A Slippery Rock University student is using her experience as a leading peer academic coach to help promote student success among first-year students. Riley Whitehill, a senior psychology major from Clinton, is a campus advocate for the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory, a nationwide assessment to gather information about learning and study practices and attitudes that is used by SRU’s Center for Career and Academic Progress.
“We want students to feel empowered to do things themselves,” Whitehill said. “To have autonomy in their college decisions.”
The LASSI is a 60-item assessment of student’s awareness about, and usage of learning and study strategies related to skill, will and self-regulation components of strategic learning.
“I was looking at the connection between success coaching and the LASSI assessment,” Whitehill said. “We give the assessment to first-year students during their FYRST seminar class. We had about 80% of them decide to make a partnership with the Success Coaching Office.”
Students who completed the LASSI assessment were not only able to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses but also had the opportunity to schedule a one-on-one appointment with a success coach. SRU’s success coaches provides students with an accountability partner and sounding board who is invested in their unique college experience and goals.
“Students would have a debrief appointment with a coach,” Whitehill explained. “In that appointment, they’re really focusing on asking students questions that are challenging, like, ‘How is this your strength?,’ ‘How do you feel like you can use this skill in college?’ or ‘Where do you want to be at the end of this semester as a stronger student?’”
As part of her analysis, Whitehill collected data during the Fall 2025 semester. She examined how student outcomes differed between those who completed the assessment and those who chose not to participate.
“What we found was that academic persistence was higher for the students who took the LASSI,” Whitehill said. “We also found that term grade-point average was higher for those individuals as well.”
The findings reinforced the value of reflection and guided support in successful student outcomes.
“Overall, the project is our way of showing students how important it is for them to not only be taking this assessment to reflect on their stills going into college, but also to emphasize how impactful it can be to have proper coaching,” Whitehill said. “It’s an open space where they can be challenged to grow.”
Whitehill, and the success coaches in SRU’s CCAP, highlight a style of learning that fosters independence.
“We’re not telling them what strategies to use,” Whitehill said “We’re encouraging them to find the solution for their own problems, prioritizing a focus on self-efficacy.”
Whitehill’s assessment project ties back to her reasoning for becoming a success coach, a role shaped by her own transition into college life and the support she found along the way.
“I started being coached, and I absolutely fell in love with the practice, the connections and the support I had,” Whitehill said. “I applied to be a peer academic coach (when I transferred to SRU in 2024), and I’ve been doing it for two years now. I just wanted to be able to do provide the same impact that I had for other students.”
Whitehill’s efforts as a success coach recently earned her the Peer Academic Coach of the Year award from the Association for the Coaching and Tutoring Profession. She was presented with the award at the organization’s annual conference last month in Seattle.
“I was shocked,” Whitehill said. “Coaching was never about getting any sort of recognition. I genuinely love meeting with my students and seeing the progress that they’ve made, so that in and of itself was already a reward for me. It meant the world that I was even nominated, but winning it completely blew me away.”
Whitehill expressed a large amount of gratitude for her community at SRU and the opportunities it has given her.
“CCAP, and the Psychology Department, have been so helpful,” Whitehill said. “Even though I was a transfer student, I’ve always felt so supported at SRU with the opportunities that have been presented to me. I loved being able to be a leader and present at national conferences, and I’ve found that if a student is truly passionate about what they are doing, this University will open up doors.”
More information about CCAP at SRU can be found on the center’s webpage. More information about psychology at SRU is available on the program’s webpage.
