TRIO! Can this Rock Valley College program help you?

ROCK VALLEY COLLEGE – Do you find yourself wishing you had help with class scheduling? Want to learn about what must be done to graduate or have someone to talk about life with? This program at Rock Valley College might be able to help.

TRIO offers services to first-generation/low-income students or students with disabilities. If you fall under any of those categories and meet the program’s eligibility requirements you can apply to TRIO.

One of the many services that TRIO offers is to help create a plan for academic success while at Rock Valley. The program allows students to meet individually with a success coach or one of the coordinators to chat about their class schedules.

“With TRIO, we have the opportunity, because we only serve a limited number of students, to actually sit down with you and have a conversation. What are areas of concern for you? Is math a weak spot? Or maybe science or writing is. We can sit down with you and say, ‘Okay, if these are areas that you need to work on, then let’s not pair it with something super heavy or super intense,’” said Ashli Horneij, a TRIO Project Coordinator.

TRIO students are not on their journey alone. Students receive guidance and support from the program to ensure a successful academic career while at Rock Valley.

“The way that we do that is when you’re in the program, it’s actually a requirement to meet with your TRIO success coach or one of the coordinators several times a semester so that we can take a look at your classes and make sure that they’re going okay,” Horneij said. “If they’re not going okay, we make adjustments to future classes.”

The TRIO program offers more than just class-related services. TRIO will try to impact students’ lives in any helpful way they can.

“Those things that go into getting an education that really have nothing to do with the education, the barriers outside, whether it’s personal circumstances, food insecurities, housing insecurities, that’s where I think we have the most impact with our students. Because you know, in order to be successful and to get an education, you have to feel confident in all aspects of your life. I truly believe that,” said Catherine Buerger, a TRIO Project Coordinator.

TRIO administrators strive to impact the lives of their students within and outside the classroom while trying to make their students feel welcomed and cared for.

Catherine Buerger said, “I think for us it’s just we’re real you know, like it’s about getting to know our students, being real with our students. We’re all human, right? We all have stuff in our own backgrounds that I think help us relate to our students.”

TRIO aims to relate to their students, so they can better understand what the student is going through. By understanding better, TRIO looks to help and resolve the situation.

Buerger said, “Whether we ourselves fall into one of those categories and can relate in that way, or just being relatable to our students. Knowing that it’s okay if you have a rough semester, it’s okay things suck for a minute, it doesn’t mean that you’re failing or that you’re doing horrible. It means none of that. It just means that life happens, and I think that’s one of the things that our whole TRIO department really try to do is just meet our students at where they’re at and not try to force a situation or circumstance on them that might you know be different than what they need.”

“When I started at Rock Valley at first, I didn’t know about TRIO until someone else introduced me to TRIO, Rock Valley College alum and administrative assistant with TRIO, Darling Garcia said. “They helped me a lot. They helped plan my schedule and degree.”

If you’re an incoming Golden Eagle or current student, Darling encourages you to apply if eligible.

“They should apply because it will help them with their career here at Rock Valley and help them succeed,” Garcia said.

To learn more about the program’s eligibility requirements and to apply, visit here.