‘Intrusive’ advisers check on students

Zack Buster Editor-in-Chief

The advisers in the nursing school have become intrusive. At least that’s what they hope.

Faculty members who double as advisers began checking in on students’ mental health and personal struggles this semester.

Almost 120 AACC nursing students have access to what nursing faculty are calling “intrusive advising.”

Nursing Assistant Dean Scott Olden said the purpose of the program is to preemptively address “any challenges in a student’s success … [that] would hinder that student from being successful.”

Olden said the college wants to “proactively” help students “and not wait until there’s a situation in which a student has done very poor- ly” because of an issue “that we could have potentially averted using the resources that the college has.”

Nursing students have advisers who focus on their mental health and proactively check up on them throughout the semester. Shown, nursing students perform simulated medical tests in class.

The pilot program started this semester with a survey faculty gave to students that asked questions about various obstacles that could affect their schooling—such as family issues, test anxiety and mental health.

Olden said the resource is important for student retention because of the “high stakes and very demanding” nature of the program. He added it’s important for the advisers to “build relation-