The Women’s Resource Center will host a workshop called Supporting Non-traditional Women on Campus on Nov. 5, at 1:00 p.m.
The event will be facilitated by Anna Vetter, empowerment coordinator, and is open to the entire Portland State campus, including not only students but faculty, staff and volunteers.
The workshop is offered every term and is constructed by the attendees. Vetter will give a short introduction, after which the floor is opened to questions.
Vetter said typical concerns brought up in these workshops are school and life balance, academics, and what Vetter calls impostership, when students feel like they aren’t worthy of being in college.
Many of the students with whom Vetter works feel as though they’ve somehow missed their chance or do not belong, as though by not fitting into the traditional student mold they’ll be called out as fakes.
The workshop will help raise awareness for these students and the obstacles they face, as well as offer information, ideas and resources for non-traditional women and otherwise support them.
The workshop is itself a part of the larger empowerment program, which focuses on non-traditional female students, though specifically women of color, veterans, first generation students and students over the age of 22.
The program includes one-on-one advising, action teams, community building events, the WRC’s course on college success for returning women and partnerships both on and off campus.