Last updated on October 8, 2019
What are your plans for the future?
What are you doing after graduation?
What do you want to be when you grow up?
Does this sound like your version of a haunted house? It’s okay if it does – but it doesn’t have to. If you’re feeling overwhelmed and could use some guidance, contact us through the Journey to Success program. We’ll match you up with a success coach to help define your goals and break them up into smaller, more manageable and, perhaps most importantly, less scary pieces.
What’s a Success Coach?
All of our success coaches are DCCCD employees who have received training on how to be effective coaches and are volunteering their time specifically to help students like you. It’s one thing to know where you’re starting and where you want to end up, but, much like a GPS, a success coach can help fill in any gaps and provide you with a more specific route. Like you, they also have goals – and one of them is to help provide you with the tools you need to succeed.
Make Your Goals Seem More Manageable
It’s not usually helpful to have one big, daunting goal – most people respond better to multiple short-term goals. Having several short-term goals can help you achieve a sense of accomplishment much earlier in your college career and encourage you to continue along your path.
Keep in mind: a success coach won’t do your work for you. But they can definitely help you improve your study habits and organize your life so that you can do things like identify and overcome challenges and create plans to effectively balance your schedule.
What Kinds of Things Can a Success Coach Do for Me?
Along with providing general support and encouragement, success coaches can help you with some of the following:
- Free student services
- Grant and scholarship information
- Library resources
- Counseling referrals
- Study skills
- Time management
How Do I Request a Success Coach?
There are two ways to get a success coach through DCCCD:
- You can be recommended by a professor. If your professor is taking part in Journey to Success and identifies you as someone who could use help to overcome obstacles to success, he or she will submit your name to your college’s Journey to Success coordinator. The coordinator will assign a success coach, who will contact you by email or telephone.
- At many colleges, you can request to be in Journey to Success. If your professor does not submit your name but you feel you would benefit by having a success coach, you may ask your college’s Journey to Success success coach coordinator to assign you a success coach. The success coach will then contact you by email or telephone.
Note: Participation in Journey to Success comes at no cost to you and is voluntary. Each college manages its own program, so you should also be aware that there may be some differences between each campus. On some campuses, an instructor referral may be required.
You should also make sure your official records in eConnect have up-to-date phone numbers and email addresses so your success coach will be able to reach you. (You can check and update your contact information by logging in to eConnect and clicking on the “Change Email Address” and “Update Phone Numbers” links under My Personal Information.)
Lastly, Journey to Success coaches will not replace your instructors or the free tutoring that is available at your college. Instead, the Journey to Success program addresses those areas that are beyond the scope of the classroom.
Not interested in Journey to Success, but think you might be in need of other college services?
- Your college’s Career Center can help you direct your interests and skills into a professional career.
- The Academic Advising office can assist you in creating an educational plan that will guide you through future semesters.