Becoming an academic coach is such a great thing. If a school has an academic success center, which they all should, then there is most likely a need for volunteers. Volunteering as an academic coach will not only make your resumé look great, but it will make you feel great as well.
The details of an academic coach are actually quite simple. All a person has to do to become an academic coach is to go to the academic success center, at least when it comes to my school. You just walk in, go up to someone currently working or volunteering there and express your interest in becoming an academic coach.
Once a person expresses their interest then they are shown a presentation. The presentation just simply goes over what being an academic coach entails. The position of an academic coach means that you are helping another student who has some sort of disability. Whether your student has a physical, mental, emotional, or learning disability you help them with whatever they need. The needs of each student will, of course, depend on the student. Some students may need to be coached with time management, organization, social skills, homework, or even just a person to support them.
After the presentation is given, then the coach will fill out their availability. Based off of your availability, you will then be paired with the next student on the wait list who has the same availability as you. After you fill out your availability forms, you will be given many, many, many more papers. The papers are all tips to help you become a coach with details about different types of students. These papers will all become very helpful in preparing you to become an academic coach.
Of course, no amount of papers will help you prepare to be a coach until you meet your student. Meeting your student for the first time will be a little nerve-wracking, scary, and awkward for not only you but your student as well. However, when you meet your student you will know exactly what to do. If you are helping your student the proper way, you will see them open up and blossom into an amazing student.
When you become an academic coach, you are not only helping your student but yourself as well. By being an academic coach, you learn how to better yourself. You want to improve your skills so that you can be the best coach for your student. You become your student’s cheerleader, motivator, and guider so you want to make sure that you are the best fit there is to support your student.
Not only do you become a better person by being there for your student, but you actually end up fixing your own problems. By seeing how your student needs help, you also see your own flaws. You can learn how to fix yourself by helping your student. Most students need help with time management, which will definitely be a skill you need as an academic coach. Time management is crucial since you will not only be doing all of your own school work and focusing on your life but also, your student’s life and school work.
Even though being an academic coach can be demanding at times since you meet with your student for an hour each week, it is definitely worth it. The feeling that you get at the end of the semester seeing how much your student changed and grew will make your heart melt. There is no better feeling than seeing all your hard work pay off by having someone else grow into an amazing human.
