Today we speak with Naveen Khan, a senior early childhood education and history/Spanish double major from Cherry Hill, Camden County, who commutes from home. She will share her #PROFspective with us on what it’s like to be a Rowan University student and how she’s getting the most out of her college experience as a Rowan Prof.
Name: Naveen Khan
Major: Early Childhood Education, Liberal Studies : History and Spanish in the College of Education
Minors: International Studies
Year: Senior
Transfer Student: Yes, from Camden County College
Hometown and County: Cherry Hill, NJ (Camden County)
Commuter: Yes, from Cherry Hill!
Academic clubs: Student History Association, Early Childhood Education Club
Social clubs: Hey Marlene magazine (Treasurer), Her Campus magazine (Vice President), Muslim Student Association (Social Media and Public Relations chair)
Do you work on campus? Yes, Rec Center Main Office Assistant, and Student Government Association (SGA) Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs. Will be starting work as a tutor in the Writing Center, and a Peer Referral and Orientation Staff (PROS) member
Why did you choose your major? I love working with kids! History is just a favorite subject of mine, and Spanish is a language I love.
One reason why you chose Rowan? Truthfully, it was close to home. But so are other schools. I stayed because the campus “hugged” me from the moment I stepped on – before I even got my acceptance letter. When I did get the letter, I just knew that it was where I was meant to go.
My Typical Day as a Rowan Student
There is no such thing as a typical day in my life at Rowan, especially as a full time student teacher! My days on campus begin at roughly 4:30 p.m. every day, which is the earliest I can get to campus after student teaching from 8:50 a.m. to 3:37 p.m. in Pennsauken.
My day starts with me hitting the snooze on my alarm repeatedly until I have to rush to get out the door on time. I get to my student teaching placement between 8:30 and 8:40 a.m. every day, and start working with kids at 8:50 a.m. when the students come in. I follow their schedule, observing, teaching, and working one on one with the kids as necessary. From 11:15 to 12p.m. I have a prep period in which I set up for the afternoon, and check in with my Rowan life. From 12 to 12:45 p.m., the students are in lunch and recess so I take this time to eat something too, but mostly I spend it working either on things for my lesson, classwork, or things for Student Government Association (SGA). After their school day is over I head to campus.
On Mondays when I get to campus, I head straight to the SGA office in the Student Center 
and with what little time I have before our weekly e-board meeting I catch up on emails, grab a snack, or organize my planner. At 5:00 p.m., I head into the SGA Executive Board meeting. This can take anywhere from 1 to 2 hours depending on the content that needs to be discussed that week. I sit with my fellow assistant vice presidents, the recording secretary, SGA president, executive vice president, student trustees, and our two advisors and we talk about the things we all worked on, how we are all progressing, and what is next on the horizon. This is one of my favorite parts of the week because my SGA e-board is like a family to me, and it is nice to see them all every week.
If it is a senate Monday, I head up to the ballroom around 6:45 p.m., as senate starts at 7 p.m. This can also take 1 to 2 hours depending on the content, but this is also a good time; seeing all the senators participate in SGA and the school’s affairs is very rewarding and it shows the power students have!
If it is not a senate Monday, I lead the Student Affairs committee in Student Center 144A – 
check us out! We talk about things we can work on around campus, I take in input from the committee members, and we take a break from our days as well. If it is a committee night, I also meet with the Muslim Student Association e-board at 8 p.m. We talk about our goals and plans for our club, and how we can collaborate with other clubs on campus. We recently collaborated with Hillel, and gave out free roses to spread love and positivity! MSA is under the Office of Social Justice Inclusion and Conflict Resolution, an office with whom I love to work. Last year, I was a mentor in the Harley Flack Mentoring program, and it was awesome to give back to students. I highly recommend everyone get involved with the office; it does a lot for many students on campus. This March, I will present in collaboration with them! Stay tuned for those details!
Tuesdays after student teaching, I arrive on campus and once again, head straight to the SGA office to get some office hours done. Sometimes I might have a meeting with Gourmet Dining, or with Dean Jones, dean of students. Meeting with Dean Jones is always good; he checks in to see what I’ve been working on, I ask him what more I can do! After this meeting, I usually freelance tutor at the Barnes 
& Noble on Rowan Blvd. for about an hour. Depending on the week, after I tutor I might have a shift at the Rec Center from 7 to 10p.m.. If I do not have work at the Rec, I stay at Barnes & Noble and attend a Her Campus meeting. We are a chapter of a national organization which puts out weekly content on a online magazine.
Afterwards, I might stay in the SGA office and write some lesson plans, or I might try and get a workout in. Usually when I am not working, I try and eat dinner now. I am also starting to tutor in the Writing Center in the library, so I might have hours there on the weeks that I do not work in the Rec Center.
Wednesdays when I get to campus, I – you guessed it – head to office hours. AVPs are required to do at least 5 hours a week, and my hours are spread out! After this, I might head to the Writing Center again. I recently got accepted to be a PROS member, and training for that is every Wednesday from 6:30 to 9:30p.m., so that will be starting soon as well.
Thursdays I come to campus, try and take a quick break, and every other week I have a quick Muslim Student Association meeting from 5 to 6p.m. After that I head to class from 6 to 8p.m. This is my only class, and it’s a combination of two; my Early Childhood Education Clinical Seminar, and Teaching Students Linguistic and Cultural Diversity. I like this class because everyone in it comes from student teaching too, so we all talk about how are weeks went, and the professor always gives us useful information we will need once we are in the field. After class I head back into the SGA office, but usually I take that time to do some work, check emails, and listen to music.
Fridays change; sometimes I come to campus after student teaching, and sometimes I don’t. It depends on how I feel or what is happening on campus that night! Friday nights I usually work on my lesson plans for the next week, and reflect on the past week in student teaching.
Every weekend I work at the Rec some more. The shifts differ, and it’s always fun; the Rec has always been there for me and I do not want to skip out on it!
Like I said, I do not have a typical day at Rowan … This all would be an ideal week for me, but there is almost always another meeting, a change, or a development I work into the schedule! It’s fun!
We are #RowanPROUD and we are Rowan Profs! Not exactly sure what a Prof is? It’s our owl mascot, Whoo RU. Read about him here.
Story organized and photography by:
Jen Green, senior public relations major