El Paso Community College (EPCC) recently celebrated the opening of its new First-Year Experience (FYE) Center at the Rio Grande Campus, the latest initiative in its ongoing efforts to support first-time college students, as reported by EPCC News.
The center is designed to provide holistic support through the Early Alert program, academic advising, and coaching, ultimately steering students towards graduation, the fifth such center at EPCC, joining two at the Valle Verde campus, another at Mission del Paso, and one more at the Northwest campus and we learn from the opening event that support structures like advising have already been associated with higher retention and academic standing, according to EPCC's Vice President of Instruction and Workforce Education, Dr. Steven Smith, Dr. Souraya Hajjar, the Rio Grande Campus Dean of Health, Career and Technical Education, Math, and Science, and other administrators were present to launch the center.
"The First Year Experience Center at the Rio Grande Campus is just one example of our commitment to ensuring that every student has access to the resources they need to thrive," Dr. Smith emphasized during the opening, highlighting the institution's dedication to fostering a nurturing academic environment to set students on a path to success, as EPCC News quoted.
The tangible benefits of the FYE advising are reflected in statistics with a twelve percent higher retention rate for those advised by the program, and those students are also six percent more likely to end their semester in good academic standing, which underscores the measurable impact of these resources on student outcomes. The center aims to extend this supportive influence to faculty, encouraging them to utilize the resources to promote student success in their courses, as FYE Coordinator Sandra Lujan highlighted the significant role of faculty in these efforts, according to statements made during the event.
