AUGUST: welcome to ncssm
Hello rising seniors and incoming juniors
If you need to get in touch with me, I am most reachable by phone (call or text message) at 919-416-2739. Please avoid calling late into the night. I check my email often and will always respond within 24 hours. I can be reached by email at melani.harden@ncssm.edu. Please remember that I am often on duty at Bryan desk through the week, feel free to stop by to chat or ask for any help you may need. My work hours at the desk are 1:30pm-7:30pm. I am less responsive after 10pm. Please avoid calling late into the night. I am off on Wednesdays and take those days to myself, any other days I am unavailable will be noted on the hall calendar. Please allow me until the next day before I am able to respond when it is a marked unavailable day. There are other community coordinators on duty, campus safety officers, and on-call counselors and nursers available to you. Your students will see me often on hall and should feel free to talk to me when they do. Please do not directly knock on my door unless it is an emergency. If you need me, I am extremely responsive via email, phone, or google chat.
I wanted to make sure everyone knows what to expect from me in regards to regular hall updates. On the 1st of each month I will post an update to the blog section of the hall google site and send an email alerting you that the update is live. These posts will include recaps of the past few weeks on hall, updates on major hall and campus events, reminders about upcoming events and deadlines, and photos of the student experience on campus. Throughout the month I will also add more photos to the photos section of the hall site. These photos can be found by going to the navigation tab and selecting "activity photos"
For move-in we strongly encourage students and families to label all of their belongings. There are a lot of individuals moving around campus on move-in day and sometimes items are misplaced. Labeled belongings are much easier to reunite with their owners, so please be sure to label all items with your name, residence hall, and room assignment.
I am sure that everyone has already received this information, but please double check while you are packing to confirm that you are not bringing any items on our prohibited items list. You will be asked to take them back home if you arrive on campus with them.
Feel free to review the following resource to get a better idea of room layouts. Please note that while we provide general measurements for each residence hall, each room is unique and variations exist in room dimensions. You should use these measurements as a general guide only. We are unable to provide specific measurements for each room.
For this each CC should include the room layouts for their respective building.
For many students their time at NCSSM will be the first time they have experienced sharing a room with someone. It is natural for there to be some growing pains as students adjust their habits and learn to live together. For this reason we encourage students to spend their first few weeks getting to know one another and discussing their sleep habits, study preferences, and what makes them feel comfortable in their shared space. After the first extended roommates will work together to craft a roommate agreement; this agreement will outline how they will respect one another’s space, accommodate each other's sleep and study habits, what they can borrow and share with each other, and how they will keep their room clean. The agreement is a living document and can be revisited as needed throughout the year.
While we hope that all students will get along well, it is possible that your students develop a conflict with their roommate that they have trouble navigating on their own. If this occurs you or your student should let their CC know. We will work with the students to mediate the conflict and work towards a mutual resolution. It is imperative that you speak only to your student about any conflict they are having, do not contact the other student or their family. If the conflict continues the CC may ask that the students work with either the Assistant Director or Director of Housing and Residence Life to continue working towards a solution. NCSSM operates at full occupancy; therefore, room changes are not easy to accommodate. No room changes will be approved during the 1st quarter of the school year. Changing rooms is considered only if all conflict resolution options have been exhausted, a space is available, and the move is considered a positive step for all parties involved. For these reasons, a room change should not be viewed as a likely outcome to resolve a conflict.
CCs are available 24 hours a day to assist your students. The Bryan CC desk is staffed each day from 7:30am to 1:00am. All other CC building offices are staffed from 6:30pm to 1:00am each day. Outside of these hours there will always be two CCs on call while students are on campus. The contact numbers for the on-call CCs are posted at each CC desk and can be viewed here. If your student has an emergency they are encouraged to reach out to the on duty CCs.
NCSSM also has Campus Safety Officers available 24 hours. They can be contacted at 919-416-2711 or 919-416-2911.
Student Health, often referred to as the Clinic, is located on the first floor of the Hunt Residence Hall. The Clinic is staffed by a nurse, medical assistant, and a family nurse practitioner. Our medical director oversees the Clinic’s daily operation and is present in the Clinic one day a week. The Clinic is staffed and equipped to manage most acute and chronic illnesses that occur while students reside at NCSSM. Common over-the-counter medications, bandages, splints, and crutches are dispensed at no additional charge to students. Prescriptions, if required, can be picked up from a local pharmacy. Some problems may require additional care, in which case students are referred to area professionals. Families will be notified if this referral is necessary.
Students are prohibited from keeping certain types of prescription medications in their rooms (e.g., narcotics, psychotropics, stimulants). These medications must be retained and distributed by the Clinic. Students may keep over-the-counter medications in their rooms for their personal use (e.g., pain relievers, cold medications, stomach remedies, herbal remedies, vitamins, etc.).
The clinic is open Monday - Friday from 8:00am to 4:00pm. After hours and on the weekends students can reach out to CCs on duty for help; the CCs will contact a 24 hour telephone nursing service called UNC Nurse Connect to seek advice on how to aid your student.
Students may schedule telehealth appointments and in-person appointments, as well as medication drop-off/pick-up appointments. The Clinic is not open to drop-in appointments as it has been in the past.
As students prepare for the first extended weekend it is important to understand that we use a special sign out for these weekends away from NCSSM:
Halls close at 5pm on Friday, August 29th and reopen at noon on Monday, September 1st.
CCs will confirm that all students have submitted an Orah pass at their weekly hall meeting. On this pass, students should indicate where they are going for the break, who they are traveling with, and how they are getting to their location.
If a student is not departing early, is not returning to campus late, is not taking a train or Greyhound bus home, and their final destination is home or they are being picked-up by a parent/guardian, they do not need to sign out at Bryan Desk (this only applies to extended weekends).
If a student is departing before the day the Extended Weekend begins or returning to campus late they will need to have a parent/guardian sign them out at Bryan desk or submit an overnight pass on Orah and sign out at Bryan desk with whomever is picking them up.
If a student's final destination is not home and they are not being picked up by a parent/guardian, or if they are taking the train or Greyhound bus, they will need to submit an overnight pass on Orah and sign out at the Bryan desk.
