KEYS program at AWC keeps students ‘envisioning their success’

The college experience poses unique challenges to any student; but for students who are first-generation, from a low-income household or who live with a disability, those hurdles can be even harder to overcome. To support this population of students in their postsecondary journey, Arizona Western College houses the KEYS (Keep Envisioning Your Success) Program.

Under the TRIO umbrella, which also houses the college’s Talent Search and Upward Bound programs, KEYS supports up to 240 students’ personal, social and academic development on their way to becoming successful young adults via an array of services including academic advising and coaching, tutoring and mentoring.

When a student enters the program, they meet with an advisor to build their education success plan, which they review together in a “focus session” at the beginning of each semester as well as a mid-semester advising appointment – “one to get you ready for the current semester and one to get you ready for the next semester,” according to TRIO Programs Director Michelle Thomas.

KEYS also helps students prepare for life beyond AWC by helping transferring students apply to fouryear institutions, locate scholarships and complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

According to Thomas, the program acts as a “one-stop shop for personalized student support.”

“Whatever a student would need to be successful in their postsecondary journey, the program is designed to help the population of students that we serve – first-generation, low-income and students with disabilities – overcome the barriers that any of those things present,” she said. “We don’t offer anything that isn’t provided to all students of the college, but we have the luxury of being able to customize our services based on individual needs. We will meet with students and develop their own success plan every semester and determine what support services are needed for them to be successful that semester.”

Students can join KEYS by applying online at www. azwestern.edu/student-support/keys/application. Applications are open-year round; there is no deadline for the process, Thomas said.

While the program does have a component tailored specifically for first-year students, eligibility continues through their second, third and even fourth semester as well. As long as they’re enrolled at AWC and meet one or more of the criteria points, they can participate in KEYS.

“They can come in at any level,” said Thomas. “We do like to get students in their first semester and guide them through from the time that they start until they graduate and transfer on from here; with that, we have the luxury of building those long-term relationships with those students that might not necessarily happen in the regular course of peer advising.”

According to Thomas, KEYS advisors also understand that “life happens” – and they’re there to help when it does so that no student is left behind.

“A student may drop out,” she said. “In those events, we have impact services where we reach out to students who were once part of the program and for whatever reason aren’t enrolled in a particular semester. An advisor will try to connect with them and work with them to re-enroll. We don’t just leave them.”

Through clubs and enrichment activities, KEYS participants are also afforded opportunities to sharpen their leadership skills and expand their cultural perspective. In pre-pandemic academic years, the program would embark on trips to in- and out-of-state university campuses as well as museums, national parks, concerts and leadership conferences in order to expose students to “different opportunities and experiences they may not have had due to locale.”

Though COVID-19 brought travel to halt, Thomas said the experiences have been supplemented with virtual tours. And until in-person activities are greenlighted again, KEYS students are also engaging in virtual “hangouts” to foster a sense of community with their peers.

“Early on in the pandemic, I participated in a webinar and a piece of advice I took away from it was, ‘As much as you possibly can, try to keep your services at a norm,’” she said. I took that to heart and I’ve really tried to do that; everything that we’ve always done, we’re doing virtually. The social interaction is a big piece of integration, especially for incoming freshmen in getting to know other students and getting involved with activities on campus.”

According to Thomas, as AWC attracts a high percentage of first-generation students, the KEYS program aims to play a supporting role in their academic journey from start to finish.

“College in itself, without all the added challenges of a pandemic, is difficult if you’re first-generation,” she said. “The help and support is here. We are able to accommodate students through Zoom, telephone or in-person if needed.”

For more information on the KEYS program, visit www.azwestern.edu/keys, or contact the office at 928344-7761 or keys@azwestern.edu to meet with an advisor.