Student Success coaches help people navigate college

Robin Nelson was 55 years old in 2016 when he decided it was time to go to college. He had had issues with various addictive substances in the past, but had been clean and sober for about 10 years.

"I wanted to do something positive. I wanted to give back," Nelson said.

Nelson, who was born and raised in Aurora, graduated from Waubonsee Community College in May 2018 with an associate in applied science in human services. In September, he earned the Alcohol and Drug Counseling Certificate from the state of Illinois. He is now working toward an Associate in Arts in Social Work.

Shortly after he registered for his first classes at Waubonsee, he received an email from the college telling him that he was eligible to participate in the Connect4Success Program. Before his first class in the fall 2016 semester, Nelson was connected to Iris Castellanos, a Student Success Coach.

The C4S Program gives students the opportunity to work with a Student Success Coach, who helps students navigate the administrative and procedural business of college. Not all students know about all of the resources available to them and, because of this, they often don't know what questions to ask. Student Success Coaches point students to resources like academic tutoring, counseling and advising, financial aid and scholarships.

"When I got the email, I thought I might as well accept all the help I can get. Iris helped in setting the path and locating resources I needed," Nelson said.

This is exactly why Waubonsee has the C4S Program and a team of Student Success Coaches. The coaches want to help people.

"It's been great working with Robin. It's difficult for some students to ask for help. Robin was not that way. He knew what he wanted (to do well in college); he just didn't know all the ways to get there. He told me he wanted the help and he took it," said Castellanos.

An article in December 2018 in The Chronicle of Higher Education points out that college students today have remarkably different challenges than they had as recently as just 10 years ago.

In this article, Sara Goldrick-Rab and Jesse Stommel make the point that today's college students "are the most overburdened and undersupported in American history."

They offer some data points:

• More than 25 percent of college students have a child.

• Almost 75 percent of college students work.

• More than 50 percent receive a Pell Grant, which is often not enough to pay for college.

• Many students have to use their student loans to help support their parents.

Goldrick-Rab and Stommel say that higher education must "begin with a consideration of what we value, the kinds of relationships we want to develop with students ... In other words, the work of higher education - as with all education - has to begin with a deep respect for students."

This is why Waubonsee's Connect4Success Program exists and is so successful.

C4S is a federally-funded Title V Grant program that provides free one-on-one academic coaching for eligible students who need personalized academic support.

Students are paired with a Student Success Coach who supports them individually during their time at Waubonsee. Since it began in 2016, the program at Waubonsee has had more than 900 participants. To be eligible to participate in the program, a student must meet at least one of these three criteria:

• be enrolled in two or more developmental courses;

• be eligible for a Pell Grant;

• be nonwhite or non-Asian.

The C4S Program helps students learn time management and study skills, as well as how to navigate the complex and often-intimidating world of college processes.

While at Waubonsee, Nelson was awarded two scholarships from the Waubonsee Community College Foundation. He's an honor student and a member of Phi Theta Kappa. He's already putting his education and experience to work for good. He has completed internships with Transitional Alternative, Incorporated and with the Gateway Foundation.

He was offered a job at the Gateway Foundation while interning there and works there today, helping people with substance use disorders and mental health disorders.

He plans to transfer to Aurora University in the fall of 2019 and continue studying social work and go on to earn a master's degree.

"Because I've been through it, I have a lot of empathy for people," he said.

Nelson credits Castellanos and the C4S Program with helping him succeed.

"She's been instrumental in my success here. I'd have been pretty lost without this program. I didn't know what classes I needed or anything else. It was really cool to have someone to help," Nelson said.

Nelson and Castellanos were recognized as representatives of the C4S Program by the college's board of trustees at its January meeting as a Student Success: Institutional Story.