Allison DeGerlia Project Showcase
Campus Compact AmeriCorps Member Serving at Roger Williams University, Bristol, Rhode Island
Program Description: This year I worked with the Pathway to Purpose (P2P) and Striving, Overcome, Achieve, Rise (SOAR) programs based in the Intercultural Center. These programs were created under the Affordable Excellence Initiative which the RWU started to address the barriers that
students such as affordable tuition, rising college debt, and job readiness. RWU has established itself as a leader in higher education by focusing on these issue. We have 20 students in these programs combined. These two programs are college-ready scholarship programs for
first-generation, Pell-eligible students of color. The goal is to give students the skills, knowledge, and financial support they need to succeed in their first year and beyond to continue their education to completion. P2P is a 4-year program while SOAR is a first-year program.
Anti-Poverty Focus
Because of staffing shortages, the SOAR and P2P programs were combined for their
weekly/bi-weekly classes and group meetings. These programs are designed to
give students the social-emotional learning (SEL) skills or “soft skills” needed
to succeed. We decided to focus on the SEL skills of sense of belonging,
self-efficacy, and growth mindset based on previous research and input from
community stakeholders. All programming choices were decided based on how they
would help increase these three SEL skills. There has been lots of research how
these skills can impact student’s academic and social success and their mental
health and wellbeing. These skills are especially important for
underrepresented students who are more likely to face challenges in these areas
and are more likely to not continue their education.
● Materials & Activities Created: class presentations and activities based on previous research,
shared on-campus resources, and connected faculty and staff to the students
● Outcomes: 22 classes, over 40 student check-in meetings, partnered with 10 different
institutional departments/ organizations, and dozens of faculty members
The graph to the right illustrates the top three rated classes of each semester. This data was
gathered from end-of-semester surveys that were sent to the program participants. In this same
survey, 100% of the respondents said they would recommend this program to other first-generation
Pell-eligible students of color.
Capacity Building Efforts
This year represented a lot of firsts for the Intercultural Center. I was the first VISTA in the
Intercultural Center and it was the first year of the Pathway to Purpose (P2P) program. This meant I
had to create a foundation for these programs. One of my biggest projects to build capacity was in
data collection, management, and reporting. Before arriving, the only data that was collected were
GPAs and student involvement in on-campus organizations and with the first year of the P2P
program, there was no data protocol.
● Type of Data Collected: quantitative and qualitative
● Methods of Collection: student survey responses and faculty and staff notes from student
meetings
● Data Categories: student feedback, social-emotional learning competencies, academic success,
and experience of low income first generation students of color
This data was used internally to assess student progress and feedback and will be used externally to
create reports to send to other stakeholders within the university. These reports will help gain
institutional support for these programs and express why they are important. These data/reports will
also possibly be used to help secure grant funding for programs in the future. I was in charge of
deciding what data we were going to collect, creating the data collection methods, interpreting and
organizing data, and writing reports based on this data.
● Research Topics: Social Emotional Learning (SEL), reached based activities to increase SELs,
first-generation college students, students of color attending predominantly white institutions
(PWI) and distanced learning
These resources were then cataloged in a drive I created so they can be used in the future for
program development and staff training.
Students Testimonials
“I was really struggling with doing my work and then we did a lesson on procrastination and I developed a schedule
which really helped me get all my work done on time.”
“I would recommend this program for other students of color and first-generation students as you feel like you are part
of a family and do not have to feel as though you have to struggle by yourself. You are given resources and mentors
which will give you a sense of relief.”
“This semester, the career planning fair we were required to go to ultimately persuaded me to get an internship prep
class on my schedule for next year and I would not have done that if the career planning fair was not provided for me by
this class.”
“Something I learned that helped me was that I’m not alone. I felt out of place on campus until I had class with soar/p2p
and it helped me feel more at ease.”
“What I learned has definitely made an impact in my courses one would be stress management specifically the
breathing technique before my math exam.”
Challenges & Covid-19 Impact
This year there were a lot of challenges and Covid-19 impacts that we were faced with. First, a majority of all of our
classes and meetings with students had to be done on a virtual platform. All of our classes had to be designed in a way
Number of Surveys Created 10 to would fit this online platform and would be engaging. These online classes made it significantly harder to relay this
curriculum as students were less likely to attend or participate in the online platform. This online platform also made it
Number of Survey Responses 198 significantly harder for staff members to identify when students were struggling and to make sure they were taking
advantage of the right resources. Another issue we faced because of Covid-19 in the Intercultural Center was staffing
Research Articles Used 86 capacity issues. This made me have to be very independent and take agency in my projects as staff members were
more busy than usual and did not have as much time to always supervise my progress. Another financial challenge we
31 had was that the institution pulled funding for future cohorts of the Pathway to Purpose (P2P) program. This was
Resources for Class Found
disappointing as this program is what makes it possible for our students to attend Roger Williams and we wanted to be
Class Curriculum Created 11 able to provide this same opportunity for more students. This emphasized that documenting this program and its
outcomes this year was especially important as it is possibly the only first year of the program we will have and that this
3 data could help secure more funding for this program in the future.
Number of Reports Planned
Our students themselves had to face many challenges this semester. While not all of these challenges are because of
the pandemic, the pandemic also exacerbated problems our students were already facing. With distanced learning, it
made it more difficult for students to connect to the campus and their professors. Students had more pressure from
their family obligations, struggled with their own mental health issues, and many also had jobs they were working while
in school. All of these challenges combined made it difficult for our students to focus on their studies, use campus
resources, and immerse themselves in the campus culture. It is also important to note how the racial climate on campus
impacted our students. Each semester this year we had at least one major racial bias incident on campus involving
student actions on campus. These incidents deeply impacted our students as they did not feel welcome on campus and
criticized the institutional response to these actions. With students already struggling to find their place at school and
balance their other responsibilities, it further alienated our students and make them question if they belong at Roger
Williams or in higher education as a whole.
As a VISTA that is returning to my host site next year, I am excited for the future projects I will be taking on. Next year
one way we will be working to combat these issues is by having a week-long orientation before the fall semester so that
we are not playing catch up with our students and help them feel confident on campus before the semester even starts.
We will also be implementing a more robust peer mentoring program for the first year students run by students from
previous cohorts. We hop to also expand this program to have SOAR students mentor local high school seniors who
would be first generation students of color for the spring semester. We are also going to be starting a SOAR Alumni
program for the upper class students who were in SOAR to strengthen our network, provide leadership opportunities for
our students, and continue to provide support for our student’s after their first year.