In a ceremonious luncheon last week, UNT's Career Connect in the Office of the Provost presented the College of Science Advising Office with the honorable Career Innovation Partner Award for their efforts in inspiring success in incoming COS freshman via their innovative new Science Success Seminars. For almost a year now, Senior Academic Counselor Sarah Romack and Academic Advising Director Chelsea Heidbrink have been working alongside Meena Naik of Career Connect to ensure that the proper tools were seamlessly implemented into these Science Success Seminars.

Beginning in the fall semester of 2018, College of Science advisors implemented this new preparatory class for incoming students, utilizing the Career Connect pathway, ePortfolio, and GRIT Gauge. These platforms were integrated into the seminar's curriculum so that students could make connections between their learning in the classroom to applications in the professional world. COS advisors led weekly, one-hour classes for the 155 first-year students.

An impressive spike in retainment occurred in the students who participated in the Science Success Seminars, which will be offered again in the coming academic year. Pre-College of Science students who took UCRS 1100 were retained at a higher rate (94.9%) than pre-College of Science students who did not take UCRS 1100 (82.9%).

Further findings included the following:

• Students with higher GRIT scores were more likely to pass more credit hours in Fall '18.
• Lower GRIT scores were strongly correlated to not passing credit hours at a higher rate.
• Those with higher GRIT scores were more likely to enroll in more credit hours in the Spring term.

For more information about the Science Success Seminars, please contact Senior Academic Counselor Sarah Romack at Sarah.Romack@unt.edu.