Shirelle Washington

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I really enjoyed learning strategies to help retain students. Now I feel more confident with different approaches that can used in the admissions process, during orientation, in the classroom and through Career Services. It takes a whole team of staff and academics to save students who are at-risk.

Shirelle Washington

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Retention Starts at Orientation

People usually don't focus on retention until the student has already been acclimated and a issue arises. The importance of having retention-related activities during orientation is crucial. Our orientation incorporates bonding activities like bingo (getting to know each other), guess the number of candies in a jar (with your group)and social time when we serve small snacks. However, we lack the continuation of getting students oriented. We need to get out of the mind-set that orientation is just a one day event/program.