One hundred students have the opportunity to participate in an academic boot camp over fall break and will then be guaranteed a 4.0 GPA.
The Guaranteed 4.0 Boot Camp will take place Thurs., Oct. 7 and Fri., Oct. 8, where students are to attend a two day session and learn ways to improve their academic strategies and GPA. The program is also invented to reduce study time.
According to Tracy Ray, director of multicultural student affairs, the Multicultural Student Affairs staff will supply students with hands on exercises, motivational tools, and enhanced examples, as students interact with the workshop’s speaker, Donna O. Johnson, through a DVD system.
Ray found out about the Guaranteed 4.0 workshop through Robert Page, from the University of Kansas.
“Robert is highly credible and co-coordinated an annual Symposium on the Recruitment, Retention and Graduation of Students of Color with Noel-Levitz. I worked for a couple of years to track down Donna O. to come to NC State to present, but had a hard time reaching her. Later, she came out with a book and workbook called the Guaranteed 4.0 Learning System,” Ray said.
Coordinator Donna O. Johnson guarantees a 4.0 GPA, not Multicultural Student Affairs. Also, Johnson offers to pay students $100 if the program doesn’t work, according to Ray.
“The key however is that you must use all of the strategies that she gives you. In over 10 years of hosting the program she has never paid out $100,” Ray said. “As she states, even if you just use a few of the strategies you are guaranteed to raise your GPA, but if you use them all you are destined to achieve a 4.0.”
Keisha Okafor, a sophomore in arts and design, said she thinks the boot camp is a good idea.
“I think it’s a good idea. It’s something all students would want. I just hope the program falls through,” Okafor said.
It was complicated finding a time suitable for students to attend the program, according to Ray.
“It is very challenging to find a time that students can fully commit to without class or work conflicts which is why it is being offered over fall break. The program will be offered at the beginning of the spring semester, just prior to the start of classes,” Ray said.
Ryan Burnett, a junior in biological sciences, said the boot camp is a good idea, but he thinks the dates are unfortunate.
“I think it’s a good idea, but I don’t know what they’re going to be doing. I wanted to go, but it’s during fall break and I don’t want to do work during the break,” Burnett said.
Ray said the idea of the Boot Camp at the University stemmed from her past work with what is now the Academic Success Assistance Program, and the need for an effective academic-success program.
“I wanted to find a way to drill in the skills and strategies to more students and in a timely fashion. The Boot Camp also serves as a follow-up or next step to our students that participate in the A.S.A.P. program,” Ray said.
The Guaranteed 4.0 Boot Camp embraces diversity. According to Ray, the program is geared toward all students seeking to achieve a 4.0 or raise their GPA, regardless of major or academic standing.
“We launched the program for the first time this past summer with the start of first summer session I classes. We had 47 students that participated,” Ray said. “There was diversity by major, college, age and class. Many non-degree seeking students are working to get accepted into an undergraduate or graduate program so we found that the program appeals to all students.”
Okafor is a design student and said she doesn’t think the program would help her.
“I don’t think it would help me because grading is different for design students,” Okafor said.
To determine whether the boot camp was a success, performance will be assessed, and there will be a survey administered at the end.
“We have already begun receiving success stories from this summer. We are still in touch with the summer boot camp cohort and will follow the group through the fall semester. The same will be true for the fall break cohort to measure their individual and overall success as a group,” Ray said. “The group of students from this summer was fantastic so I am really looking forward to meeting our second set of boot camp cadets.”
Burnett said she would expect the program to be successful if the students were accompanied throughout the academic year.
“If it was something helping you to do the work, I could see it being very successful because half of the battle is doing the work. The program could help, but I don’t think it could guarantee a 4.0,” Burnett said.
Currently, only Multicultural Student Affairs is administering this program, but Ray said there has been support from departments like University Housing and her colleagues in the Division of Student Affairs.
