Each month, CMN features an honor roll student and shares the strategies the student uses to succeed in college.
Profile of Success:
Marcus Denny
Major: Early Childhood Education
Will graduate in Fall 2008
Marcus Denny and his wife Franny just moved into their new home in Keshena, with their sons in tow. Pearson is two and Colt is just a year old. Marcus and his family appreciate the opportunity they received from Habitat for Humanity to obtain their own home. Marcus says that the 500 hours of “sweat equity’ required during the construction phase was a “good experience.”
If you have ever heard of Midnight Express or Str8t Across, you probably already know that Marcus is a member of these Native American singing and drumming groups. He spends his summers traveling to and from Powwows across the country. He has been with Midnight Express for the past six years, but has participated in singing and drumming “since I can remember--forever.” He still carries a full credit load at school, however, taking fourteen credits this spring and planning to take the thirteen credits he needs to complete his associate degree in the fall.
Marcus knew up front that his education would be expensive, so he joined the military to help fund his college degree. A Marine, Marcus served two tours in Iraq before being discharged in the summer of 2005. After taking a break, he started school in the fall of 2006.
As for his study habits, Marcus spends as much time studying outside of class as he does attending class. He reviews his notes, lecture materials and text for an hour before each class. He uses critical thinking to analyze and question what he has read, and then deepens his understanding by re-teaching everything he has learned. Before a biology test, for example, he reviewed vocabulary words with his two-year-old, who repeated the words, reinforcing the sounds and meanings.
Marcus sections off his study time by reading for fifteen or twenty minutes, then takes a break. He tests himself using keywords; by understanding and remembering those words, he is able to elaborate when answering essay questions. He prefers to study at home after the children have been put to bed. It is quiet then, and he can study at his own pace.
Yet another way Marcus has managed to retain his knowledge has been to be a peer tutor for the past year. He helps other students with math, English, computers, oral communication, human development and psychology. He spends ten hours a week in the tutoring lab and says he enjoys it because he gets to meet a lot of other students. That experience will be especially valuable in the future for Marcus, since he wants to be a high school teacher.
Once he completes his associate’s degree, he wants to continue at CMN to get his bachelor’s degree in education. He’d like to get a job teaching elementary school while picking up the additional courses required to teach at the secondary school level.
When asked what advice he has for other students, in addition to good attendance and study habits, Marcus replied, “Take a lot of time for yourself. It’s really important so you don’t overload.”