Taking on the winter semester
The Bounce Back program, run by the Student Transition Office at the University of Guelph, is targeted to first-year students who struggled academically in the fall semester.
According to Robert Routledge, the manager of the Student Transition Office, the Bounce Back program has been in constant development since its inception. In this time, those who work closely with the program have come to the conclusion that the best way to help students is to teach them how to solve problems on their own.
Routledge explained to The Ontarion that it is important that students know they already have the skills they need to solve the problem and Bounce Back helps them develop “ways to solve problems, to experientially learn, to be able to identify resources on their own.”
Building skills for time management, motivation, and self-care are key factors for students entering the second semester. By acknowledging the number of diverse resources on campus to help with everything from writing skills to mental health and wellness, one thing Routledge and his team have focused on is, “Paying really close attention to niches and making sure that we are not duplicating the work being done by [other teams].”
This is where helping students build the skills they need to seek out the right resources becomes important.
Laura Spatafora, a senior Student Transition and Resource Team (START) facilitator told The Ontarion, “What’s unique about Bounce Back […] is that students get the opportunity to develop skills, such as help-seeking, problem-solving, and self-reflection throughout the semester with a peer that really meets them at the level that they need support. […] We really aim to give each of our students the confidence that they are able to reach their goals, and come back from setbacks, and that it’s okay to ask for help.”
In order to maintain the success of the program and to better reach students on campus, the Bounce Back program will continue to evolve. Routledge explained that the program is looking to shift away from the idea that Bounce Back is only for students who received less than 60 per cent in their first semester.
By rebranding Bounce Back under the START umbrella, Routledge hopes that, “From the moment a student is accepted through to the end of their first year, they are going to see similar types of support available to them. […] They’ll have seen similar names, similar branding, similar types of communication, so that it won’t feel like they’ve hit a point where they’re failing and now they have to get help, that this will have been available to them throughout the year.”
Helping students to understand that everyone struggles at one point or another is a goal that hit Routledge close to home. Having gone through challenges of his own in university, he wants students to know that struggling doesn’t make you a bad person, and it’s okay to ask for help.
Photo by Mariah Bridgeman/The Ontarion