Success sought “Major” campaign embraced

LMC has a new campaign that emphasizes the point that a student’s path to success comes first. The banners and sandwich boards that declare “Be a major success at LMC, choose your major today!” around campus indicates this campaign’s mission which is to help undecided students discover what major best suits them.

Barbara Cella, LMC’s Director of Marketing and Media Design, explains how the campaign idea came about.

“The foundation for California Community Colleges held presentations to get feedback on the California Community College Student Success Initiative,” said Cella, “As they were developing it in conjunction with the state Chancellor’s Office a couple of years ago.”

Students may often in their first years of college, wonder what career they are going to wind up pursuing. They spend time thinking about what you want your academic focus to be on and the help you could get to achieve your goals.

“The concept just jumped out at me, and that makes total sense but I hadn’t really thought about the importance of it was that students who choose their major during their first year are more likely to complete their degree/certificate or goal than students who wait until their second year” said Cella.

Students usually don’t have a major set in stone or know what classes to take, but the online Ed Planning tool solves that.

Robin Armour, the Director Of Admissions, explains how the Ed planning tool plays a factor in the campaign.

“If you’re on the student Ed Plan, you could pull up the degree your majoring in and you have to file a change of major with us and you could plan 2 semesters” said Armour.

Though this feature is available to help, Armour says a lot of LMC students aren’t putting it to use. “We’ve been going to PUENTE and UMOJA. It’s just select students right now instead of everybody”.

For those wondering about who designs the banners and graphics for LMC, it is John Schall.

“John Schall is the media design specialist for the LMC marketing and media design department,” said Cella. “He does the vast majority of the graphic design for print pieces and photography for the college.”

The “Be A Major Success” campaign strives to motivate students to focus on decision-making and choosing majors that would best prepare them for a profession in a field of their choice. “I think it’s a great idea,” said Armour “if students don’t have a major, it’s like going on a trip without a map or GPS system”.