Coaching vs. Advising

Update on recent goings on:

Mike and I had a very full and social weekend which you can read more about on his blog. We went to a cast party for The Tempest and an engagement party for our friends David and Shannan. We were also randomly super productive as I got measurements for my bridesmaids dress, donated books that I have been meaning to donate for forever, filed our taxes (okay I basically gave Mike all of my info and he did it for me), got my car washed/air in tires, and I also took a yoga class (first class in a long while I've taken that was taught by someone other than me)! I really really need to do that more often. I always carry a lot of tension in my neck/shoulders/hips and I felt SO much better after.

Difference between advising and coaching:

I've been thinking a lot about the differences between my old job and new one. My title used to be  "Academic Advisor" and now is "College Success Coach".  To further confuse you, my degree is in Counseling which focused more on mental wellness than academic success. Obviously, there is a ton of overlap in these areas/titles which can make it easy to transition to different fields, but also frustrating that there is little sense of career 'path' or professional identity. Here are the differences between the two positions (specific to my experiences) as I now see them:

Advisor: focuses on registration, translating academic policies of institution, resource on campus for students that students must seek out, can help students choose major or pursue chosen degree path (institution specific), can refer to other resources on campus, larger caseload (I used to have 250 advisees)

College Success Coach: supports student in all areas of life which could affect academic success including finances (applying for financial aid), transfer planning (many of our students start out at community college and then need help transferring to another institution), major and career development (changing majors/career paths or choosing paths), academic support (identifying resources and opportunities), smaller caseload (I now coach 60 Scholars)

I think the most important differences to me are the caseload size and institutional/organizational agenda. As a coach, I'm able to give much more intense and individualized support with a smaller caseload. Also: Because I work for a non-profit organization, I'm only accountable to my non-profit's goals and mission not any particular institution's agenda. While non-profits do survive off of donations (let me know if you want to donate to mine!), our executive director mostly handles that and I get to focus on my sole responsibility of student success.

Because I have a lot more time to focus on teaching moments and investing in the specific needs of my Scholars, I get to focus on more than just the transactional details. However, I'm also realizing how many more obstacles there are to student success than just registration and picking a major. I hope to share more about those in later blog posts.

Rose. Bud. Thorn.

Rose (something I'm loving lately): My new job! I went with my coworkers last Friday after a retreat to Total Wine for free wine tasting and bought some New Age wine! Mike's mom first introduced it to me and I'm so glad I found it up here. also THIS bread: http://ohsheglows.com/2009/02/03/honey-raisin-banana-pumpkin-bread/

Bud (something I'm looking forward to): Going to Disney World in about a month and a half! I cannot wait!

Thorn (something I could live without): The cold weather! When will it end? The number of layers I've been wearing is ridiculous. My current desktop background is Olaf (from Frozen) on the beach.