Crowder College Under Resourced Student Support Training
By: Shayla Patrick
Updated: January 31, 2013
NEOSHO, MO.--- For Crowder College freshman, Christin Nichols, enrolling in classes for the first time was a breeze thanks to her support staff.
"It was new, but I kind of was familiarized with it because Upward Bound had put us through that and showed us things that we would see if we came and enrolled to college," states Christin Nichols, Crowder College Freshman.
Nichols is the first in her family to go to college. She's part of a large group of Crowder students who are in the same boat.
"A lot of our students that come here are first generation. So, neither parent has gone to college, they don't understand the steps of the admissions process or how do to go about receiving financial aid," states Wade Williams, Upward Bound Assistant Director.
Today, Crowder support staff began a 2 day exercise focusing on these students.
"Through training's like this, we want to be able to equip ourselves to stress the importance of breaking the cycle, and starting a new cycle and making a better life for themselves," states Williams.
Today's seminar centered around understanding these students' experience. The instructor explained how socio-economic factors might affect a student's perception of education.
"Obviously retention is a big thing. We want our students to not only come to college but we want them to stay and graduate from college, and so we want to equip ourselves with the resources that we can make it a great experience for them," states Williams.
Students say this type of encouragement helps them beat the odds.
"I would have been really lost. I might have taken a year off and then after that I probably would have not even went back, who knows what would have happened in that year," says Nichols.
This is the first time Crowder staff has undergone training like this. Administrators hope it will boost enrollment and help diversify the student body.
"It was new, but I kind of was familiarized with it because Upward Bound had put us through that and showed us things that we would see if we came and enrolled to college," states Christin Nichols, Crowder College Freshman.
Nichols is the first in her family to go to college. She's part of a large group of Crowder students who are in the same boat.
"A lot of our students that come here are first generation. So, neither parent has gone to college, they don't understand the steps of the admissions process or how do to go about receiving financial aid," states Wade Williams, Upward Bound Assistant Director.
Today, Crowder support staff began a 2 day exercise focusing on these students.
"Through training's like this, we want to be able to equip ourselves to stress the importance of breaking the cycle, and starting a new cycle and making a better life for themselves," states Williams.
Today's seminar centered around understanding these students' experience. The instructor explained how socio-economic factors might affect a student's perception of education.
"Obviously retention is a big thing. We want our students to not only come to college but we want them to stay and graduate from college, and so we want to equip ourselves with the resources that we can make it a great experience for them," states Williams.
Students say this type of encouragement helps them beat the odds.
"I would have been really lost. I might have taken a year off and then after that I probably would have not even went back, who knows what would have happened in that year," says Nichols.
This is the first time Crowder staff has undergone training like this. Administrators hope it will boost enrollment and help diversify the student body.
