MiraCosta has delivered activities and used approaches that help all students and practitioners actively understand and experience the six success factors. Examples include:
Student Leader Survey:
Administered online by the Student Services Council to student leaders (e.g., members of the Associated Student Government, student ambassadors, peer advisors); solicited input on what students want to know as they start college and what contributes to first semester success; used to inform workshops delivered during Welcome Days (see below).
Welcome Days:
Designed to connect participants to campus one week prior to start of classes and provide them with student-driven information about how to succeed at MiraCosta; have included (1) a series of workshops focused on finding a dream, funding that dream with financial aid and scholarships, and making a plan for that dream with a counselor; (2) informal discussion session with student leaders; (3) formal visit with a counselor; and (4) a campus tour; widely advertised through targeted emails, flyers and bookmarks distributed in the counseling office, a welcome table in the main student services quad, and proactive recruitment by student ambassadors and volunteers at key places on campus.
Mobile Counseling:
Provision of counseling services, including educational planning support, to students waiting in line at different campus offices (e.g., financial aid, admissions); counselors have used tablet devices to offer advising and address academic and career questions that arise while students tap other services — providing both holistic support to learners and raising the visibility and accessibility of the counseling department.
Success Factors Olympics:
Gathered staff from across the Student Services Division at the end of the spring 2015 semester to celebrate and experience the success factors; included activities promoting each factor (e.g., three-legged race for “connected,” department talent show for “valued,” blind-folded obstacle course for “directed”); staff requested the division repeat the event.
For more information on the above activities, contact Alketa Wojcik, MiraCosta College, Vice President, Student Services.
Success Factors Videos:
Designed by a volunteer workgroup of the Student Services Division to raise awareness of the success factor framework among MiraCosta students and educators alike; feature students, faculty, staff, and alumni in short 30 to 60 second clips talking about the experience with the factors; disseminated on the college’s student success website and shared within the division. For more information on the Success Factor’s Videos, contact Jonathan Gomez, MiraCosta College Outreach Coordinator.
Success Factors Banners:
Hanging on light poles across campus, provide a public reminder of MiraCosta’s commitment to student achievement and to “living” the success factors daily on campus; each features a student, faculty, staff, or administrator representing the diversity of MiraCosta, holding a small hand-written sign reinforcing a specific factor.
For more information about Student Support (Re)defined, contact Dr. Darla Cooper.