Levi Wilson

Dr. Nicholes
English 90
11/26/18

Aspire Program as A Linguistic Landscape Report

Introduction
Here at the University of Wisconsin Stout, there are multiple programs around the campus

to help students with there classes, study for tests, and programs for sports. The Aspire

program is a program here at Stout and its purpose is for kids with learning disabilities, students

who meet federal low-income criteria and first-generation students to help these students

become successful. How to define the term welcoming (turner king 2018) it will offer young

students’ space of access, conviviality, and belonging in a type of department such as The

Aspire program. This program provides tutors, financial help, and any of type of help you need

they are there to help you. I am currently in the Aspire Program and I am analyzing this topic

because it’s a successful program, it’s a great resource to have here at stout and I’m glad I’m in

the program, it’s a very successful way to succeed at college. Being a freshman in college it’s

tough for me and getting used to a new experience in my life is a tough change, but the Aspire

Program has made me feel welcome and helps me succeed in college. Student resources

The Aspire Program is designed to have student support provided by the faculty. This type

of student resource can always look for improvement and expand. Aspire has 26 group officers,

and 416 group members in the program. There are 58 event and 21 newsletters, this just

showed that the Aspire Program is always trying to be involved with every student in the

program and trying to help them feel welcome at the school. Student resources help students
learn effective writing and study skills, health, physical, emotional and mental and for student

activities (Patricia Gorden 2013).

At the University of Wisconsin Stout 98.2% of the students are either employed or continuing

their education after graduation, so that means only 1.8 are not employed or continuing. Only

82.64 students are not employed or continuing college, that’s a low rate. Doing the math

416/98.2 is equal 4.24 which means that’s how many Aspire students are not employed or

continuing college. Around 412 students in the Aspire program are successful in their life. It’s

not just Aspire that does a good it’s the whole entire school board that makes sure every kid is

successful in their life and the Aspire Program is just another help with kids with disability’s, low

income, and first generations specialized for these kids to get extra help and become successful

in their life.

Methods

The data-collection method involved me going into the Aspire department. I took pictures

around the whole department to show and capture any first impressions from what the work

spaces look and the individual offices for the advisers. I took picture around in the office to give

a feel of what it looks like. By taking these pictures I tried to capture the importance of each

part of the workshop areas to make the department seem welcoming. I analyzed the data by

going back to the research question “how is your topic welcoming”.

How I analyzed the data is I am going to describe what each picture is describing and to

show to welcoming the Department is. I will also be describing each individual picture on

explaining what it’s about.

 Results

The biggest values that Aspire has explored is the different types of things that students

need to become successful in college and even in life. Figure 1 when you first begin to enter the

department there is a sign outside that draws your attention. It shows who the advisers are and

the Aspire times.

Figure 1. sign outside the department

The office area

There is another little area with offices right beside the department, in Figure 2 the framing

represents an office.
Figure 2. Enclosed office room of where an adviser works and where the student will be usually

siting and discussing things. The office is where the advisers get their work done and have

appointments with any Aspire students. That consists helping the students with picking classes

for the next semester, checking in with there grades, helping them set up an appointment with

a tutor, letting them know any of the upcoming events are coming up with Aspire, and making

sure you have your disability form sent over, so you can get accommodations. The picture on

the right there are some papers listed on the board and it is papers with different sort of things

like events for when things are happening in the department, and different types of

advertisement things.

The Front Desk

One of the biggest main part into welcoming a student is to have a nice and well-organized

front office area. Having cool and neat things behind the desk kind of describe who they are as

a person. This is a good view in Figure 3.

Figure 3. This is the main office are where the secretary will greet you in and check you in for

your appointment with an adviser or tutor. Also, when you walk into the department there is a

calendar of events to show what is going on at Aspire plus, they some cool drawings on the

board to make it more welcoming. To follow up more on the calendar they have new events

every month and they have the pictures there for you to get a visual look at what is happening

at the events. The picture on the left, the doors that you see are more offices for advisers that

work in the department. It’s a decent size space for students to feel welcome and feel like they

have a place to learn in a welcoming way.

The Tutor Area

The area where any student in Aspire can get all the help they in in any class there are

taking. This little section is the tutoring center in Figure 4.

Figure 4. The picture on the left shows an open space for tutors to help students mainly with

English papers and math but, can also help with any other things that you need help with. The

picture on the right is a specialized math tutor room for one-on-one help with any type of math

you need help with. The specialized math tutor is helping with you with your math for an hour

because math is a long process and you need that long of time to get help. The math specialist

is very helpful and help you achieve a bigger goal then you think you need to achieve.

According to LIWC the emotional tone for the ASPIRE/Trio program is 85.0 which is above

the average emotional tone which is at 63.35. Positive emotions are 3.4 and the average is 4.57.

Negative emotions are 0 and the average is 2.10. Analytic is 91.7 and the average is 55.92.

Authenticity is 99.0 and the average is 55.66. These are just some of many data basis that is

about the Aspire Program and by what you can see most of the data is progressively higher

then that average data scores. When I’m feeding this information, I am showing the positives of

the department being welcoming and proving it by giving numbers to give facts.

Discussion
 The Linguistic Landscape of the Aspire department contains a lot of values for the academic

field. According to all the information I have showed I have separated into parts that describes

the different characteristics of the Aspire program and all the positive outcomes it has. There

are defiantly arguments about the Aspire Program being a success or not being helpful to

students here at Stout. The multiple things they have posted outside of the department draws

students in the department and makes the students feel welcome. The faculty is very

knowledgeable and knows how to help steer students into the right path into the real world.

Some advice I can express is that if a student has any of the those three issues and goes to

Stout, I’d highly suggest applying for the Aspire program or going to Stout in general because

the success rate of being employed right after college is very successful. There are also many

signs in the department to help you get a better understanding of how the department works.

References
Moore, R., & University of Wisconsin--Stout, degree granting institution. (2008). An Analysis of the
Importance of Specific Student Resources at Milwaukee Area Technical College.

Oriokot, Loraine, Buwembo, William, Munabi, Ian G., & Kijjambu, Stephen C. (2011). The
introduction, methods, results and discussion (IMRAD) structure: A Survey of its use in different
authoring partnerships in a students' journal.(Research article). BMC Research Notes, 4, 250.
Rachel Turner-King (2018) Creating welcoming spaces in the city: exploring the theory and
practice of ‘hospitality’ in two regional theatres, Research in Drama Education: The Journal of
Applied Theatre and Performance, 23:3, 421-437, DOI: 10.1080/13569783.2018.1477583

Subject Guides - Degrees & Guides, Patricia Gorden Neill, June 13th, (2013)
www.academicinfo.net/campus-life/smart-students-take-full-advantage-of-campus-
resources.