For now over 75 years, The Baylor Line has been publishing vivid storytelling from across the Baylor Family. I don’t think our archives full of deep, inspirational features should live solely on shelves, so we are bringing them back to life in BL Classics. This April 1992 Classic goes inside Baylor’s Office of Student Retention and Athletic Academic Advisement, where conditionally admitted freshmen and student-athletes receive weekly counseling, tutoring, and support to succeed academically. Under director Becky Bradley, the Freshman Challenge Program has grown from a 90 percent retention rate in 1989 to 96 percent, thanks to hands-on advising and a dedicated team including graduate counselors and former NFL player Walter Abercrombie. Through student and parent testimonials, the article captures how personal attention and structured accountability help at-risk students and athletes alike thrive at Baylor.
A furtive student approaches the office. She recently received a letter stating that she has been conditionally admitted to Baylor; one of the requirements of this agreement is that she check in at the Office of Student Retention and Athletic Academic Advisement. She does not know what she is in for as she approaches Room 202 of Pat Neff Hall. She takes a gulping breath, opens the door, and steps inside.
The contrast between the somber hallway and the rowdy office comes as a shock to her. “How many people can fit into one office?” she asks herself, noting the smiling faces filling all available space.
She soon learns that this little office serves as home base for six graduate students in English, an athletic academic support counselor, a coordinator for tutorial services, three undergraduate student workers, one secretary, one academic advisor, and one director of student retention and athletic academic advisement—and that’s only the list of those who work there.
The office is also home base for many athletes, all conditionally admitted freshmen, and any “at risk” student who has been placed on academic warning, probation, or suspension.
The secretary, Margaret Kramer, explains to the student the services the office provides.
“Students with special advisement needs are assigned to our office,” Kramer tells her. “Becky Bradley, the director of our programs, advises all of Baylor’s athletes and many students on probation. Paula Garrett, an academic advisor, also sees students who are on probation or are participating in the Freshman Challenge Program.”
Kramer explains that each student advised by Bradley or Garrett is asked to report to an academic support counselor once a week. In addition, the office hosts a study hall every weekday from seven to nine in the morning, and Monday through Thursday nights from eight to ten.
Suddenly, the need for so many people in one office becomes quite apparent.
Those who work in the Office of Student Retention and Athletic Academic Advisement primarily provide academic guidance to two groups—students in the Freshman Challenge Program and the Baylor athletes.
The Freshman Challenge Program began as a way to admit students who show great promise but who, for one reason or another, do not meet the regular requirements for admission to the university. Some of these students have excellent high school grades, but their standardized test scores are just below Baylor’s requirement. Others have satisfactory test scores and earned high grade point averages in high school but, because of a small graduating class, ended up with a class ranking which was lower than Baylor’s requirement.
Whatever the reason for a student’s conditional admittance, Baylor’s admissions office assigns these students to the Office of Student Retention and Athletic Academic Advisement.
In the Freshman Challenge Program, students fulfill several requirements in order to be fully admitted to Baylor by the end of their first fall semester. Usually, students are asked to complete one session of summer school prior to fall classes by taking a three-hour course of their choice along with a two-hour study skills course. During summer school and also during the fall semester, academic support counselors meet with the students individually once a week to monitor the students’ progress. In addition, these students sign a contract stating that they will attend each weekly session with their counselor, actively participate in all class sessions, and work to obtain a cumulative 2.0 grade point average by the end of the fall.
This program and all of its requirements have grown into a large-scale operation. Four graduate assistants from the Department of English are selected each year to serve in the office as the academic support counselors.
One counselor, Arminda Kamphausen, says that she has been very impressed by Baylor’s arrangement: “The program is needed because there are students who have great potential but who, because of one statistic, ordinarily would not be admitted to the university. This option gives them a chance to prove themselves. I have not seen another program like it.”
Kamphausen said that working with the program has benefitted her too. “It has helped me keep my perspective. Sometimes in graduate school you get caught up in writing conference papers or getting that A, and you forget that other people have different struggles. This work has certainly kept me from spending all of my time with my nose in a book.”
