SparkPoint at Cañada and Skyline Colleges Featured at Statewide IEPI Conferences

SparkPoint at Cañada and Skyline Colleges Featured at Statewide IEPI Conferences

Recognizing the importance and impact of financial literacy and well-being in student success, the Institutional Effectiveness Partnership Initiative (IEPI), a division of the California Community College’s Chancellor’s Office, invited SparkPoint at Cañada and Skyline College’s to share the nationally recognized SparkPoint model for student success.   More than 130 financial aid, counseling, categorical program and other student services staff and faculty attended the two, one-day workshops titled, “The Role of Financial Well-Being in Student Success” 

Adolfo Leiva, Director of SparkPoint at Cañada College, presented in Irvine, Calif. on April 24 and Chad Thompson, Interim Director of SparkPoint and Career Services at Skyline College, presented in Walnut Creek, Calif. on April 26.  Topics covered during each workshop included the history of SparkPoint, the need for financial literacy and education and how it impacts student success and degree attainment, the effect of bundling as a measure of student persistence, Cañada Cash as an effective incentive program for positive financial behavior, and key takeaways from the SparkPoint model.  Included in the presentation was also, “A Day in the Life,” a short video created by Achieving the Dream’s (AtD) Working Student Success Network (WSSN) that featured Ingrid Martinez, current student and Office Assistant II at SparkPoint at Cañada College.  In the video, Ingrid outlines the challenges she faced in becoming a student and her current role as a champion for student success in working for SparkPoint. 

Joining Adolfo and Chad at both conferences was Alexandra (Alex) Kennedy, Student Assistant in the Public Benefits Office at SparkPoint at Skyline College.  Alex shared her unique experiences including that of being a single mother navigating the educational system while seeking public benefits herself and as a student assistant recognizing students’ challenges and advocating for their benefits.