Amarillo College Badger Buzz

As the holiday season approaches, it’s easy to get swept up in the excitement of gift-giving and celebrations. However, it’s all too common that the winter festivities can lead to overspending and post-holiday regret. The good news is, with a little strategic planning, you can celebrate the season without stretching your budget too thin. Here are a few of our favorite tips to help you stay on track and manage your holiday shopping:

When you think of us at the Library, we’d love if the first word that came to mind was helpful.  Or, perhaps friendly.  We’ll take that one too.At both Amarillo College libraries, our goal is for everyone to walk away having received the assistance they needed. We’ve helped students, faculty and staff to discover the perfect research article, locate books to supplement a lesson, find an exciting new fiction read, check out an internet hotspot or calculator, navigate Blackboard (or a host of other AC systems) and more.  Best of all?  It’s all free for you and our students. 

Probably the best leadership book I’ve ever read is Edwin Friedman’s A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix. I’m not necessarily recommending it as it’s not the easiest read (if you’re interested, here is a brief book review and a midsize review). But what Friedman suggested nearly 20 years ago (and he’s right) is that we live in an age of anxiety. And this anxious air that we breathe plays out in our families, organizations, and cultures. 

Look around your office. If you’re sitting in a chair, using college stationary, checking emails on your computer or having too much fun with some new departmental purchase, all of those items and more first came to you through Central Receiving. We are the centralized shipping and receiving location for all Potter County campuses, and assist our Deaf Smith and Moore County campuses as needed.

For Native American Heritage Month, we invite you to learn about and celebrate the culture of the A:shiwi, or the Zuni, as they are known to most. The Zuni tribe is part of the Native American Pueblo Peoples group, native to the Zuni River Valley in western New Mexico. The A:shiwi is a much smaller tribe compared to most Native American tribes, composed of 14 matrilineal clans located in western New Mexico and eastern Arizona, and sister clans in the Bandelier area. They are also related to the Hopi, Keres, Tiwa, Akoma, and are believed to be descendants from the prehistoric Anasazi. Some trademarks of the tribe you might be familiar with are intricate woven garments, detailed pottery, handmade silver and turquoise jewelry, stone animal fetishes, outdoor clay ovens, colorful religious celebrations with dancing and music, and kachinas.

AWP proudly serves as our Employee Assistance Program (EAP), offering AC employees and their families valuable, confidential services at no cost.As we approach the holiday season, we want to highlight the EAP benefits that support work-life balance. The holidays can bring added stress, whether at work or in personal life. AWP members and their families can access counseling services tailored to their needs. They provide intake, counseling, guidance, assessment, referral, crisis intervention, and follow-up for employees, spouses, partners, and dependents facing challenges that may impact work performance and well-being.