The Director's Corner
The Director's Corner
October 14, 2025
The Skill of Seeking Help
To our students, I hope you had a restful Fall Break and are feeling re-energized as you begin the second half of the term. We are entering the time of the semester when students’ stress levels begin to increase, as the first waves of grades have come in and the big deadlines of final examinations and assignments are approaching.
So I thought I would use my Director’s Corner this month to share a lesson that I had to learn more than once while I was in college: asking for help is skill, and you will find more success and happiness in your life if you hone this skill.
Part of this lesson is realizing that asking for help doesn’t diminish you or your accomplishments. I find this message worth emphasizing for Honors students, because you all are high achievers, and you are used to doing well in your classes. Starting college, or progressing to more advanced levels of study in college, typically involves a moment (or moments!) of realizing that things are suddenly harder, the level of competition and assessment is more intense, the methods that have brought you success in the past suddenly aren’t working.
This is part of what college is all about -- pushing you to higher levels of learning -- but going through these moments is not easy, and these moments can produce hard feelings. It’s also common for students to realize that they have committed to too many things, both curricular and extra-curricular, and they are suddenly overwhelmed by everything they need to do.
I have been there, and I guarantee that your professors and instructors have been there at some point in their lives, probably when they were students like you. It doesn’t diminish you to experience a crisis of accomplishment. Going through this is normal. What’s crucial in this moment is what you do next.
The most important thing is to take a step back, take a deep breath and acknowledge that you have many forms of help available to you. Then, ask for help.
Part of the task is to figure out what kind of support will actually be helpful to you right now. You may need something as simple as sharing with a friend or family member how stressed out you are about a deadline, or how disappointed you are in a grade you received. Sometimes just talking through these experiences and feeling the support of others can be what helps.
It may mean going to your professor or teaching assistant to review a problem that stumped you, or asking some classmates if you can study together. It may mean telling a friend that you need help with a commitment you made to a student club. It might mean asking others for patience as you sort through your priorities and realize you can’t be in all the clubs you wanted to be in or can’t do all the things you said you would do.
It may also mean seeking out the resources that the university has available, like the tutoring or student instruction offered by the Academic Support Center, or the counseling sessions offered by Student Counseling and Psychological Services. It may mean talking through options with your academic advisors in the Honors College or in the college of your major, perphaps even deciding if you really need that minor, or if you are really in the best major for you.
The poet and clergyman John Donne famously wrote, “No man is an island.” That is true of the human condition, but it also applies to the realities of succeeding in college. You bear responsibility for your decisions and actions, but part of that responsibility is realizing that none of us truly succeeds alone. Asking others for help, and doing so early enough that others can help you, are part of what brings success.
I wish you well as you dive back into classes.
Dr. Laura Stevens
Director, Honors College
Professor of English
Academic Support
Academic Support contributes to retention and degree completion for Auburn University undergraduate students. The office hosts a variety of academic skill development programs that promote self-directed learning strategies and student success.
https://academicsupport.auburn.edu/
Student Counseling & Psychological Services
Student Counseling & Psychological Services (SCPS) provides comprehensive preventative and clinical mental health services to enhance the psychological well-being of individual students, as well as the broader campus culture.
