The key s to the academic success for Project EXCEL students are the excellence of the academic programs, the faculty at the Mount, and the coordinated advising plan which is an integral element of the EXCEL program. Career exploration and guidance, service learning opportunities coordinated with academic courses, and professional development in preparation for participating in cooperative education study formats are all available through the Mount's Career and Experiential Education Center.
Professional Tutors
Professional tutors, who have skills in content areas and experience working with post-secondary students with special learning needs, provide academic tutoring related to each student’s course of studies. Students realize success through an individualized partnership model.
Student Progress
An important academic support for the Project EXCEL student is monitoring of performance and progress. Progress reports are sent to instructors during the 5th week of the semester. If the student or instructor desires or close monitoring is necessary, progress reports are sent again during the 10th week of the semester. Development of a plan of action will result if necessary through a collaboration effort involving Project EXCEL administration, student, tutor, and instructor.
Organization & Time Management Skills
All freshmen attend weekly, individual time management and organization sessions with a Coordinator of Project EXCEL. These sessions focus on essential strategies for goal setting, prioritizing, and organization / study techniques. Schedules, calendars and a number of time management tools are discussed and utilized. Coordinators also collaborate with the instructional team to provide guidance and support, and monitoring and mentoring for students who are experiencing substantial problems in a given semester.
Writing Lab
The Writing Lab is a remedial lab for students participating in the EXCEL program who have a weakness in written language. The Writing Lab offers remedial instruction, as well as academic support to students who need assistance with the writing process. Remediation is combined with specific class assignments. The role of the Writing Lab tutors is one of facilitator, rather than that of an editor. The student first works with an academic tutor for understanding of the subject matter and then proceeds to the Writing Lab.
The writing tutors build on the student’s writing skill strengths. The tutors diagnose particular writing problems within papers and explain concepts or rules that correct the problems.
When working on a particular assignment, a student learns how to edit his / her own paper. The student looks for content, organization, logic and major grammatical flaws within the paper.