Skip to main content

A Student's Journey

This is a great post from the Gallup Strengths Blog, featuring one of the inspiring stories from Kalamazoo's Valley Community College and their incredible strengths program.


Dropout or Honor Student: The Difference Is Strengths

By Kyle Robinson, Director of Campus Engagement, Gallup

Amanda’s excitement for her future is contagious. Perhaps it is her high positivity, the joy she feels at being a recent college graduate, or simply her engagement in working a job she loves. After spending just a few moments with Amanda, her excitement for living is evident.

It is hard to believe that just a few years ago Amanda was stuck and lost in her academic pursuits. After graduating a semester behind her high school class, Amanda enrolled in a local community college, but quickly became disengaged and dropped out. “I just wasn’t connected,” she reflects. “I was in a program that wasn’t a fit for me, and really no one on campus seemed to care about what would be best for me and my future.” After giving up on academics, she took a variety of positions in retail and fast food as her hope for the future faded.

Five years later, Amanda’s younger sister enrolled in college. Amanda knew she needed to get back on track, but wasn’t sure how. As she began to explore other colleges throughout Michigan, positive student reviews led her more than 40 miles from home to Kalamazoo Valley Community College. “My experience at Valley was completely different,” Amanda explains, “it seemed like they really wanted me to be successful.”

She attributes her positive experience at KVCC to learning about the Gallup StrengthsQuest program in one of her courses. StrengthsQuest is a developmental process that uses the Clifton StrengthsFinder assessment, an online survey that helps a person uncover and apply their natural talent to achieve success in academics, work, and life. “My first reaction after taking strengths was, ‘Wow, that makes me sound a lot cooler than I really am,’” laughs Amanda, “but after reflecting on the results, I realized these traits really were true of me, but they were things that I had never [seen] as being positive before taking the assessment.”

Amanda’s personal growth through using StrengthsQuest in her courses eventually led her to take a job as a Student Strengths Ambassador through KVCC’s Student Success Center. Amanda’s job on campus is to meet with fellow students about their StrengthsFinder results and help them connect their talents with college and life success. The role is a great fit for Amanda, as she is able to share much of her engagement and enthusiasm with KVCC with fellow students to help them be successful.

A major focus of the Student Success Center is the department of Student Strengths Development who, through their partnership with Gallup, help students discover, develop, and apply their talents to help in their academic pursuits. KVCC’s Student Success Center has posted impressive results, including a notably higher retention rate for students who used services offered through the center.
 
It was through a series of strengths conversations that Amanda found hope. She met her mentor and developed a vision for her future; to pursue a master’s degree and work within Student Affairs. When Amanda, who is now a member of the Phi Theta Kappa honor society, crossed the stage at KVCC this past December, she took a big step toward her future. Amanda is currently finishing her bachelor’s degree at Western Michigan University, which has a campus that is just down the street from KVCC and will allow her to stay on staff in Valley’s Student Success Center.

From college dropout to graduate with honors, Amanda’s story is an example of what happens when students find hope for the future and discover and apply their strengths on campus. In the words of Amanda, “I can’t imagine being where I am today without strengths, it is a game changer.”

To learn more about the Student Strengths Development Office, click here. And, for more information on the KVCC Student Success Center, click here.

Kyle Robinson is the director of Campus Engagement for Gallup's Education Division. Kyle partners with many colleges and universities to help them create and implement strengths-based engagement and well-being strategies for students, staff, and faculty. 

Kyle’s top five strengths: Ideation | Strategic | Communication | Learner | Achiever

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Strengths Activity: DBT House

The featured activity this week has become a recent favorite of the TeamMates Strengths Team. I learned of it by attending the Green Hills AEA Conference this past summer. The breakout presenter, Louise El Yafoori, taught on mitigating culturally sensitive trauma. This activity comes from the practice of Dialectical Behavior Therapy. While it can be used in very targeted ways for working with certain groups of kids, we found it a powerful reflective exercise that we all could benefit from. We facilitated this activity at our annual strengths day at the Gallup campus this year and the results of this learning and self reflection were highly impactful. Consider doing this activity with your mentee as a way to deepen the conversation around strengths and talent by incorporating discussions of values, role models, support systems, and more. Activity Instructions:  On a blank piece of paper, sketch out a house. Your house should include: a foundation, walls, windows, a door, roof, ch

Achiever: Fulfillment from Accomplishment

People exceptionally talented in the Achiever theme work hard and possess a great deal of stamina. They take immense satisfaction in being busy and productive. Clifton StrengthsFinder We are excited to hear from Stephanie Pravecek about Achiever this week. Steph is the Events Coordinator for TeamMates and leads with Achiever, Responsibility, Discipline, Consistency, and Relator. People with high Achiever are hard workers, list makers, and doers. It is very difficult for Achievers to take a break when there is a task at hand that needs to be completed.  Once one task is complete it is on to the next and then the next. Achievers set out each day to accomplish at least one task but, there is much more fulfillment when multiple things are crossed off the “to-do” list for the day. This does include weekends and vacations, as REST or RELAX are not words you often hear in the vocabulary of an Achiever. As a guest blogger this week, I am going to put more of a personal ton

Strengths Activity-Strengths Collage

Conversations are a great way to recognize, own, and develop our strengths. But sometimes, I find my mentee and I have the best dialogues when we are doing something kinetic. This week's featured strengths activity is hands on!  In the picture above, you see a great example of this week's activity, a strengths collage! Our own words and descriptions of our strengths are powerful, just like strengths conversations, but sometimes, when we look to other's words, we can help expand our understanding of our talent. In addition, sometimes our words just don't "cut it", and pictures or images might evoke a more accurate feeling regarding your talents. Through this activity, you and your mentee will look to magazines, newspapers, and advertisements in order expand your strengths language as well as practice strengths spotting.  What you will need:  A piece of card stock or journal page Various magazines, newspapers, or advertisements.  Glue Scissors