{"id":489,"date":"2016-09-03T11:31:52","date_gmt":"2016-09-03T16:31:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rctc.edu\/echo\/?p=489"},"modified":"2025-09-23T13:49:45","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T19:49:45","slug":"opinion-path-to-success-is-never-walked-alone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rctc.edu\/echo\/opinion-path-to-success-is-never-walked-alone\/","title":{"rendered":"Opinion: Path to success is never walked alone"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Three

Nationally, more than 30 percent of students who enter college will drop out during the first year. RCTC has several programs in place to prevent you from becoming one of them. (Echo Photo by Abigail Furutani)<\/p><\/div>\n

Take a selfie with two of your friends.<\/p>\n

Now keep that photo on your cellphone as reminder. Odds are, one of you won\u2019t be here by spring. Nationally, more than 30 percent of students who enter college will drop out during the first year.<\/p>\n

Our plea to you is to make sure that you\u2019re not one of the students who leaves RCTC before the school year ends. And as you work on your personal success, don\u2019t forget about your friends beside you in the picture.<\/p>\n

From Welcome Day, held five days before the first day of school, to Student Success Day, which is held every semester, RCTC has a vested interest in helping you succeed. The college flourishes when students return the following semester.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a win-win-win outcome. Students expand their opportunities. Your future employer gets a well-trained and well-educated employee. And RCTC builds on its prestige as an education institution.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re off to an impressive start as more than 900 students attended Student Success Day, which offers a buffet of 40 relevant topics, such as \u201cTest Anxiety\u201d to \u201cHow to Write a Fast Paper Without Trying So Hard\u201d to foster academic achievement and \u201cThe Path to Purple\u201d to offer guidance for transferring skills. Practical workshops such as \u201cHow to Secure a Scholarship\u201d and \u201c7 Steps to Financial Peace\u201d help students with life skills.<\/p>\n

The assistance continues year-round. RCTC\u2019s Academic Support Center offers one-on-one and drop-in tutoring. It also provides services for disabled and multicultural students. The Comprehensive Learning Center, on the third floor of the Atrium, offers help with reading, writing, math and computer applications. Five years ago, RCTC started the First Year Experience, a one-credit course designed for at-risk students, many of whom are the first in their families to attend college.<\/p>\n

And don\u2019t think no one will notice if you fall behind. Faculty members are regularly reminded by email to use an online tool to notify administrators about students who are struggling or attending classes sporadically. The goal is to intervene before a student has no choice but to withdraw from class.<\/p>\n

The message is clear: You don\u2019t have navigate the path to graduation by yourself. The faculty and staff are with you every step of the way.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, it\u2019s up to you to seek out help when you need it. And while you\u2019re doing that, keep an eye out for your friends.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because you have a date to take another selfie with your besties wearing caps and gowns at graduation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Take a selfie with two of your friends. Now keep that photo on your cellphone as reminder. Odds are, one of you won\u2019t be here by spring. Nationally, more than 30 percent of students who enter college will drop out during the first year. Our plea to you is to make sure that you\u2019re not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rctc.edu\/echo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rctc.edu\/echo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rctc.edu\/echo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rctc.edu\/echo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rctc.edu\/echo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rctc.edu\/echo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rctc.edu\/echo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rctc.edu\/echo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rctc.edu\/echo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}