ACADEMIC COACHING/TAILORED MENTORING

The (1st) and (4th) Pillar of Potential serve as foundational pillars of our work. They intentionally bookend one another starting with the (1st) Pillar: Academic Coaching/Tailored Mentoring.

We know that men of color are not products of their environments, rather they are products of their expectations (Moore, 2018). The difference between brothers who are high achieving vs. brother who underperform is simple, it’s expectations. MSI-Fullerton Academic Coaching allows us to set high expectations for our brothers in tandem with high academic support. We aim to initiate this high level of support by developing individual and group programming that deconstruct the hidden curriculum of higher education spaces. Our services are not your traditional academic advising session, we address academic-know-how including: setting S.M.A.R.T. academic related goals, development of keen organizational skills, acquiring sustainable time management behaviors, sustaining characteristics of high achieving in-class behaviors, effective utilization of on-campus academic resources, and forming positive relationships with professors and faculty.

Lastly, we encourage tailored mentoring through our Brother-2-Brother Peer Mentoring Program and our inaugural CSUF Faculty and Staff Men of Color Collective. Both group goals are to cultivate an authentic relationship with our MSI-Fullerton brothers through; fostering our brother’s interpersonal skills, unpacking family/friends influence and support, basis needs check-ins, on-campus transitions, self-confidence, class selection, and conceptualizing post-graduation/career next steps.