendered":"DSSO Seeks To Fill 30 Openings For Note Takers"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Katlin Cilliers<\/a> | Staff Writer<\/h5>\n

Just before the start of this Fall 2018 term, the Disability Support Services Office<\/a> at KCC had approximately 120 vacancies to provide note taking, scribe and reading services for students in need during the semester. In the last week of September, nearly halfway\u00a0<\/strong>through the term, there were still 30 classes\u00a0in need of note takers. A colorful list of sessions in need of workers hung Thursday, Sept 20\u00a0<\/strong>on the office wall, waiting for students to step up into the paid positions.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019d think that \u2026 they\u2019re going to get paid to take notes,\u201d said Kristin Chevalier, a student note taker and office helper at the DSSO. \u201cIt\u2019s like, getting paid to go to class. [They] take their own notes, and yet, they still don\u2019t want to do it. And … it\u2019s weird. I don\u2019t understand why nobody wants to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some possible reasons for hesitation, according to Chevalier, are not knowing exactly what the job entails, fear of the extra responsibility \u2014 especially for freshmen \u2014 and having to commit to going to class every day. Having been a note taker\u00a0herself and filling in during peak times, Chevalier has had positive experiences in the job over the four years she has done it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s pretty easy, like, once you get the hang of it,\u201d she said. \u201c… People get scared about paperwork, and the fact that they need to turn in, like, a time sheet and a contact log every pay period, and they have to actually come down and give it to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

For\u00a0hospitality professor Amy Shiroma, becoming a note taker is a great way to help peer students in need.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a really nice part-time job,\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>Shiroma said. \u201cYou\u2019re doing a service for somebody, if you are a student who, you know, is an avid note taker\u00a0and you\u2019d like to share \u2026 your notes with someone who needs it and is not able to, I mean \u2026 to me it\u2019s a no-brainer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shiroma feels it is part of their duties as faculty to help the DSSO find student note takers if they are struggling to do so. According to Pam Webb, DSSO\u2019s coordinator, Shiroma is highly responsive to the office’s requests for announcements in her classes and strives to send note takers their way whenever she spots a potential good candidate.<\/p>\n

Webb\u2019s main concern is with ensuring that all students in need are being accommodated for the semester so that they can thrive academically. To do so, the DSSO works in sync with faculty, The Study Hub, takes part in events such as this year\u2019s job fair<\/a>, and hopes to join forces with the Employment Prep Center<\/a> so as to attract more student note takers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to have no vacancies,\u201d Webb said. \u201cSimply because students who are going without note takers right now \u2026 there\u2019s a need. \u2026 So, they\u2019re struggling right now, to some extent.\u201d<\/p>\n

For confidentiality purposes, the job entails a good level of discretion and its duties are set in a way to preserve both student and note taker’s privacy during the process. Often, they never meet and interactions may happen via DSSO entirely. Some other times, e-mail exchanges can occur. A minimal amount of information is released about the disability as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnless the student is willing to share it, [professors and note takers] don\u2019t know what the disability is,” Webb said.\u00a0“<\/strong>They will [have access to] what the accommodation is only.\u201d<\/p>\n

Webb stated that even though the theme of student disabilities\u00a0is delicate, current changes in access to information and an overall shift in people’s attitude around what it means to have a disability has helped students feel more welcomed, understood, and less stigmatized.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we go forward and there\u2019s so much more information available, and understanding,” Webb said. “People begin to understand disabilities and it\u2019s not something that should be hidden. \u2026 I think more and more people are feeling that it\u2019s not something that they should be ashamed of.\u201d<\/p>\n

That is the case with Aidan Matsuura, one of the nearly 330 students being\u00a0helped by the DSSO at KCC. Matsuura\u00a0receives note taking, scribing, and flexible testing settings as an accommodation to his learning disabilities as he prepares to join KCC\u2019s Radiologic Technology Program. The 21-year-old is currently taking two classes and receives DSSO accommodations for his Math 75x class.<\/p>\n

\u201cEver since I\u2019ve got the accommodations, it\u2019s been really helpful,\u201d Matsuura said. \u201cI\u2019ve been understanding the material, \u2026 connecting with my teacher and getting to learn all these things that I had a hard time before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matsuura deems his academic journey \u201ca fun ride,\u201d since when he first started at KCC two years ago. He is now determined to make the most of his course by using planners, taking full advantage of office hours and personalized teaching, and using his accommodations to thrive.<\/p>\n

\u201cThroughout the years I\u2019ve grown,” Matsuura said. “I just \u2026 getting all the help that I could get, so that I can succeed and graduate.\u201d<\/p>\n

To Matsuura, DSSO has been paramount in his road to success, from helping him with early registration, to organizing classes and pairing him with professors.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve been very, very helpful, and I don\u2019t think I would have succeeded without them, honestly,\u201d Matsuura said.<\/p>\n

Those interested in becoming student note takers may reach out to kapdss@hawaii.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Katlin Cilliers | Staff Writer Just before the start of this Fall 2018 term, the Disability Support Services Office at KCC had approximately 120 vacancies to provide note taking, scribe and reading services for students in need during the semester. In the last week of September, nearly halfway\u00a0through the term, there were still 30 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":11535,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campusnews","category-news","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kapionews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kapionews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kapionews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kapionews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kapionews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kapionews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11534\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kapionews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kapionews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kapionews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kapionews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}