UCF Online Coach Interview – Episode 1

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[Music]
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hi everyone my name is Courtney moody
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and I am class of 2020 UCF online alumna
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from the English Creative Writing
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Program and I am joined here today by
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Joan Seder who is from the UCF online
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Connect Center and she is the director
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of student coaching and we are going to
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talk a little bit today about what
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student coaching is and how it can
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benefit you UCF online students so first
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of all thank you so much Joanie for
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being with us today
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for representing UCF online can you just
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start us off by telling us a little bit
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about what you do as the director of
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student coaching yeah absolutely so I
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really helped design the coaching
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program that we use as far as how we’ve
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laid it out for our unit and how we
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support our students so I have a team of
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Student Success coaches that are working
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with all of our UCF online students and
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I help provide the coaching to them that
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they in turn then integrate into their
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coaching with the students so it’s a
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combination of handling the operations
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of our center and constantly staying on
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top of partnership with our programs
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that we support and coaching my my stuff
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essentially so in your experience well
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and even outside of UCF you have
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experience from other places and from
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UCF too what differences have you
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noticed this between students that do
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take advantage of coaching and those
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that don’t
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is there a difference there mmm-hmm
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there definitely is this is actually my
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third institution I’ve worked with
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student success coaching I feel like I
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started this more than 10 years ago when
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it was sort of becoming something new
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and I’ve seen it evolve over time but
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one thing that hasn’t changed is that
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students who receive coaching support
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whether they realize are receiving it or
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not are more empowered and so a lot of
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people misunderstand that coaching is
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hand-holding and being there to tell
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students what to do every step of the
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way so they don’t learn how to do things
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on their own but it’s actually the
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opposite of that it’s actually taking a
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big decision a lot of decisions that
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happen along the way and helping
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students break things down so that they
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can be more organized effective with
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their time understand what their options
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are and what potential challenges may
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come up as before they even come to them
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so that they can be prepared and
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students who receive this type of
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support and and receive feedback from
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coaches who have experience find that
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they’re more prepared to deal with
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things as they come up they’re less
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surprised they’ve put good habits into
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place to help them you know feel less
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stressed and less overwhelmed with
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adding school into their life and they
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retain better a lot of people may feel
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that student coaching is like
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hand-holding or having things done for
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them I think that’s a big perception and
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because of that a lot of online students
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feel like they’re self-sufficient
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because we have to be because you’re
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doing your online coursework but you
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don’t have a professor right there
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making you do the work you don’t have
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other classmates there to help push you
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along you have to be the one you are
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accountable and I think because of that
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they students often write off student
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coaching and say well why do I need that
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I can do all this on my own
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so if a student is feeling self
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sufficient why should they still reach
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out to a success coach how can that
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still be beneficial to them this is so I
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love to answer this question because if
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you think about your experience as a
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student I I think I understand that you
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were yourself a self-sufficient student
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that didn’t necessarily feel like needed
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extra help but if you think about a
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coach as sort of a partner with you and
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your experience I’m
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that you had people that you had support
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you in various ways while you were in
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school even if it wasn’t a student
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success coach somebody that you could
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talk to you about oh this is how I’m
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feeling right now or have you you know
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somebody else that maybe you’re going to
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school with who you’re you’re sharing
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your experiences or have you done this
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or what have you done in this situation
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you think about it you think about the
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experience of everybody wants to feel
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validated and everybody wants to feel
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understood and to know that they’re not
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alone and coaching provides some
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community for a student so that they’re
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not alone particularly when you’re
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online and you can feel disconnected and
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you don’t necessarily know what you
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don’t know and we do have a lot of
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students who are self sufficient and
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confident and they do you know really
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well but isn’t it nice to hear someone
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say you’re doing so awesome good job
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keep doing it you know so there’s a lot
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of value in having a coach even if you
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don’t necessarily need them to point out
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something you’re doing wrong or that you
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could do better it they can they can be
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there to cheer you on they can be there
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even to just we have somebody that you
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can bounce ideas or things off of it
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never that never hurts to have another
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person not in your corner supporting you
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know um and you know especially because
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our coaches tend to already have had
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this experience themselves and can
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really really offer information to
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students thoughts based on their own
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experience and that’s valuable to
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anybody I’m sure yeah for sure I think
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it sounds like it would be especially
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value valuable for students who maybe
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don’t have as much of a support system I
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mean everyone has their family they may
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happen or their friends that but their
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friends may not be going to the same
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school so they may not understand or
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even if someone their parents haven’t
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been to college and they are a
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first-time student they can be totally
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self-sufficient be doing great but it’s
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still nice to have that support or if
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your parents say did get their degrees
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but they were in a different field like
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I know I decree
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writing but my parents are very
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science-based so a lot of times I
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couldn’t really talk to them about what
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my program was because while they’re
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supporting me they don’t really
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understand where I’m coming from
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so I think it sounds like a success code
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should be useful in cases like that
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a success coach is useful in in any way
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that that a lot of ways that you can
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even imagine because everybody’s
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situation is unique so something that a
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success coach brings to any interaction
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is that they they come into it neutral
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with no preconceived notions about this
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person what they should be accomplishing
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what they should be doing this is a
