Myranda Hadley is one of Kirkwood Community College’s academic coaches. This wasn’t Hadley’s original role at Kirkwood, but when she heard of the opportunity, she immediately jumped on it.
According to the University of the District of Columbia, “Academic coaches are professionals who work with college students to help them achieve academic success. Their responsibilities include collaborating with students in developing a success plan, meeting regularly with students to help with academic success, and assisting students with setting goals and weekly objectives.”
Hadley said she has been working at Kirkwood since 2018 and has been an academic coach since 2021. Hadley said, “I was originally a department assistant but after covid Kirkwood created this position and I was very interested.”
Hadley also expressed her desire to work with and help students. She said she wanted to work with students and support their educational journey. When the job of academic coach opened up, it checked all of her boxes.
There are several reasons Hadley shared as to why students should utilize the tools she offers. According to Hadley, “Time management and study skills aren’t taught but are skills needed to succeed in school and life outside of school, and I can offer help to students who struggle with those tools.”
Hadley explained that she works with three to six students a day either in person, over Zoom or by phone. However, these aren’t the only students Hadley works with. Hadley said she may reach out to as many as 200 students by email at the beginning of the week for situations like attendance, struggling in classes, or anything to do with their classwork, so she can offer her help if it is wanted.
Hadley also explained just how important she believes her job is to students. According to Hadley, “Some students have reached out and said that working with me is the only reason they didn’t drop out so that right there I think shows just how important it is.”
The last thing that Hadley wanted to mention was that she is moving out of Linn Hall and into the Learning Commons. Hadley showed excitement about this move, stating that when she first started this job the main goal was to focus on online students but now with this move, she can focus on in-person students as well.
According to Hadley, “I am excited to move to the Learning Commons so I can reach more students.”
Categories: Feature
