7.3 Moving Forward

Moving Forward

In the first chapter we encouraged you to reflect on your experiences, goals, preferences and attitudes and urged you to consider or reconsider what your definition of success is. This is a very personal process with no right answer, but we are hopeful that you have, through the course of the semester, given some thought to who you are, where you want to be and what habits or actions will be supportive of those goals. You have engaged in numerous activities, been supported and held accountable by classmates, instructors and advisors. Now, as this course wraps up, the hard work begins—how will you continue to hold yourself accountable to meeting your goals and implement ongoing academic strategies and personal actions that will keep you on track?

Plan Your Next Steps

Think about what you have learned in this course, assess how far you have come and where you want to be and devise an action plan. Reflect on your goals and think about how you may want to STRETCH yourself and what SMART goals you need to put in place to get there.  Now think about your “tool kit”–what skills do you possess to put you on the path to success and what challenges do you anticipate? This book and the activities you have engaged in during this course will continue to be a resource that you can return to if you feel yourself getting off track.  What specific academic skills do you want to continue to practice and refine and what resources do you plan to use?

Accountability

How will you hold yourself accountable to maintaining the momentum you generated during this course?  What measures will you put in place to keep yourself moving forward?  Will you benefit from regular meetings with an advisor or engaging in ongoing academic coaching sessions?  Do you need to schedule time each week to attend tutoring sessions or office hours?  How can your friends and family help keep you on track and what rewards can you put in place to keep you motivated?  These answers will differ for each student, but the key is to identify what will work for you

The remainder of this final chapter is dedicated to outlining the variety of resources that are available to support your continued success and help you meet your personal goals. While these resources and respective contact information are specific to Boise State University, similar resources exist on most college campuses and we encourage you to explore what support systems exist at your particular institution.