She is 48 years old, hearing impaired and studying to be a nurse
at Gavilan College. When she couldn’t hear the heartbeats of the
patients she was assisting, Gavilan’s Trio program purchased a
stethoscope that amplified the beats and allowed her to fully
participate in the nursing program. This is just one of the ways
the college’s Trio program helps students on campus achieve their
goals.
Gilroy – She is 48 years old, hearing impaired and studying to be a nurse at Gavilan College. When she couldn’t hear the heartbeats of the patients she was assisting, Gavilan’s Trio program purchased a stethoscope that amplified the beats and allowed her to fully participate in the nursing program. This is just one of the ways the college’s Trio program helps students on campus achieve their goals.
Meet Dianna Voegele.
“It levels the playing field,” Voegele explained.
Trio was born in 1965 under Title IV of the federal Higher Education Act, but only appeared on Gavilan’s campus in 2001. The program was named in the late 1960’s because it was a combination of three federal programs – Upward Bound, Student Special Services and Talent Search – all designed to help disadvantaged students succeed in higher education.
“We have students who live in cars, who live with friends, who live with their aunts,” said program director Fabio Gonzalez. “They’re not your typical college students. They come from challenging backgrounds who don’t only have to prove (success) to just themselves, but to all of society.”
Trio services 160 students annually at Gavilan, the majority of whom are low-income and first generation college students. Disabled students such as Voegele, may also qualify for Trio.
Gavilan’s financial aid, admissions and counseling departments recommend the program to eligible students.
There are three main components of Trio: Academic counseling, tutoring and technology support. Students receive tutorial and counseling support free, as well as access to laptops and calculators. There is also a lending library where students can borrow text books for a semester.
Trio students are also taken on college visits during the summer and school year, and receive help filling out financial aid forms. But perhaps the most important aspect of Trio is the community support system.
“One of the best things is knowing that (the Trio staff) is there if I need them,” Voegele said. Earlier this year, when she was going through a rough patch in her personal life, she went to the Trio office for help.
“It was a place I could go to talk,” she explained.
Trio forms a network of people who will not forget about you and who will not let you fall through the cracks.
“We focus a lot on continuous follow-ups with our students,” Gonzalez said. The Trio staff sends its students e–mails, calls them at home, and requires students to visit the office four to five times per semester. They must submit mid-term report cards to the Trio office and maintain a 2.0 Grade Point Average to stay in the program.
“Gender and ethnicity tend not to be a good predictor of persistence,” Gavilan’s director of research Terrence Willett explained in a March interview. Better factors include age and relationship with a support system, he said.
Persistence is defined as re–enrollment in the college, Willett said. Often times, students may have to take a semester off to return to work and later return to the college to complete their degree or transfer.
“Younger students are more at risk, students that don’t have contact with a support service, first generation college students or students coming from a less economically advantaged family” are also factors, he said.
In 2001, Willett performed a persistence experiment. He predicted a group of students who would not re–enroll at the school and separated them into two groups. Willett had faculty and administration call one group throughout the semester to see if they would return to Gavilan – 72 percent did. Less than half of the group who did not receive a call re-registered.
“Just a simple phone call from a college staff member had a significant impact,” Willett explained. Knowing you are accountable to someone can make a difference in a student graduating and a student from dropping out.
“It kind of makes you hold up your end of the bargain,” Voegele said.
Gavilan’s persistence rate of Trio students is 96 percent. Their target rate is 65 percent. And 94 percent are in good academic standing.
Last summer, Gavilan reapplied for the federal grant to continue its program. More than 1,200 applications were submitted, and only 800 were funded. For funding to be granted, schools must meet or exceed their persistence, graduation and transfer goals, in addition to being in areas with a demonstrated need for financial assistance.
Gavilan discovered its program was one of the lucky 800 last month. The school will receive $235,689 every year for the next four years, a 3 percent increase from 2000 when they first applied for the grant.
The funding commit ensures the Trio program can leave the door to their office wide open for students in need.
“That’s a policy we have here,” Gonzalez said. Students only leave the Trio program by graduating, transferring to a university or dropping out. But Trio doesn’t focus on dropping out.
“We call them our kids,” Gonzalez said. “And we’re trying to take care of them the best we can to either transfer or graduate.”