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third party which is the oftentimes like
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someone will even see like a life coach
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or a counselor just somebody to be part
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of the experience that is just there for
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them in a space where this they’re
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completely open to hearing where this
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person is coming from and what they need
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and being able to ask the right
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questions to help the student think
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through things that maybe they haven’t
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thought through before or or just
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challenges them to think in different
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ways even if you do have a support
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system most of the time those are people
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that know you already or they’re coming
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in from their own experience of you or
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from their own experience of themselves
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in school so it is nice to have that
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person who’s a little bit more objective
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that will bring up things that given the
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student a different perspective and even
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if you don’t necessarily need a coach
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now it’s still good to establish a
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relationship with your coach and at
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least know who that person is and have
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some check-ins or that dosnt coaching
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doesn’t have to be really intense
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coaching sessions it can really just be
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you know quick this is what’s going on
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with me do you have anything to add that
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could potentially be helpful or that I’m
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not thinking of it could be you know
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just quick things like that but even if
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you don’t feel like you need one know
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you don’t know for sure what will come
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up and if you might need more in the
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future so it’s great to establish that
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and have it there if you need more
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intense help somewhere
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the line that’s great that’s so valuable
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can you tell us a little bit from the
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success coach perspective what makes a
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really great success coach mm-hmm I
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found that the best success coaches are
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coming from a background of they want to
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be of service to others and a lot of
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them have come into being a success
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coach because they were in a situation
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themselves as students where they don’t
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want other students to have to face what
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they face that’s exactly how I came to
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become a success coach many years back
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and how I’ve kind of evolved in my
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career over time I didn’t start out
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thinking I was gonna be a success coach
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when I started going to college but my
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experiences as a non-traditional student
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trying to fit school in and just those
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feelings of despair of like this is ever
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going to end am I ever gonna actually do
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this I had a I had a success coach and
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realized that it wasn’t until I had my
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success coach about eight years into my
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education that I really finally got some
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traction and finished and most of our
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success at coaches come from experiences
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like that where somebody made a
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difference to them and they want to pass
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it on so the best success coaches are
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very student centric focused they have
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empathy they a lot of times come from
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backgrounds of counseling or some type
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of coaching background where they
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already understand the idea behind that
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there’s a difference between advising
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and coaching so advising is more of the
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what this is what you need to do and as
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coaches what we do is okay how how does
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that look for you you have your plan you
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have your classes you know what you’re
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supposed to do but that doesn’t
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necessarily mean you know how to do it
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so
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coaches think from a perspective of okay
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here is the information and the facts
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what you know helping people look at
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what does this look like for you and so
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coaches really need to be very open and
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like
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had said previously coaches really our
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objective they’re not thinking they’re
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not bringing themselves into it unless
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there’s unless they’re relating to the
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student in some way so the student feels
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like yeah I’ve been there and I
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empathize with where you’re coming from
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but really coaches are great listeners
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empathetic want to help and and good at
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asking questions listening well to ask
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the right questions so that the student
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can we can think through the right path
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for themselves that’s great and it’s so
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great that we have coaches like that
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here at UCF who can listen can hear what
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you’re going through or can make you
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feel better saying I’ve been there
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before that’s so valuable mm-hmm can you
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tell us what your favorite part of your
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job is being the director of student
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coaching I’m so passionate about student
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success coaching the value of I don’t
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know if everybody understands how
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valuable it is to have have a service
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that people pay for you know life
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coaching that helps people prioritize
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and organize and set goals to accomplish
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the things that they want to accomplish
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in their life we’re essentially doing
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that in in the in the form of offering
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that to students so that they can set
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goals prioritize engage well with the
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material that they’re learning so that
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they can be the best student as possible
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and the whole idea behind that is not
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that you get your degree but that what
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are you going to do with it when you
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when you finish what are you gonna
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contribute to the community in the world
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when you’re done so I feel like coaching
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is really helping people learn how to be
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the best version of themselves not just
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finish a degree but actually like really
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embrace okay this is what it means to be
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better in to plan better and to you know
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persist and and you you know develop
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gritty grittiness that helps me you know
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get through other challenges and like
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not just school I mean learning how to
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do school successfully is learning how
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to do life successfully so I just love
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in my job that I’m able to help people
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learn and I love coaching my coaches and
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having them feel inspired like I am to
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help students feel inspired that this is
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not the end-all be-all your degree it’s
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this is what you’re doing here in the
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experience that you have is gonna impact
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the person that you become later so I
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guess that’s just my favorite part is
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just I am passionate about what we do
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and I’m passionate about the the impact
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that it can make on people and that is
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exciting to me so it seems like success
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coaching is something that can just be a
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really valuable asset even if you think
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you might not necessarily need it you
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should maybe trick go ahead and reach
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out to your success coach they may be a
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lot more valuable than you think mm-hmm
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that when you’re coming into it they
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have a lot to offer you mm-hmm I
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encourage everybody to reach out and if
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nothing else we’re very friendly and can
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help guide you to other tools and
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resources that you could also find
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beneficial as well a side compass
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coaching thank you so much for being
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with us today and for representing the
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UC app online connect centered
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absolutely thank you very much thank you