Five years after receiving the initial funding that helped create it, Maryville College’s TRIO Student Support Service program has again received a $1.3 million, five-year grant that will allow it to continue to help students succeed and graduate.

Project Director Dr. Sylvia Turner said the new grant for $1,361,820, will provide $272,364 per year through 2030. It was awarded, she added, because TRIO’s outcomes since implementation of the first grant have demonstrated just how successful the program has been.

“We are funded to serve 140 students and have met our numbers for the last three years,” she said. “The first couple of years were difficult because we started during the pandemic, but now we’re fully operational, and as students leave the College or graduate, we fill those vacant spots with other students who are first-generation, have high financial need, or have a documented disability.”

“We’re grateful for continued generous funding of the College’s TRIO program, which provides comprehensive support for deserving students,” added MC President Dr. Bryan Coker. “This program increases the likelihood of students’ success and persistence in meeting their educational and career goals.”

Student Support Services began in 1968 and provides opportunities for academic development, assists students with basic college requirements and serves to motivate students toward the successful completion of their postsecondary education, according to the U.S. Department of Education website. The goal of SSS is to increase the college retention and graduation rates of its participants and to help students make the transition from one level of higher education to the next.

At Maryville College, some of the TRIO services include in-person tutoring (and on-demand 24/7 tutoring access with the website TutorMe); workshops on academic success that include foundational skills like notetaking and using library resources, on financial literacy that teach enrollees money fundamentals such as basic budgeting and understanding student loans, and on career/professional development that helps students craft successful resumes; and help prepare students who are beginning their careers or preparing for competitive graduate and/or professional programs.

“Each student is assigned a personal academic coach who helps them develop their own individualized success plan, and they become the someone students can talk to about anything,” said Savannah Latham ‘28, a History major and TRIO peer mentor who’s also a member of the MC Student Government Association (SGA). “They will help you with literally everything and will guide you in the right direction. These sessions work because your mentor has been where you are, and has the resources to help make you better.”

“I was introduced to TRIO by my first-year academic advisor, who thought TRIO could be a good support system for me,” she said. “Before becoming a peer mentor, I learned how to fully utilize the workshops and resources. Even before I was a peer mentor, I knew that being able to explain how important TRIO is and how it can make an impact could make a huge difference, simply because it can help someone realize that they qualify, and that the benefits that come with being in TRIO can help them.”

As a peer mentor, Latham is responsible, she said, for improving communication, understanding and the overall environment of TRIO. It is a way for her to “do good on the largest possible scale,” to borrow the famous tenet of Maryville College delivered by founder the Rev. Isaac Anderson.

Throughout the academic year, students are offered support in a variety of ways with TRIO:

  • Study nights with TRIO tutors and Maryville College faculty members
  • Assistance with graduate school applications
  • Job search training, from resume and cover-letter writing to mock interviews
  • Assistance in applying for scholarships and fellowships; student employment
  • Access to designated study spaces outfitted with desktop computers and printers.
  • Annual “Etiquette Dinner,” designed to help students understand and feel more comfortable in business settings

Social events such as game nights, first-generation college student celebrations, National TRIO Day, graduate school tours around the South, an annual leadership retreat “TRIO graduated 28 students in the spring; 49 TRIO students made the Dean’s List; and 13 TRIO students were recognized during April’s Celebration of Student Achievement,” Turner said, who added that TRIO participants have also been awarded the College’s top student honor, the Carl ‘63 and Jean McDonald Outstanding Senior Award, two out of the past four years (Nicholas Clifton ‘22 in 2022, and Jewell West ‘25 last April).

For more information or to apply, students can visit the TRIO website, call 865-981-8333, or stop by the TRIO office on the third floor of Anderson Hall.

Maryville College is a nationally-ranked institution of higher learning and one of America’s oldest colleges located in Maryville, Tennessee, between the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the city of Knoxville. Maryville College offers more than 60 majors, seven pre-professional programs and career preparation from their first day on campus to their last, in the words of our Presbyterian founder, to “do good on the largest possible scale.” 

Karen Eldridge, Executive Director of Communications: karen.eldridge@maryvillecollege.edu.

Follow KnoxTNToday on Facebook and Instagram. Get all KnoxTNToday articles in one place with our Free Newsletter.