{"id":28134,"date":"2019-11-13T10:00:27","date_gmt":"2019-11-13T16:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/?p=28134"},"modified":"2019-11-13T00:44:58","modified_gmt":"2019-11-13T06:44:58","slug":"austin-peay-state-university-college-possible-partner-to-embed-near-pear-success-coaches-on-campus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/2019\/11\/13\/austin-peay-state-university-college-possible-partner-to-embed-near-pear-success-coaches-on-campus\/","title":{"rendered":"Austin Peay State University, College Possible partner to embed near-pear success coaches on campus"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AustinClarksville, TN<\/strong> – Hampton Freeman, a student success coach embedded at Austin Peay State University (ASPU), said it takes about 10 minutes for students to relax and trust him.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they come in, they\u2019ll put their bookbag down very neatly and make sure they\u2019re sitting up straight,\u201d he said. \u201cThen later, I\u2019ll notice them scooting back, crossing their legs, and you can just see from their posture, they\u2019re comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Aubrey<\/a>

Aubrey Lewis, Hampton Freeman, DeNesha Bell and Edward Greer on the Austin Peay State University campus. (APSU)<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

That comfort likely comes from the fact that Freeman, a May 2019 APSU graduate, is only three or four years older than the students he helps. Four months after earning his undergraduate degree, he returned to campus to guide Pell-eligible and first-generation college students through rough patches in their academic careers.<\/p>\n

Freeman and three other student success coaches are now living on campus, advising 480 freshmen on everything from how to register for classes to how to relax after a stressful exam.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tell my students I\u2019m a mentor; I don\u2019t want you to look at me as an adviser because that\u2019s not my job,\u201d DeNesha Bell, a success coach, said. \u201cI\u2019m more of a mentor, guiding you, giving you advice on college and how to get through it since I recently graduated. You\u2019re not talking to someone who\u2019s 10-plus years removed telling you how to navigate things.\u201d<\/p>\n

The four coaches are AmeriCorps volunteers, and they arrived on campus this year thanks to a new partnership between Austin Peay State University and College Possible, a national nonprofit that connects high school and college students with success coaches close to their age. The nonprofit calls these coaches \u201cnear-peer mentors.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018We look for some history of innovation\u2019<\/h3>\n

\"College<\/a><\/p>\n

In 2016, College Possible launched Catalyze, an initiative to improve student success and retention through near-peer coaching. According to the nonprofit, only 12 percent of college students from low-income backgrounds earn a degree, compared to 58 percent of students from high-income backgrounds. Between 2017 and 2018, College Possible noticed an increase in retention rates at schools with near-peer mentors. During the last academic year, 92 percent of the program\u2019s fall participants returned for the spring semester.<\/p>\n

This successful model attracted the attention of Dr. Loretta Griffy, APSU associate vice president for student success, because in 2018, 48 percent of Austin Peay State University students were eligible for Pell grants and 29 percent were first-generation college students. Last year, Griffy invited College Possible representatives to campus to see if the University would be a good fit for the Catalyze program.<\/p>\n

[320left]\u201cWe are not partnering with every school that reaches out to us,\u201d Jeron Schmidt, College Possible\u2019s Catalyze Partnership Manager, said. \u201cWe vet partners and look for high numbers of Pell-eligible students. We look for some history of innovation or trying initiatives. APSU has tried several things, but they\u2019ve been unable to scale these programs for a variety of reasons. It was clear they had a desire to improve student success metrics.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two organizations developed a partnership, and over the summer, Griffy and Schmidt identified three recent APSU graduates and one recent University of Cincinnati graduate to serve as Austin Peay\u2019s first near-peer success coaches. The four individuals joined AmeriCorps, the federal government\u2019s voluntary civil service program, and they were sent to College Possible\u2019s Minnesota offices for a week of intense training.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was seven hours a day for a week,\u201d Aubrey Lewis, College Possible success coach, said. \u201cWe talked about student perspectives and how a student might feel, and we talked about culture and how to be inclusive. We talked about crises during that week, and how to take care of ourselves and how to be a great coach.\u201d<\/p>\n

Embedding coaches on APSU Campus<\/h3>\n
\"Dr.<\/a>

Dr. Loretta Griffy<\/p><\/div>\n

For the program to work, the College Possible coaches need to be active members of the Austin Peay State University community. Griffy wanted the four near-peer mentors to become familiar faces on campus so she found them office space in the McReynolds Building and, working with Student Affairs, she secured them on-campus housing at APSU\u2019s Emerald Hills apartments.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want them on campus, interacting with students,\u201d she said. \u201cI think if we don\u2019t have our coaches embedded on campus, both in professional offices and residing on campus, they won\u2019t be visible. We want them to work-out here, go to athletics events, lectures, behave as if they\u2019re part of campus.\u201d<\/p>\n

[320left]Each College Possible coach is assigned about 120 students for them to mentor and develop one-on-one relationships. The purpose is for them to be a visit, phone call or text away whenever a student encounters some sort of barrier.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey want us to be as close to the students as possible,\u201d Edward Greer, College Possible success coach, said. \u201cWe are frequently out and about, talking to students or working with advisers within the colleges we work with.\u201d<\/p>\n

When students meet with their coaches, they get advice and encouragement from someone who was recently in their same situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI give an example of my freshman year, when everything was great,\u201d Bell said. \u201cMy sophomore year, my GPA dropped tremendously. Had I given up, I wouldn\u2019t be sitting here. I just want them to know I\u2019m in their corner. You have another person to vent to or lean on or advocate for you.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clarksville, TN – Hampton Freeman, a student success coach embedded at Austin Peay State University (ASPU), said it takes about 10 minutes for students to relax and trust him. \u201cWhen they come in, they\u2019ll put their bookbag down very neatly and make sure they\u2019re sitting up straight,\u201d he said. \u201cThen later, I\u2019ll notice them scooting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[4439,23,13218,7207,2080,262,512,825,34047,7858,9053,13349],"class_list":["post-28134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community","tag-americorps","tag-apsu","tag-apsu-campus","tag-apsu-students","tag-apsus-mcreynolds-building","tag-austin-peay-state-university","tag-clarksville","tag-clarksville-tn","tag-college-possible","tag-gpa","tag-loretta-griffy","tag-university-of-cincinnati"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4xGYI-7jM","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28134"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28135,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28134\/revisions\/28135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}