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"I struggled from the start at Eastern. The fall of my Freshman year I earned a whooping 1.86 GPA. The following spring I got a 2.25, which brought my cumulative GPA up to a 1.90. The fall of my 2nd year here I fell behind again and got a 1.88 GPA which essentially got me thrown out of school. The reason's for me getting kicked out are that I didn't study, and I did not know how to manage my time. After I got reinstated at Eastern I started receiving help from the Student Success Center. I wish I had known more about them before I had all my difficulties, because when I started getting the help I needed I earned a 3.07 [term] GPA!! This brought my cumulative GPA up from a 1.88 to a 2.25! Thanks for all the help!"
"The Student Success Center has been my main source of help throughout my first 2 years here at Eastern Illinois University. With Mrs. Boyer and I creating effective study schedules and with her teaching me now to balance my time to make my academics my number one priority, I have developed into a student that can enter any class with a sense of confidence that I never had before going to the Student Success Center. It has made me concentrate on my studies and it has made me a more disciplined and hardworking student. The Student Success Center has laid out my goals for me and it has made a plan for me on how to achieve and reach those goals. I owe much of my success to the Student Success Center."
"I wouldn’t be graduating in May if it wasn’t for the Student Success Center and Cindy Boyer. My study skills and time management were full of bad habits from high school, and Cindy helped me fix those bad habits. For those of you who breezed through high school without opening a book, and are now struggling in college, The Student Success Center is a great resource to get back on track.'
"I first came in contact with the Student Success Center my freshman year. I was having trouble with my Computer Concepts & Applications class; our tests were based on many chapters and they were pure memorization. My teacher scared me because she said many people wouldn’t and didn’t pass this class. I was blessed to have Cindy Boyer give a presentation in one of my other classes about the work she does. When she said she could help with time management and studying I called her for help right away. Cindy laid out a plan for studying and passing my class; she was very helpful and personable through it all. I left feeling much better about the class and knowing I could come to Cindy for assistance in any class. After discipline on my part and coming to Cindy to review for my test, I passed with an A. We were both very happy about my grade. The Student Success Center is wonderful and Cindy Boyer is excellent to work with. She works with you taking into account your learning style, your study habits, and the kind of person you are. If you are having any trouble with grades, classes, or just a qualm about a test, I highly recommend calling Cindy up… You won’t regret it!"
"Strategies for Academic Success was a very helpful class to me this year. It helped me realize the importance of school and value certain things in life. I firmly believe that every student should be required to take this course, or something similar to it. It is excellent in showing students how to handle their “college lives” and how to succeed in the real world. My grades and drive for school have increased because of this class."
"The strategies help one focus on the important things in life and I am thankful I had a chance to learn how to make my life better. These strategies are something that will be used today, tomorrow, and in the future."
"I am very glad that I had the opportunity to take this course here at EIU. From now on when I feel that I am getting off-track I will refer to the helpful tools that I learned in class to steer me back."
"After taking this class and learning many helpful strategies, I know now that I can accomplish all of my goals and dreams."
"Throughout this class, I have learned a lot about myself. This class has also taught me that other people feel the same way I do. I now know that I am not the only person that has anxiety before a test, I am not the only person who has trouble understanding something in class, and I am not the only stressed college student. This has helped me fit in better and be able to relax more because I know that I am not the only student feeling this way. This class has been good for me."
"EIU 2919 changed the way I look at my college career and made me an overall better student and person. Skip Downing has opened my eyes to a whole new world of opportunities, given me stability and direction, and pointed me down a path of true academic, social, and financial success. I could spend hours and print many pages and ink describing the number of ways and areas this course has helped me in, but for now I will focus on academia and how On Course turned me from an apathetic, under-achiever to a highly motivated, successful student."
"If you can’t recognize what will make you successful you can’t be successful. This class has brought me a lot of knowledge on how to become successful in life and with hard work I will be able to obtain anything I want as long as I stay 'On Course'."
"This was a really interesting class because it involved everyone, and we all had the chance to talk about school and how we did before and how we were doing now. It was a class where we looked at such things like discovering self-motivation, which was in the first journal entry. When doing these exercises, I like how I look at what I want and what I need to do, and put those goals on paper. It helped me with putting my priorities in perspective."
"This was such an exciting and motivating class. Even though the book was common sense, sometimes when it’s said in a more simple form it makes even more sense. I believe that this class would help a lot of people and maybe it should become a course requirement for every incoming freshman. If I had taken this class my freshman year I would have been a better student from the beginning. I’m going to recommend this class to everyone I know. It’s because of this class that I have all this motivation inside of me. It’s because of this class that I know that I can and will be successful. All in all I thank EIU for this great course and I hop that it continues for years and years to come."
"Overall I can say today that I am back on track in school and in life in general. I have learned vital tools and tips to keep succeeding in college and out of college. These lessons will stick with me and I will apply them everyday."
"After completing my Strategies for Academic Success class, I feel that I finally have a perfectly molded philosophy that will not fail me."