Years of planning and progress has led to the implementation of the Student Success Mentorship Program for Capital University students. The program has reached a new phase that began this fall semester. The program entails first-year students to meet with a peer advisor weekly to help ease the transition the first year of college can bring.
The Student Success Mentorship Program has been in the building stages for some time and now, in its fifth semester, is beginning its full pilot with students.
The idea for the program began when Capital started looking to build on its strategic plan from 2009-10 academic year. One of the objectives in the plan was to find ways to enhance student life at Capital.
Jody Fournier, associate provost, specified the problem and said, “the university needed to do a better job at identifying barriers to student success and eliminate that barrier.”
Capital then applied for the John N. Gardner Institute’s Foundation of Excellence program. The Foundation of Excellence program focuses on improving first-year experiences and student retention rates at accepted universities and colleges.
A year-long study was conducted in which Gardner looked at every class syllabus, school policy, and office-student interactions. There were 150 individuals that participated in the study, including students, faculty, staff, families, alumni, and high school counselors with connections to Capital.
After the study, committees were formed that analyzed the results in the study finding some strong areas as well as some redundancies.
“Out of the study, we created 146 action items to improve different aspects of the university,” Fournier said. “We narrowed it down to nine to start, with first-year student success being one of them.”
A student success committee was formed with members of the university at the director level and above. The committee meets on a bi-weekly basis to discuss barriers that are preventing students from becoming successful.
In the past, if a student had a semester in which his or her GPA fell below a 2.0, the student would be put on academic suspension and probation.
“The expectation then was that by taking a semester away from school, the student could clear any barriers preventing their success and come back to continue and complete his or her education,” Fournier said.
In order to improve on this policy, the University created a student success manager program to train Capital University staff to work with students one-on-one to overcome his or her barriers.
“Formerly, the student would be suspended,” Fournier said. “Now, the student will self-identify their barriers, write an essay regarding the barriers, and based on that, create goals and sub-goals to accomplish with the help of a student success manager.”
Every semester since the program was implemented, there were 30 students that participated who consistently were taken off the probation list because their GPA had risen significantly.
“Due to the success we had, the objective then became to address the potential barriers at the start before problems began for incoming students,” Fournier said.
Based on research at Capital and at schools nationwide, it was determined that the two most sensitive student populations are first-generation students and students with high financial needs.
At the start of this semester, all first-generation incoming students were invited to participate in the program. Upperclassmen were then enlisted and trained to serve as student success managers for these first-year students.
“We brought in seniors and juniors to serve as success managers under experienced staff supervision because research has shown that students respond better to peer advice,” Fournier said.
Senior Brooke Baldwin is one of the students that serve as a Success Mentor and has found the experience to be a positive one.
“It is a good opportunity for upperclassmen to get a chance to impact first-year students and help them get off on the right foot,” Baldwin said.
Due to the program being in its early stages , it will be tough to determine the results until the end of the semester.
“We’re excited to see the results of the program at the end of the semester,” Fournier said. “The student participation and feedback have all been good so far.”
First-year student Hally Shah, believes she is benefiting from the program.
“It has been great to have access to Brooke [my mentor] so I can get help with anything and everything,” Shah said.
The proactive program will be running through each academic year annually with first-year students. Fournier aims for the program to continue to grow each year.
“Next year we want to involve students with high financial needs into the program,” Fournier said. “Ultimately, the goal is to have this program offered to all incoming students within three years.”
The program will be used as a companion piece with Cap 101, the online six-week program that serves as a pre-orientation for incoming students. Cap 101 gives students information about certain offices and resources that will help them be successful before moving onto campus.
“So far, mentors interacting with incoming students through Cap 101 have been really successful,” Fournier said. “The students that participated in the program have turned everything around and are now thriving as a result of the program.”
As the program expands, Fournier said he hopes to see its success continue.
