Greenville Tech awarded $50,000 gift from Wachovia, a Wells Fargo Company

GREENVILLE, SC – August 25, 2010 – Greenville Technical College has received $50,000 from the Wachovia Wells Fargo Foundation to support Achieving the Dream, a nationwide initiative aimed at helping students succeed.

Greenville Tech is one of over 100 colleges and universities in 22 states that are part of Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count, which works to help more students enroll in college, make progress, persist from term to term, and graduate, thus improving their own lives and contributing to a healthy economy. The initiative focuses on students who traditionally face the most significant barriers to success, including minority students, working adults, and students from low income families.

Achieving the Dream focuses on analyzing data to guide priorities and decisions. The initiative provides on-campus coaching with faculty, staff, and leadership, assistance with data collection and analysis, access to information on innovative and successful practices at other participating colleges, networking opportunities and resources, and guidance on engaging the college and the community in supporting student success.

At Greenville Tech, the Achieving the Dream effort includes three major strategies. First, the Shining Star Merit program, targeting African-American males, provides intrusive advising, tutoring and mentoring by college and community leaders. Secondly, a 12-day intensive Math Immersion effort is working to improve placement and performance of students testing into developmental math courses. Finally, a First Year Experience program is designed to engage students early in the process and encourage their retention through a face-to-face orientation, the development of a long-range educational plan, and a required course that teaches college skills such as time management and effective studying techniques.

Brian Rogers, senior vice president of Wachovia Bank, a Wells Fargo company, says the bank’s foundation, which previously contributed $25,000 to Achieving the Dream, has doubled the support based on the importance of the effort. “Education is essential for success in a chosen career and in life,” Rogers says. “Helping Greenville Tech remove some of the barriers that keep people from achieving their educational goals fits with our focus of supporting education in order to impact our workforce and our community’s well being.”

In South Carolina, colleges selected to participate in Achieving the Dream include Greenville Tech and Aiken Technical College, Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College, Technical College of the Lowcountry, and Trident Technical College.

Dr. Keith Miller, president of Greenville Technical College, says the changes brought about with the help of Achieving the Dream will improve student outcomes. “President Obama has set a goal of producing 5 million more graduates from the nation’s two-year colleges over the next decade,” he says. “The Wachovia Wells Fargo Foundation’s generosity will support our efforts to engage students, support them as they study, and graduate well-qualified individuals who are prepared for success in a global economy.”