By Raina Burunuskul
Page Editor
Amarillo College offers an array of resources to help its students better succeed in their academic journeys, one of them being access to AC community-assigned Success Coaches who connect with students individually and provide direct support to students to help them make the most out of their time at AC.
Success Coaches are available to students for a broad range of reasons, Business and CIS Success Coach Amber Richardson explains. “A Success Coach is an individual that focuses on student retention and builds relationships with students. Each major or community will have a specific success coach, so every student who falls under that major will be assigned a specific Success Coach. From the time they’re registered for classes until completion, we foster their communication, and try to make them more academically fluent. We focus on retention by helping them build their skills, change some of their belief structures, and make them more confident at school.” Richardson said.
However, several students have reported complications regarding their Success Coach experiences, most revolving around the difficulty or inability to reach their Success Coaches in the first place. Some fail to reach their Success Coaches via direct email or in response to emails sent to them.
Mass Communications Professor Brain Frank experienced his fair share of hiccups when trying to get in contact with a Success Coach on Watermark. “The coaches I attempted to contact are shown to be available through text messages only, so I texted them. The message I received as a reply was “The number you are using to text is not recognized by the institution. Please contact the institution and ask that this number be added to your student record.” Professor Frank said.
However, after inquiring about the issue, he was told that the hiccup was the result of a snag on Watermark’s end. The number listed on Watermark is supposedly exclusive to the service and is available strictly through the Watermark app or website.
Communication issues such as these aren’t new to AC and can be observed throughout several other departments at AC, chief among them being the advising office as a whole. Students are often turned away at the enrollment center after the advising period and told to call or visit again at a much earlier or later time, making a simple task far more convoluted.
It feels as though Amarillo College is inadequately equipped to efficiently handle the sheer number of students seeking guidance at times, likely the result of the understaffing or the high turnover rate. Issues such as these often pose a disservice to students, as they may not get the help they need when they need it, forced to wait longer or jump through more hoops than needed to fix a simple hiccup on their course plan or a major issue with their financial aid.
However, Richardson urges students to take advantage of the resources AC has to offer and not let these complications dissuade them from reaching out to their Success Coaches. “Whenever you’re proactive about using resources, that’s when you’re going to get the best results, but you don’t always have to reach out, Success Coaches are going to reach out to you,” Richardson explains, “A lot of times students don’t respond because they feel as if it’s a disciplinary thing and so that’s why it’s so important that we foster that communication. We care about your graduation, we care about whatever it is success looks like for that student and we’re going to foster that communication.”
The best way to reach your Success Coach is to speak with them directly in person if possible. To find out who your Success Coach is, go to the Student Engagement Portal in AC Connect, more information regarding your Success Coach can be found at https://www.actx.edu/fye/success-coaches.
Leave a Reply