The students and faculty have been working hard with Sentara Hospitals and the Children’s Hospital of the Kings Daughters performing chair massage for the staff and oncology patient families. Massage is not only beneficial for the person receiving massage but also for the provider.  The Massage field is very rewarding:  “Touch was never meant to be a luxury. It is a basic human need. It is an action that validates life and gives hope to both the receiver and the giver. The healing touch is reciprocal.-Irene Smith

Everyone in the Massage Therapy Department would like to congratulate Natasia DeLeon, Allen Vicente, Alexandra Heim, Edward Branum, and Zakkiyya Crolle-Jordan for passing their National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork! Another congrats goes to Amber Cutrone for receiving the Student of the Quarter Award for the spring term. Her dedication, hard work, and positive attitude have been contagious through-out the massage department.

Over the next year, the Online campus will be developing a new Online Student Success course around the textbook, which will promote positive choices, informed decision making, and solid critical thinking skills for new online students, in order to help students be aware of expectations of online learning.  The new course will be offered for free to all incoming students.

Engage opens with four chapters that communicate the specialized environment of online learning to new students.  Part I reviews best practices in becoming a successful student, provides essential technology support, reviews the ethics of being an academically honest online student, and it debunks many myths of online learning.  The textbook will offer an online component, called Technology Bootcamps, which will provide free basic technology skills to students who need to brush up before starting their program.

Part II of the book reviews basic academic skills such as assessing learning style, critical thinking, learning practices, and writing conventions.  And Part III reviews mastering the academics, finance, and social aspects of being a successful online student.  A main feature of the textbook is “Student Voices,” which appear in each chapter.  The Student Voices are testimonials from successful Centura College graduates who attest to the various ways in which they succeeded within the online program.  Our own students provide an authentic voice to current and future students, and they provide encouragement and practical suggestions to help them succeed.

Engage will stand as the only full-length online student success textbook currently on the market.  Our staff and students are working together to not only benefit our own students, but also empower online schools across the country to better support their students’ success.

It is not all work and study though as evident by photos (http://www.centura.edu/Orlando/Photo%20Gallery/Forms/DispForm.aspx?ID=14&Source=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ecentura%2Eedu%2FOrlando%2FPhoto%2520Gallery%2FForms%2FAllItems%2Easpx%3FRootFolder%3D%252fOrlando%252fPhoto%2520Gallery%252f2010%2520Photos%252fMeet%2520the%2520Students%26View%3D%257bA50A581E%252dBCB4%252d42B5%252dA7C7%252d18F8A789FF35%257d&RootFolder=%2FOrlando%2FPhoto%20Gallery%2F2010%20Photos%2FMeet%20the%20Students) taken in Orlando.

The Campus Information Site also allows students to access their student e-mail and portal accounts as well as online forms, the online library (LIRN), financial aid documents, employment opportunities, and other student services. To see what current students have available at their fingertips follow www.Centura.edu and select a campus of interest.