New CCC students take part in Crush Days

Incoming Clovis Community College students arrive on campus and line up outside of Academic Center 1 (AC1) to take part in Crush Days student orientation on Aug. 8, 2017. (Photo by Ron Sundquist/Clovis Roundup)

More than 400 new students came together on Aug. 8 and 9 to take part in Crush Days at Clovis Community College. The two-day event included campus tours, meetings with faculty and a guest speaker, all in an effort to help the new students get acquainted with the campus.

The guest speaker on Aug. 9 was Delatorro McNeal II, an internationally renowned professional speaker and bestselling author.

“I love coming here because the students are hungry. They are eager to learn,” McNeal said. “ Even though they are a little bit timid in the beginning, at the end of an hour they are excited about being here in Clovis. They are excited about the opportunity to go to college. They now have some success resources that they can implement immediately to help them get results.”

McNeal, who graduated from Florida State University with a 4.0 GPA, has spoken to college students all over the world.

“Having years of experience speaking to college students, I have learned to tap into what their fears and concerns are,” McNeal said. “I have also learned how to tap into what they all want. At the end of the day, having done this all around the world, you begin to see patterns in human behavior. You realize that people universally want the same thing.”

Keynote speaker and author Delatorro L. McNeal II addresses Clovis Community College’s new students during Crush Days student orientation on campus. (Photo by Ron Sundquist/Clovis Roundup)

Throughout his time speaking with college students, McNeal said the focus for most students is to build friendships and also to make their parents proud.

“They want to figure out what they want to do with their lives, but they don’t want to be forced into that decision,” McNeal said. “They want to figure it out for themselves. They also want to graduate on time with as little debt as possible.”

Speaking to the students at Clovis Community College, McNeal advised the students to sit in front of classes, to participate actively in class on a consistent bases, to use the instructor’s office hours and to actually reading the textbooks they buy.

“Gravitate toward the challenging instructors instead of running away from them,” McNeal said.

“ I actually can’t wait to get his book. It got me hyped up,” said new CCC student Ismael Nunez.

With McNeal’s words echoing in his head, Nunez is eager to start the next chapter in his life.

“It’s a small campus, so I don’t think I will get lost easily,” Nunez said. “I’m excited to start my classes, find out my teachers. I like the campus a lot.”

For Nunez, the highlight of the event was the campus tour, which gave him a chance to see the computer lab. After seeing the lab, Nunez can’t wait to put it to use.

“That got me thinking. Maybe I can try it out,” Nunez said. “I am always willing to try new things.”

Sasha Fisher, an educational adviser at CCC, led the students on a tour around campus.

“We’re giving them a tour, taking them to classes, letting them experience professors,” she said.

“Some students said their anxiety decreased because of the tour. Now they feel comfortable. We only had two students here that said they have been here, but never toured the campus. The rest of them have never been here, so their anxiety decreased.”

In the last academic year, the student headcount at CCC increased to 10,464. The student headcount for the 2017 fall semester is 7,464.

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