2008 Woodie Awards
Surviving the semester
Getting involved promotes academic achievement
Mary Lochner - The Northern Light
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Back-to-school excitement hums in the air like a hallelujah chorus. Exuberant department-store sales herald the season. New clothes, new books, new gadgets, new shoes: they fly off the shelves to roost in our homes. It's beginning to feel almost like Christmas. On the first day of school, college students are ready to ring in the new semester.
But on the last day of the fall 2006 semester, a significant minority will likely have failed or withdrawn from their courses. Others will receive Ds and Cs. Even many of those with at least a 3.0 GPA will feel ready to ring in the real holiday season by collapsing into an exhausted heap.
From 1998 to 2003, 16 percent of attempted undergrad courses at UAA terminated in withdrawal, audit, or failing or non-passing grades, according to the university's Office of Institutional Planning, Research and Assessment. The overall undergraduate population had an 8 percent likelihood of withdrawing from, and a 7 percent likelihood of failing, a course.
However, more than half of undergrad courses had a happy ending, with As and Bs comprising 53 percent of all grades issued to UAA undergrads.
"Getting involved is the key," said Tafilisaunoa "Tafi" Toleafoa, a junior in liberal studies with a minor in anthropology.
Toleafoa is a volunteer peer counselor and student government senator. He said many student activities have minimum GPA requirements that act as incentives to do well in school.
"Your mind is set to, 'I'm not gonna let go of this,'" he said. "'Now I'm a member and it's my academics that will make me stay in this.'"
Carol Montgomery, mental-health nurse practitioner and associate director of Student Health Services, agreed.
"It's important to be involved in something beyond yourself," she said, "where you're connected with something that has purpose and meaning."
Montgomery said under-involvement could endanger students' academic success when they're far from home.
"We have a lot of students from rural Alaska and out-of-state," she said. "It may be their first time away from home or away from a village."
Montgomery said homesick students might seem lonely or sad, frequently call home, or spend time e-mailing or in chat rooms instead of doing homework.
But any student can be at risk when they don't connect with university communities.
"If you don't find a way to get involved," said Dawn Dooley, director of Residence Life, "you're isolated, staying in your room alone. We offer free programs every night of the week, and resident and peer advisers. But you can choose not to take advantage of those things. So you can feel isolated and alone."
Using student resources on campus is another strategy for achieving a semester with a happy ending.
"The first thing is meet with an adviser," said Dooley. "Get tutoring, get involved in study groups. Ask for help. Any faculty should be able to direct you to the resources you need."
Dooley said an important resource for first-time students is the course Guidance 150: College Survival Skills. The three-credit course has nine sections offered in the North Hall dormitory, in addition to sections in regular classrooms.
Resources for students also include the Dean of Students Office, the Learning Resources Center, multicultural academic support services like AHAINA and Natives Student Services, and various support systems within degree programs.
For many students, academic achievement means keeping both eyes on the prize.
Kim Patterson is director of UAA Student Support Services, a program that helps low-income students, students who are the first in their families to go to college, and students with disabilities. Patterson uses research findings on predictors of college students' academic achievement to help students in the program.
He said positive self-concept and realistic self-appraisal are important predictors for finishing a degree program.
"A lot of students who come through our program don't feel they can finish a degree program, typically because their parents didn't," Patterson said. Student Support Services faculty mentor their students to reinforce that, while it may mean developing new skills, students have the ability to finish their degrees.
"Realistic self-appraisal is understanding your strengths and weaknesses," Patterson said. "You have a realistic understanding of the degree program, so when you get to those killer courses, you don't bail. You persevere, get tutoring and mentoring. Whereas some students say, 'I didn't know this was coming. I'm out, I guess I won't be a nurse or a doctor.'"
Some students arrive at semester's end achieving less than they aimed for because they never got the help they needed or got it when it was too late.
"It's hard for all of us to ask for help," Dooley said. "It's hard to admit we don't have the answer."
Dooley said students should feel comfortable asking university faculty for aid in finding needed resources.
"I think everyone who works on this campus would rather a student ask for help, than wait till it's too late or they've had an unsuccessful semester or left the university," she said.