Eastern Connecticut State University (ECSU) was awarded a three-year grant to support struggling students, the school announced. The Promoting Academically Successful Student (PASS) grant will give the school $50,000 a year for the 2024-2027 academic years.
The program is meant to provide resources for students dealing with academic, personal, financial and social challenges, ECSU stated. All of the students enrolled in PASS are on academic warning or probation. The program can support up to 50 students a year.
The grant is being distributed through ECSU’s Academic Success Center (ASC). It will supplement the school’s Finishing Strong initiative. PASS is part of the state’s Minority Advancement Program.
PASS money will also pay for two peer mentors, teaching materials, studying supplies, and food.
“Right now we have 22 participating students who meet PASS requirements,” said ASC Director Alison Whitcomb in the press release. “[There are] a total of 59 students involved in some way with the Finishing Strong program.”
This money supports existing academic probation services, one-on-one meetings with struggling students, and forming individual academic plans for students that can include tutoring and peer mentoring.
“In our 1-1 meetings with students, we review their academic transcript — what do we need to do to help them to successfully finish the semester? How can we set future goals and manage their academic trajectory?” Whitcomb said.
ECSU students who participate in PASS are also a part of the school’s Finishing Strong program. The Finishing Strong program includes 21 breakfast and early evening sessions, which are supposed to teach students life-balancing skills, motivational strategies and ways to improve their studying habits, according to ECSU’s statement.
“By getting students to commit to attending our Finishing Strong events, we are building a community focused on attaining personal goals and helping each other,” said Assistant Dean of Student Affairs Indira Petoskey in the university’s statement. “When you have to get up early to attend a 6:45 a.m. breakfast, you find you can get a lot of your work done in the morning. It motivates students to use their time wisely and they feel empowered by the results.”
Petoskey runs the Finishing Strong sessions. She is assisted by Giovanni Otieno and Isabella Symington-St. John, who are student peer mentors.
Both Otieno and Symington-St. John have been attending Finishing Strong sessions since their first years at ECSU. Now they are both seniors. Symington-St. John is a biology major, and Otieno double-majors in business administration and economics, according to the press statement.
“It touched my heart… seeing how much this program has helped other students,” Otieno said in the release. “Being a mentor for other students has been a privilege for me. I learn from them just as I hope they are learning from me. Every student is unique. Sometimes they will share their concerns with me when they don’t feel they can speak to faculty or staff.”
Like Otieno, Symington-St. John’s academic career was greatly impacted by the Finishing Strong program.
“I wanted to be part of a community… I thank this program for helping me develop my organizational and interpersonal skills,” Symington-St. John said in the press statement. “When I see familiar faces from the program in other classes or at events, it definitely feels like a community.”
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Well, gee, after being passed through every grade level since kindergarten without being able to read or write, and also with an unearned passing grade, just to maintain graduation rates through highschool, is this really unimaginable? So coddle them some more, expect NO responsibility, throw ever more money at a problem that shouldn’t be happening at the college level and gosh, society is just so great, isn’t it? Oh, and then make HARDWORKING, RESPONSIBILE, TAXPAYING citizens pay the bill too. Yahtzee!