Success coaches help students achieve goals

Published 8:05 pm Saturday, December 20, 2014

College Success Coach Laura Clark provides tips about money management to students during a group coaching session on the Franklin campus. Students, from left, are: Brittany Cross, Porschia Lee, Yvette Gatling, Jenna Johnson and Leny Maldonado. Franklin sessions are titled “Tuesday Talks,” and Suffolk’s are called “Campus Conversations.”

College Success Coach Laura Clark provides tips about money management to students during a group coaching session on the Franklin campus. Students, from left, are: Brittany Cross, Porschia Lee, Yvette Gatling, Jenna Johnson and Leny Maldonado. Franklin sessions are titled “Tuesday Talks,” and Suffolk’s are called “Campus Conversations.”

The Students Transitioning through Education Programs Successfully initiative is helping students stay focused on their goals at Paul D. Camp Community College. The program was developed by PDCCC in alignment with Virginia Community Colleges Chancellor’s College Success Coach Initiative.

“The purpose of the program is to increase the number of students who graduate with associate degrees, earn career certificates or transfer to other higher education institutions,” said college success coach Laura Clark. Clark works on the Franklin Campus, while Sandra Walker serves as a success coach on the Hobbs Suffolk Campus. Jamie Dodd is the program specialist.

The program encourages and empowers students to achieve personal, academic and career goals by identifying and accessing on- and off-campus resources.

Email newsletter signup

“Services provided through this program are free,” said Walker. “We offer one-on-one coaching, group coaching sessions on a number of topics, scholarship applications assistance, financial aid literacy and much more.”

The program was recognized as a 2014 Excellence in Education Award finalist at the Virginia Community College System’s New Horizons Conference in several categories, including Best Practices in Teaching Face-to-Face, Online and Student Success; and Improving Student Success — Institutional.

For more information about the program, visit www.pdc.edu/success.