Kansas State University Academic Advising Graduate Programs

One of our current students, Joan Levis, wrote a piece in Diverse: Issues in Higher Education. Please see an excerpt below. For the full article, visit http://diverseeducation.com/article/114038/

The phone rang. It was my daughter, a D-1 student-athlete at a university renowned in sports and academics. I thought she was living the dream.

I picked up the phone and said, “Hello.”

Her voice wavered on the other end. “Mom, I am so miserable.”

It took me by surprise. “Why are you miserable?”

“This is so hard. Practice is hard. I hate my coaches. I do not have enough time, I have so much homework, and I am tired all of the time.”

I listened. My first response was panic. How do I fix this? How do I fix her? My second response was to calm myself and tell myself to just listen.

Please visit http://diverseeducation.com/article/114038/  for the rest of the article.

Joan Levis is the parent of a student-athlete at the University of Southern California and a student in the Kansas State University Academic Advising Graduate Program.