On the Washburn campus, there is a group of people dedicated to making sure students are able to do better than they currently are, whether that means getting them used to new things on the campus or helping them raise their grades. These people are known as success coaches, and there are five of them in total, with one director and four standard coaches.

“No coaching is the same when it comes to my students, because every student is different; We take a very individualized approach when it comes to students,” said Verlisa Cradle, a success coach at Washburn. “There’s a baseline we do, where we ask: ‘what is your SMART goal, what are some troubles you’re facing, how can we fix those?’ But of course, no coaching is the same.”

Several of the coaches have stated that they tend to work with students every single semester of college, and that they are able to help anywhere from 40 to over 110 students each semester.

“On my caseload so far, I have about 70 students, but on a daily basis, I see 5 or 6,” said Yalitza Gonzalez, one of the success coaches at Washburn. “I had some students who felt like they didn’t belong when they started, like they’d never graduate on time, and then slowly but surely, we worked through all the obstacles.”

The coaching impacts students in various ways, depending on what they were seeking a success coach for, ranging from a boost to their grades and GPA, getting out of Academic Probation or any other school-related issues that they may be having.

According to Valerie Mendoza, the Success Coach Director, the coaches have a shared channel on YouTube containing more information about what they do.

“I try to just meet you where you are and hope to just fill in the gaps and motivate you to do well in class,” said Shanise Brooks, another success coach at Washburn. “It all depends on how you define success; I’ve had students that only improved a letter grade or a few points in GPA, but they’ve made personal growths, I’ve had students go from being on Academic Probation to a 4.0, it’s just how you define it.”