Coeur d'Alene, ID: Northwest College Support is launching new programming in June 2020 designed specifically to help prepare college-bound students for college in the fall. The "Summer College Series" will run June-July (approximately 9 weeks). The program at Northwest College Support includes two college courses taught through North Idaho College, which are designed specifically to build the academic skills necessary at the collegiate level. Summer College Series will also include furnished housing, independent life skills tutorials, an internship, and groups led by Northwest College Support counselors to work on the social-emotional skills needed in college environments.
The founder of Northwest College Support, Dan Hanks M.Ed, LPC, Ed.S, a counselor and school psychologist says, “The mission of Northwest College Support is to get students to thrive in college. We saw a need of students going to college and struggling. It's known that about thirty percent of students drop out of college in their freshman year. We wanted to come up with a strategy of how those persons could, instead of struggling, really be successful.” The Summer College Series is designed for students who already are planning on attending colleges throughout the country for Fall 2020. Summer College Series is meant to give these students a "taste" of what college will be like, and identify and work through challenges within a supportive environment.
Students attending Summer College Series at Northwest College Support will be enrolled in two college courses through North Idaho College: “Designing Your College Experience” and their choice between Introduction to Psychology, Introduction to Sociology, Fundamentals of Oral Communication or World History. These courses are included in the cost of the summer program, and will be transferable as elective credits at most colleges and universities. Additionally, students will participate in a daily life skills group in which Northwest College Support's Life Coaches will address the independent emerging adult skills expected of college students. Students will also join in on a daily group led by the counseling team members at Northwest College Support, to help process the anxieties that students may have about starting college in the fall. This counselor-led group will also address the new social-emotional complexities that students will encounter in college environments, teach coping skills for stress, and provide general mental health education. Students enrolled in Summer College Series will get to pick from four different internship opportunities: Computer Information and Computer Science, Entrepreneurship and Marketing, Campaign Management and Community Organizing, and Art and Gallery Management. Each internship has been created to develop professional work place skills, leadership, and deepen the student's understanding of community.
About Northwest College Support
For the past eight years, Northwest College Support has operated as a program for college students needing support with learning disabilities, life skills, and mental health. The Coeur d Alene company provides dorm-style living, life skills coaching, education coaching, counseling, and other wrap-around services to clients as they attend college in the Spokane - Coeur d Alene area.