Together, Kamphausen and three other graduate assistants are responsible for meeting with an average of 400 students a week. According to program director Becky Bradley, it has only been recently that the office has been able to provide weekly counseling to so many students.
“In 1989, I was appointed coordinator of student retention,” she continued. “All at-risk students and conditionally admitted students came to me for advisement. That summer, over 300 students came in the Freshman Challenge Program.”
She said that at the end of that first fall, the program had a 90 percent retention rate.
“But, I felt that I could do more to help these students, so I met with Dr. Bill Cooper, Dean of Arts and Sciences, to establish a strategy for this program’s success,” Bradley said.
Bradley and Cooper decided that more direct contact with the students might provide motivation and encouragement and would enable Bradley to help students with academic problems early in the semester, before the problems got the best of the students.
After a trial run, with Bradley and Kramer contacting the students weekly, Cooper agreed to provide graduate students for these counseling positions.
“The next summer and fall we had a 94 percent retention rate, with only twelve students who could not return compared to the thirty the summer before,” Bradley said.
She added that this past summer and fall were the program’s most successful terms ever, with a 96 percent retention rate and only six students who could not return.
“We keep working to make sure we are doing everything we can for students,” Bradley said. “Each year we ask students to make suggestions, and we always try to keep students’ opinions in mind. We are willing to try anything new to ensure that the program is working to the benefit of the freshmen involved.”
“We don’t have a magic cure for academic problems,” Bradley added. “But students know that we care and that we will try our best to answer just about any question.”
Students do know that Bradley cares, and many of them keep in touch with her long after their official relationship ends.
“When I first came to Baylor for summer school, I had left home sooner than most of my high school friends,” said Kathleen Campbell, a junior speech pathology major from Memphis. “I was not really excited about it until I got here. But then I learned my way around campus, and I felt like I had an advantage over those who started in the fall. I would recommend this approach to anyone!”
Steven Baxter, a junior finance and economics major from Garland, expressed similar sentiments. “The Challenge Program gave me a chance to get a good start at Baylor. The summer gave me an idea of what college is really like, so that in the fall I did not have to go through the adjustment that some students went through. I’m grateful to Mrs. Bradley’s advising.”
Students are not the only ones who are grateful to Bradley. One parent, Kathy Coleman of Richmond, Texas, said, “That office has just been wonderful. If our son had any questions about anything, Mrs. Bradley and Ms. Kramer set him at ease and made him feel like he could handle it. He has felt like he has friends right there on staff to help him if he needs it.”
Kramer explained that parents often contact the office to inquire about their student’s progress.
“I was talking to a mother earlier this morning,” Kramer said. “She was so pleased to know that there are people on the staff who take an interest in her daughter. Parents are encouraged when they learn that someone else really cares for their child and knows their child by name.” Among the many students Kramer knows by name are the Baylor University athletes who come to the office for advisement.
Though the NCAA eligibility of each incoming athlete is checked through the registrar’s office, Bradley advises the students thereafter, making sure they take the courses they need to maintain their eligibility. With ever-more-stringent NCAA regulations, that has become one of her most important tasks.
Coach Clyde Hart, Baylor track coach and NCAA compliance officer, explained that the NCAA is scheduling changes to get athletes back into the mainstream of university academics.
“Previously an incoming student athlete had to have a high school GPA of 2.0 in eleven core courses and had to have earned test scores of 700 on the SAT or 17 on the ACT,” Hart said. “Under the new regulations they will have to have a 2.5 on thirteen core courses. Our athletes will have to be better students to begin with.”
“In the past,” he continued, “eligibility was achieved by making passing grades in a certain number of class hours. Now the NCAA will be requiring Baylor athletes to maintain a 1.8 cumulative grade point average by the beginning of the athlete’s third year and a 1.9 GPA by the beginning of his or her fourth year.”
In addition, student athletes henceforth will be expected to maintain satisfactory progress on their degree plan requirements. That means that by the beginning of the student’s third year, 25 percent of the courses required must be completed; by the beginning of the fourth year, 50 percent; and by the beginning of the fifth year, 75 percent.
