{"id":17368,"date":"2026-09-25T18:05:37","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T22:05:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/?p=17368"},"modified":"2026-10-17T11:49:28","modified_gmt":"2026-10-17T15:49:28","slug":"once-a-student-now-an-alumnus-and-instructor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/2026\/09\/25\/once-a-student-now-an-alumnus-and-instructor\/","title":{"rendered":"Once a student, now an\u00a0alumnus\u00a0and instructor\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Jayden Sandoval \u201829, staff writer <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From sitting in the classroom to now standing at the front of it, a college alumnus now enters her second year of teaching the First-Year Experience Companion course at LVC. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Megan Finlan is a 2021 graduate from Lebanon Valley College with a Bachelor of Arts in English. During her time at LVC as a student she was an editor-in-chief of La Vie, math and writing tutor, and a Valley Ambassador. Being a tour guide when she was a student inspired her to go into higher education, now holding the title of associate director of admissions and an instructor for the companion of the First-Year Experience (FYE-C). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a student, Finlan found the course beneficial in setting her up to know what resources to find and where to find them at LVC. As an instructor of the course, she enjoys connecting with and getting to know her students. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finlan believes there have been changes within the college since she was a student. More programs and new buildings are leaning more into the health science departments of the college. Which she believes are great opportunities offered by LVC. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you try things don\u2019t be afraid to try and fail or try and decide that it\u2019s not for you,\u201d Finlan said. \u201cThings that don\u2019t bring you joy, don\u2019t feel like you have to keep doing them.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finlan is a firm believer of trying things out even if one thing won\u2019t work, because that is the process students have to follow throughout college. She entered LVC, as a pre-law student and didn\u2019t like it, until she tried something new and figured out, she found enjoyment from being an English major. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think the way that the companion course is structured gives students much more of a detailed overview of what can be utilized,\u201d Finlan said. \u201cBeing able to know what resources are available without having to dig for them, I think is valuable from the course.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like Finlan, one of her former students, Karmia Scotland, also believes that the course gave her the resources and people to go to when in need of help. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe course helped me\u00a0in asking for help from resources,\u00a0and to go to other people when I wasn\u2019t getting useful assistance,\u201d Scotland said. \u201cThat class referred me to CASE (Center for Academic Success and Exploration) which they were super helpful.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scotland looked forward to the class each week because it ended on a good note with having discussions with other students and the snacks Finlan provided the class with. Scotland still visits Finlan and checks in with her to see how she is doing periodically. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If Finlan could say something to her first-year self she would say, \u201cIt\u2019s okay to not have the rest of your life figured out.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is something Finlan empathizes when she speaks with students that are confused and overwhelmed about not having plans for post-graduation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI hope my students remember I was hopefully fun! But also hope that after class ends, my students know I don\u2019t just disappear, email me, pop into my office and sit in my bean bag chair, and eat my snacks,\u201d Finlan said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now with Finlan being in her second year of teaching the FYE companion course, she hopes that future FYE companion instructors don\u2019t become afraid of silence in the class. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDon\u2019t be scared if it doesn\u2019t click right away,\u201d Finlan said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her first class was quiet, and she was scared about students not liking her afterwards. But giving students time to warm up and taking the time to get to know them structured her enjoyment in teaching the first-year experience companion course. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"I can\u2019t wait to see, in three years when my first FYE class is walking across the stage at graduation. I can be like, that was my first FYE! I\u2019m going to feel like a proud mom!\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jayden Sandoval \u201829, staff writer  From sitting in the classroom to now standing at the front of it, a college alumnus now enters her second year of teaching the First-Year Experience Companion course at LVC.  Megan Finlan is a 2021 [...]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":17412,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5,7,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-campus-news","category-features","category-front-page","category-homepage"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17368"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17368\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17453,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17368\/revisions\/17453"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}