Director's mission is 'to get students involved'

Courtesy of Lionel Green
The Sand Mountain Reporter

As a graduate of the University of Alabama, Brittany Wilborn knows the college experience is more than books and classes, exams and grades.

As director of campus engagement at Snead State Community College, Wilborn helps students know it, too.

Wilborn, 25, worked as a transfer advisor at Snead for two years before earning the position of campus engagement director in October. The 2004 graduate of Geraldine High School also attended Gadsden State Community College.

"It's my job to get all my students involved and to make sure they have things to do on campus," Wilborn said. "And not just your smart, high GPAs, cream-of-the-crop students, but everyone."

Wilborn, who manages Snead's Student Success and Career Center, touts the College Completion Agenda, an initiative geared to increase the number of students receiving their associate degrees.
"We're really pushing the College Completion Agenda and really focusing on getting our students to start at Snead and to finish here," she said.

"I'm the point person for our Student Success and Career Center. We're there to help them with admissions, financial aid, scholarships, career advising, tutoring programs ... just anything they need to do. We have it in our center under one roof," she said.

Wilborn said participation in campus activities and the College Completion Agenda go hand in hand.
"Statistically, the more involved students are, the better they perform academically," she said.

Shelley Smith, Snead's marketing and public relations director, agreed, saying participation in clubs and organizations enhances student leadership abilities.

"With organizations like Phi Theta Kappa, they also have scholarship opportunities," Smith said. "With Phi Beta Lambda, they go to state competitions where they actually build on their business skills and workplace skills.

"Even though they're involved in doing things like dances, they're also learning and building on the education they're getting in the classroom. So it's only going to add to what they're getting from their instructors out of the classes," she said.

Wilborn said organizations on the Boaz-based campus filter though her office.

"My office does a lot of the student activities, as far as the dances," she said. "We do Club Rush at the beginning to put our clubs and organizations out there. I'm directly responsible for our Phi Theta Kappa Honors Society and our Student Government Association."

Snead's enrollment of 2,100 students is an assortment of traditional students, such as recent high school graduates, and nontraditional students, ranging from the laid-off employee learning another skill to the stay-at-home mother looking to enter the workforce. Many commute to the college.

Despite the eclectic blend of students, Wilborn said Snead's population stays plugged in to community events.

"Our students are very proactive," she said. "If there's anything going on, they probably know about it before I do, and they are not hesitant to come to me and want to help and want to be involved.

"All the students are using Facebook and Twitter. If there's something going on, they're going to know about it, and they'll spread the word. That's one thing I found different from other community colleges is these students reach out to me and want to get involved and be a part of anything that's going on in the community."
Wilborn said Snead ultimately tries to prepare students for "the real world."

"We're just trying to put them in real-life situations that they can learn from," she said.

The joy of Wilborn's job is seeing students graduate and knowing their participation in Snead organizations helped them reach the next level.

"Through the clubs and organizations, some students were able to go to the University of Alabama or Samford or transfer period because of the scholarship opportunities that are gained by being involved at Snead," Wilborn said.