Dr. Jimmy McCluskey, Baylor’s dean for student services and development, noted that the goal of the NCAA is to dismantle previous separators and to integrate athletes into the flow of the university.
“I really believe the program in place now in the Office of Student Retention and Athletic Academic Advisement is enhancing the quality of the athlete’s experience,” McCluskey said. “The Challenge Program and athletic advisement don’t have to be paired together. But at Baylor, this relationship works well. The bottom line, the key to the success of these programs, is the personal touch that office provides.”
“I find our athletes very concerned with making the grades and taking only the courses that fit into their degree plans,” Bradley said. “They come in with the goal of getting a degree. When that is the case, I am more than happy to do my part in advising them and encouraging them to get that degree.”
Observing the positive effect of weekly contact with Freshman Challenge Program and probation students, Bradley has added an athletic academic support counselor to the team, to provide similar benefits for student athletes.
Walter Abercrombie, former Baylor and NFL football player, presently serves in this capacity as he works on a master’s degree in sports management and administration. Working with the athletes challenges Abercrombie, but he said that he can relate to their struggles.
“The reason I understand Baylor athletes is because I’ve been there,” Abercrombie said. “I feel that my own experiences give me some credibility. Hopefully when I tell them about my mistakes, they take me seriously and can keep from making the same ones.”
“I like working with athletes because it is a way to give something back to the university,” he continued. “I’ve had a conviction recently to try to return some of what I’ve been blessed with. Also, working with young people brings me a great deal of enjoyment—I think I am cut out for it!”
Baylor athletes seem to enjoy going to counseling sessions with Abercrombie. Many of them say that being able to talk to him gives them motivation to perform both in the classroom and on the field.
“Having Walter, someone who understands sports, as our counselor is a great idea,” said Matthew Pearson, a junior sociology major from Taylor and a Baylor
football player. “He has an eye for catching on when we really need help, and he understands the time commitments athletes require.”
Pearson said that he also benefits from another service the Office of Student Retention and Athletic Academic Advisement provides: study hall.
Supervised study sessions are offered to all students who are advised in this office. The weekday sessions are held morning and evening on campus and are staffed by monitors and tutors. Some students are required to attend; others just see tutors when special needs arise.
“The study hall is very effective because it helps to be able to work with a specialist in the subject you are struggling with,” Pearson said. “I have seen a great improvement in my grades because of the study hall and my counseling appointments. I have learned how to study, and that has made a change in my study habits—and even in my whole lifestyle.”
“It’s a nice atmosphere to work in, and I think the morning study hall is a great idea,” said Mike Hailey, a junior physical education major from Hunt and a trainer with Baylor’s football team. “It’s early—7:00 A.M.—but it gets you on the right track first thing in the morning.”
“J. J. Joe, a junior business major from Arlington and Baylor football player, gives the program a thumbs up. “You can really sense a change in the athletic program’s focus to encourage academics. In the long run, that’s really going to benefit the athlete. The 7:00 A.M. study hall is a good idea. It encourages everyone to take school seriously.”
Roger Goree, the first Baylor All-American under Coach Grant Teaff and a former Canadian Football League player, now volunteers on Baylor’s coaching staff and directs the study hall every morning and every night. He keeps track of the students who use the study hall and of the tutors needed. Tutors working in the study hall are usually graduate assistants or upperclassmen who have successfully completed several courses in their tutoring field.
Alex Lee, a senior biology/pre-med major from Richardson, has been especially enthusiastic about serving as a study hall math tutor this year. Alex came to Baylor as a Freshman Challenge student himself; he has proved to be an outstanding student and plans to graduate this May after only three years.
“I think the summer program helped me because it prepared me for a heavy academic load in the fall,” Alex said. “Mrs. Bradley helped me considerably, scheduling my classes and answering my questions. I never thought I would be asked to tutor by the same office that first advised me at Baylor!”
Bradley and her staff find it satisfying to work with these students, so many of whom are surprised to find themselves studying and enjoying academic success. “Every one of them can make your day bright,” says Bradley. “As each one enters my office, I see a student ready to work hard. It just feels good to see students do their best.”
