Bristol Community College

The department of athletics and recreation has several tactics in place to support student development efforts at Bristol Community College. Our program activities include athletic competition, proactive advising, and faculty relationships are supported by an academic coordinator and coaching staff who link our student-athletes with the necessary services to experience success at Bristol. Consistent contact and effective communication is the key to our process. Retention is a team effort, and it takes a campus.

 The Bayhawk Way consists of the following:

• Shared s-a document
• Mandatory Academic Coordinator check-ins – 3x each semester.
• Course registration appointments.
• Progress Report and follow-up Plans.
• Student-Athlete Planning Series.
• Study- Hall.
• Athletic Experience.
• Community Engagement.

Mandatory Advising Check-ins and Course Registration Appointments

• Notice/Invitation
  • Details of scheduling and meeting the academic coordinator will be included in the student-athlete handbook and communicated at all pre-season team meetings.
  • Mandatory Check-in schedule will be shared with students and coaches at the start of the semester.
  • Form e-mail sent to each student-athlete three times a semester.
  • Coaching staff will assist with outreach to their student-athletes.
• Scheduling
  • Student-Athlete can schedule appointments with the academic coordinator through Booking’s Calendar – Available on Athletics Website, link in form e-mail, Director of Athletics weekly e-mail, and Academic Coordinator e-mail signature.
  • Reminders will be set up automatically in Booking’s calendar and e-mailed to the student according to the scheduled reminder setting.
• Appointment Follow-up
  • Important information from the appointment should be e-mailed within 48 hours.
  • Student info updated to shared documents for transparency with coaching staff and Director of Athletics. Academic Coordinator will update the document updated within 24 hours.
  • Immediate needs must be shared with Head Coach.
• Missed Appointment/ or No Response
  • Form E-mail including head coach.
    • “Booking’s” will alert the student of a missed appointment.
  • Phone call from the Academic Coordinator.  If student fails to follow-up within 48 hours of Academic Coordinator’s 2^nd attempt to reach the student, the student will sit out one practice for each additional day of no response up to 3 days.  Anytime in addition to 3 days will result in a one game suspension for each day of no response.
    • Head Coach will be responsible to contact the student-athlete following 48 hours of the academic coordinator’s 2^nd attempt.
    • Student-Athlete will need to meet with athletic director in addition to academic coordinator once game suspensions are in effect.

Progress Reports and Follow-Up Plans

• Director of Athletics and Academic Coordinator Introductory e-mail to faculty and students at the start of the semester.
• Electronic reports are mailed out to faculty every third week with a request to return for the 4^th week. 4X each semester.
• A grade of D or below, missing assignments, and missed class will trigger an immediate alert. These alerts are entered into a shared document and a plan of action is created. Academic Coordinator, Director of Athletics, and Head Coaches will have access to their student-athletes shared document.
• Full team reports are made available through a shared document and the academic coordinator will update this shared document every Tuesday and Thursday, if new reports are submitted from faculty.
• Students who are subject to faculty alerts are required to meet with the academic coordinator to discuss the next steps.
  • The outcome of this meeting will be entered into the shared document within 24 hours of the appointment.
    • Prioritized by the severity of risk.
• 3 or more missed classes in any one course will result in a one game suspension and one additional game for every missed class in that course.
• 2 or more missed assignments in any one course will result in a required meeting with the academic coordinator where a plan will be put in place to make up the work.  If appointment or outreach is not returned see missed appointment/no response section under mandatory appointments.

Student-Athlete Planning Series

• The Student-Athlete Planning Series is a semester long initiative geared toward the holistic growth of Bristol student-athletes, while advancing Bristol's mission of providing an accessible, innovative and inclusive education that prepares students to navigate and succeed in our ever-changing world.

Developing Character

• Head coaches take 20 minutes at one practice each week to emphasize life skills learned through sport.  These skills should be easily related to their efforts in the classroom and skills that will help navigate life. While academic learning should be stressed daily, this conversation will be required once per week.
• Head coaches and assistant coaches will use the time while their student-athletes stretch to walk around talk to different students each day.  Ask open ended questions to learn more about each student.
• Each program is required to take part in a community engagement project.
• Each program is responsible to conduct study-hall hours each week during the fall and spring semesters. Each program may institute rules that require more or less hours in response to individual student academic performance.

Other Tactics

• Dean’s List Luncheon
• Important Dates E-mail Communication
  • Timely and strategic e-mail and social media communication
  • Maintain a space on the athletics website for important S-A information

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