SMYRNA -- Motlow Smyrna’s husband-and-wife team Brian and Veronica Mitchell hosted a TASSR
on the Go (Tennessee Association for Student Success and Retention) event
on April 20 to help Reconnect
students achieve their college dreams.
The event, which drew faculty and staff
from six community colleges and universities, focused on the tips and tricks
necessary to help Reconnect students successfully engage into the college
environment.
Nancy
Pevey, the mathematics dean for Pellissippi State Community College, Skyped
in to discuss PSCC’s Reconnect experiences so far. Although the program
officially starts next fall, PSCC used its own foundation funds to start the
process a year early, opening the door to more than 900 students who fell into
the Reconnect category.
Pevey said limited time is one of the
major challenges Reconnect students face. How do students find the time to
work, attend their classes, do all of the classwork, take care of their
families, and try to squeeze a bit of sleep in there? Child care is another big
issue facing Reconnect students. However, Pevey add that PSCC’s Reconnect
students were often flexible and dedicated, traits that will help guide them
toward success.
Dr. Talia Koronkiewicz, the assistant
vice president for Student Services at Volunteer State Community College
pointed out that college education is not something reserved to a small group
of dedicated students. It is a necessity. Within a few years, most jobs in this
country will not only require post-secondary education but also a
post-secondary degree.
According to Koronkiewicz, as adult
students strive to advance themselves in the workforce, the most difficult
obstacle for success is retention. Academic institutions will need to focus on
ensuring that these adult students have the skills and support to make it all
the way to graduation.
Motlow State Student Success Coach and
Adjunct Mathematics Professor Veronica Mitchell noted that as more adult
students enter the classroom, educators may have to think outside the box in
terms of keeping them engaged. Adult students may not be the first in line to
participate in class discussions, but they want to be involved. They have life
experiences that they want to share. Those life experiences have also most
likely led them to build the critical thinking skills necessary to understand
why it is necessary to write papers or to take history classes or to learn
sine, cosine and tangent, because the knowledge of those concepts will actually
be used in life.
Still, a limitation educators may face
with incoming Reconnect students is in the form of technology. Online and web-enhanced
classes demand that students not only do the coursework but know the D2L
technology necessary to be successful.
Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam’s
education platform opened the door to the Drive to 55 Program, an initiative
dedicated to increase the number of Tennesseans with a postsecondary degree or
certificate to 55 percent by 2025. This will ensure that more Tennesseans are
better equipped with the skills and credentials needed to support the state’s
economy from here forward. This started with Tennessee Promise, a program that
made it possible for huge numbers of high school students to go directly into
the community college or TCAT system. But on the horizon is Tennessee Reconnect,
which focuses on adult students 24 and older who strive to obtain a college
degree.
Fall 2018 will be a time of change as Motlow
Smyrna takes that big step forward with the start of Reconnect. Classes will be
even more diverse, filled with folks of all ages, cultures, races,
socioeconomic statuses who are all focusing on that same goal-walking across
the stage at graduation. Motlow State is up for the challenge and will
definitely be a major player in helping reach the governor’s Drive to 55 goal.
