At Capital, there are a variety of free resources any student can utilize. For a person who may need help academically, they may use Academic Success.
Academic Success is a program located on the 2nd floor of the Blackmore Library and is dedicated to helping students build their confidence and increase academic performance.
The program is run by Director Bruce Epps and Associate Director Rachael Stroup. Academic Success has 4 key departments: peer tutoring, writing consulting, Supplemental Instruction (SI) and academic coaching.
All sectors of Academic Success are run by student workers who have previously excelled in the course that they tutor.
In the case of Supplemental Instruction, a tutor continues to attend the class in which they are specialized in order to keep their knowledge fresh and best help the students they tutor.
According to the Capital University website, SI was created to combat historically challenging courses through collaborative group study sessions that integrate “‘what to learn’ with ‘how to learn.’”
SI courses provided in the Fall of 2022 include BIOL 151, BUS101, BUS211, CHEM 150, MATH 120, MATH 230, NURSE 326, NURS 327/328 and NURS 365.
Peer tutoring is a resource to assist students in gaining a higher understanding of course concepts, review and preparation for exams. Tutoring also teaches students key skills to learn more effectively.
The writing center provides consultations to assist students through any phase of the writing process. This may include the earliest step of brainstorming and research, all the way to reviewing a final draft of writing for any course.
The fourth sector of Academic Success is academic coaching, which the Capital University website describes as providing students with “one-on-one consultations” in an effort to “enhance their existing study habits and develop more effective study strategies and behaviors.”
Academic Coaches can specifically help students develop time management skills, the ability to efficiently take notes, textbook reading and comprehension, exam preparation and critical thinking.
Whether or not a student is struggling, Academic Success is available to everyone.
Bruce Epps explains, “We’re always looking for those other students who still haven’t connected with us for whatever reason because we know we can be helpful to them.”
“It’s almost like we’re always trying to put ourselves out of business – we’re trying to get students to gain even more knowledge, more confidence, so that they sort of need us less and less as they go along,” Epps said.
New additions to Academic Success include a hybrid model of in-person and virtual sessions, a social media “facelift” and a new scheduling website.
The desire to reach as many students as possible inspired the renewed push to use social media. Rachael Stroup has been leading the efforts, and Academic Success pages can be found as @capusuccess on Instagram and @CapUSuccess on Twitter.
Bruce explains “We’re trying to remind students we’re here and that this is actually a great place for them to be coming.”
If a student is interested in becoming a tutor themselves, the recruitment period is in the spring semester and applications can be found online. Academic Success is looking for students who have “demonstrated a track record of being successful themselves here at Capital.”
Academic Success wishes to get rid of the stigma against reaching out for help and would like to emphasize its services are for everyone, no matter your skill level or background.
The services are completely free, and appointments can be made either through their website or by talking to the receptionist at the reception desk.
