Students find support through JWS Center for Student Success

At the end of the first month of classes, students are continuing to find resources on campus that can help them flourish in their time at Troy. For some students, these resources are instrumental in their success.

When senior Emily Smith arrived at Troy, she quickly found a resource that would support her throughout her college career, and it cost her nothing.

Smith, a senior biomedical sciences major from Selma, Alabama, learned about TRIO Student Support Services through IMPACT and joined during her freshman year. She said the program’s free assistance helped her through college.

“I’m just going to be serious; college is expensive,” Smith said. “When you find a program that is willing to give you free tutoring and free resources to help you out with anything, you should take advantage of that.”

Smith is one of the many students served by the John W. Schmidt (JWS) Center for Student Success, which offers free tutoring, career assistance, TRIO Student Support Services, civic engagement programs and other resources. Smith said some students remain unaware of TRIO, while center employees are working to help students understand the available services and feel comfortable asking for support.

Lauren Cole, executive director of the JWS Center, said much of the center’s foot traffic comes from students visiting the computer lab between classes to print assignments, use a computer or find a place to work. Others visit for tutoring or help identifying the office that can help them with a particular problem.

“Even if we’re not the exact resource, most students feel comfortable coming in and just having a conversation,” Cole said. “We can help connect them. We can help advocate for the student.”

Cole said asking for assistance can be especially difficult for first-generation students who may not have a family member familiar with the college experience.

“If they don’t feel like they have anybody in their life who has been through this experience, they just don’t know who to ask,” Cole said.

Smith said student awareness of TRIO appears to be divided.

“I want to say it's 50-50,” Smith said. “I know a lot of kids who do [know] and they just haven’t taken the time to join, and I know a lot of people who don’t know about TRIO at all.”

Luke Jones, coordinator of student support services with TRIO, said the federally funded program assists eligible first-generation and low-income students, as well as students with documented disabilities. Its services can include tutoring, computer access, printing and school supplies.

“Whatever it is that they need to try and break down that barrier keeping them from being successful, we try to alleviate that pressure while they’re here,” Jones said.

Jones said some students visit for academic assistance, while others need a place to talk, relax or feel connected.

“These students come here looking for a safe place, and we try to provide that safe place for them,” Jones said.

The JWS center is also trying to introduce more first-year students to its services through building tours, classroom presentations and the Trojan Postcard Project. During IMPACT, family members wrote encouraging postcards that are now displayed throughout Eldridge Hall.

After four years with TRIO, Smith said students should take the time to learn what assistance is available and find someone they feel comfortable approaching.

“A really good advisor will get you far,” Smith said. “Once you find that good person who is willing to sit down and talk to you, it really helps.”

Those wanting to pay a visit to TRIO can visit room 109 in the Shackelford Hall Annex. To contact TRIO, call 334-670-5985 or email studentsupportservices@troy.edu.