Registering for class: help us ,help you

Registration for the 2005 spring semester has started and there are two people who are ready and willing to help students through the process. Julie Houghton and Tom Blackburn are the two individuals who students will talk to.

Houghton said, “Make sure to have your paper work done and filled out correctly.”

Blackburn assures it is nothing personal when a schedule request cannot be filled because there is no advisor signature.

“The policy is that I have to have signatures,” he said.

The Registrar’s Office is a busy place, especially during registration time. Often, freshman will camp outside of the office in hopes of getting the classes they desire.

“Seeing them in their pajamas is the coolest part,” Houghton said.

Blackburn sees the wait as a problem in need of being fixed. He feels freshman should be registered first because juniors and seniors already fill most of the 100 and 200 level classes freshman need.

“It makes more sense to let freshman register first,” he said. “There are fewer people looking for an overload their freshman year.”

Both Houghton and Blackburn agree that stress is just a part of their job. Their job does not stop at registering students. They can also be a counselor.

“We deal with a lot of parents and roommate problems by providing an outlet for somebody and parents,” Blackburn said. “We are constantly doing some advising where advisors don’t have those expertise.”

When Houghton and Blackburn are not registering students for classes they are verifying transcripts for students applying for graduate programs. Blackburn especially enjoys digitizing these records.

“There are transcripts that need to be digitized from 1964 to 1988,” he said

If the office were to ever switch to online registration, digitizing the records would be the task he would focus on.

Blackburn originally from Kernersville, North Carolina, was in the Navy and later became a student at VWC from 1991-96.

“I designed my own degree, Social Sciences with a concentration in Health and Human Services,” he said.

After graduation he worked at the Chesapeake Services, a non-profit organization for adults with mental and physical challenges.

“I couldn’t let go of other people’s problems,” he said

Houghton originally from Missouri, previously worked at Health South Rehabilitation and Sports Medicine prior to working at VWC.

“I was just getting out of the medical field and trying to do something different,” she said. “I knew the registrar.”

Both Blackburn and Houghton enjoy their work environment. Sometimes there are the occasional rude students who are having problems with registering and take the blame out on the wrong people.

“Graduation is always the worst time,” Houghton said. “The first year I had a girl threaten to sue me because of a lost grade.”

“You learn the problem people, sometimes you’d just like for them to change their name,” Blackburn said.

Houghton is in charge of those with last names A-H and Blackburn is in charge of I-Z.

Before going into the Registrar’s office make sure to have all appropriate signatures, to check MARSIS to make sure there are no outstanding fees, fill out paperwork correctly, and read emails. The two people behind the desk are there to help you, but you must first help yourself.