The Inclusive Excellence Mentoring Program at Northeast State Community College strives to keep students on track academically moving forward in an upside down world of online learning and COVID-19.
“College is challenging,” said Matt Poole, a Success Coach & Lead Mentor of the Inclusive Excellence program at Northeast State. “Anything unknown to anyone will cause you to experience a little bit of anxiety of stress.”
A Success Coach acts as a contact with Tennessee Promise students beginning the college experience. They represent the front line friends available to help students struggling with college life. Issues addressed range from D2L online learning, financial aid, and advising. Success Coaches also provide additional support and direct students where to find support resources such as subject-specific tutoring and academic advising. Tennessee Promise students referred for academic assistance have access to Success Coaches for help.
The most frequent contact comes when faculty issue an early alert notice to the coaches about a student struggling with classwork. Coaches take that information and evaluate the student’s needs. The coaches then contact the student to steer them toward tutoring, academic advising, or other support services best meeting their need.
“When an instructor notices a student is falling behind or not attending class, we reach out to the student to try and figure out what the underlying difficulty is,” said Poole.
Funded via a federal Title III grant, the Inclusive Excellence Program seeks to smooth the transition of new students into college. Students referred for success coaching can also request a peer mentor. That peer mentor provides support throughout the entire academic year as the student needs it.
“Our goal is to make sure they know about all our resources,” said Carla Warner, a new Lead Mentor and Success Coach at Northeast State. “Once they get here, we want to keep our promise to them as a student.”
In the age of COVID, mentors and coaches kept the electronic lines of communications humming. Email, virtual meetings via Zoom, and telephone calls during office hours have remained open for students since last spring. Poole noted, “We’ve seen a ton more referrals from the fall semester, many on just how to navigate online courses and services.”
Warner joined Northeast State earlier this year after working with adult students at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City. She was excited to join the College’s mentorship/success coaching team. She and Poole agreed that students coming straight out of high school feel a little apprehensive about speaking with their instructors.
Poole said the early days of any semester brought questions from students about financial aid. As the semester progressed, success coaches received the early alert notifications from faculty about students facing challenges in the classroom.
The Inclusive Excellence Program peer mentors lead eight to ten Tennessee Promise students throughout the first academic year of their experience at Northeast State. The Peer Mentor relationship begins during the second week of fall classes and ends at the conclusion of the spring semester.
A peer mentor connects with their college peers, faculty, and student support services staff while helping fellow students. A mentor also gets a snazzy T-shirt; a $400 stipend per semester; and the satisfaction of serving the Northeast State community. Mentors-in-training must attend all peer mentor training sessions and events. Mentors also keep their promises with mentees and attend all Inclusive Excellence Program mentor/mentee events.
“A lot of students we call are saying ‘thanks’ for this phone call,” said Poole. “It has been really encouraging to see the number of students we have been able to assist.”
The Inclusive Excellence Mentoring Program at Northeast State Community College strives to keep students on track academically moving forward in an upside down world of online learning and COVID-19.
“College is challenging,” said Matt Poole, a Success Coach & Lead Mentor of the Inclusive Excellence program at Northeast State. “Anything unknown to anyone will cause you to experience a little bit of anxiety of stress.”
A Success Coach acts as a contact with Tennessee Promise students beginning the college experience. They represent the front line friends available to help students struggling with college life. Issues addressed range from D2L online learning, financial aid, and advising. Success Coaches also provide additional support and direct students where to find support resources such as subject-specific tutoring and academic advising. Tennessee Promise students referred for academic assistance have access to Success Coaches for help.
The most frequent contact comes when faculty issue an early alert notice to the coaches about a student struggling with classwork. Coaches take that information and evaluate the student’s needs. The coaches then contact the student to steer them toward tutoring, academic advising, or other support services best meeting their need.
“When an instructor notices a student is falling behind or not attending class, we reach out to the student to try and figure out what the underlying difficulty is,” said Poole.
Funded via a federal Title III grant, the Inclusive Excellence Program seeks to smooth the transition of new students into college. Students referred for success coaching can also request a peer mentor. That peer mentor provides support throughout the entire academic year as the student needs it.
“Our goal is to make sure they know about all our resources,” said Carla Warner, a new Lead Mentor and Success Coach at Northeast State. “Once they get here, we want to keep our promise to them as a student.”
In the age of COVID, mentors and coaches kept the electronic lines of communications humming. Email, virtual meetings via Zoom, and telephone calls during office hours have remained open for students since last spring. Poole noted, “We’ve seen a ton more referrals from the fall semester, many on just how to navigate online courses and services.”
Warner joined Northeast State earlier this year after working with adult students at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City. She was excited to join the College’s mentorship/success coaching team. She and Poole agreed that students coming straight out of high school feel a little apprehensive about speaking with their instructors.
Poole said the early days of any semester brought questions from students about financial aid. As the semester progressed, success coaches received the early alert notifications from faculty about students facing challenges in the classroom.
The Inclusive Excellence Program peer mentors lead eight to ten Tennessee Promise students throughout the first academic year of their experience at Northeast State. The Peer Mentor relationship begins during the second week of fall classes and ends at the conclusion of the spring semester.
A peer mentor connects with their college peers, faculty, and student support services staff while helping fellow students. A mentor also gets a snazzy T-shirt; a $400 stipend per semester; and the satisfaction of serving the Northeast State community. Mentors-in-training must attend all peer mentor training sessions and events. Mentors also keep their promises with mentees and attend all Inclusive Excellence Program mentor/mentee events.
“A lot of students we call are saying ‘thanks’ for this phone call,” said Poole. “It has been really encouraging to see the number of students we have been able to assist.”
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