TSTC: mentoring from start to finish
(RED OAK, Texas) – Texas State Technical College recognizes mentorship as an important part of a student’s experience in college and provides resources from when they enroll all the way to when they join the workforce.
When a student first applies to TSTC, their first point of contact is their enrollment coach, and their support is continuous throughout the student’s time at TSTC.
“Enrollment coaches play an integral role in helping students achieve their goals,” Megan Redmond, assistant director of Enrollment Management at TSTC, said. “My goal is to give students the confidence to navigate life as a college student, but (also in) life after TSTC.”
Kara Greener, another enrollment coach at TSTC’s North Texas campus, said the most important resource that enrollment coaches provide students with is constant encouragement.
“Beyond all the duties that we do as coaches, being our students’ cheerleaders is one of the most invaluable resources we provide,” she said. “Some students choose to come here with no support from their family and friends, but they will get the support from us.”
For students in performance-based education (PBE) courses who are taking courses primarily online and at their own pace, TSTC offers PBE mentors as yet another resource.
Justin Cleaver, the PBE mentor for TSTC’s North Texas campus, said a PBE mentor’s job is to build relationships with the students, introduce them to resources, and ultimately to make sure that they stay on course for graduation.
“Performance-based education is a relatively new concept for a lot of our students,” he said. “They can be right out of high school, where they have been using the same traditional method of learning for the last 12 years, or someone who has not been in a school setting for a long time and is coming back for more education in an unfamiliar way. There are a lot of ins and outs to this learning model, and people sometimes need someone to help make sense of it all. This is where PBE mentors thrive — we bridge the gap between students and learning.”
Provost of the North Texas campus, Marcus Balch, said that at TSTC mentorship comes in many forms, from both staff and faculty.
“Whether it’s in the form of an enrollment coach or a PBE mentor working outside of class with a student on a specific challenge, or a faculty member working with a student inside the laboratory, both are equally important to the success and ultimately job placement of the student,” he said.
Balch emphasized the importance of mentorship and the impact it can leave.
“I’d venture to say that along the way, most of us have received help, guidance or assistance from those that have gone before us,” he said. “Personally, I can point to a mentor or two that I wouldn’t be where I am today without. Our goal here at TSTC is to make sure that each of our students find this value here, with us, before they enter into the next phase of their journey.”
For more information on TSTC, go to tstc.edu.
