Student success speaking + workshops
Help students stay connected to who they came here to become.
College can make smart, capable students question whether they belong—especially when they are the first in their families to attend, balancing work and school, or trying to learn a system nobody ever explained to them.
I help students recognize the pressures that can push them away, connect with the support around them and build a practical plan for moving forward.
Students don’t need another lecture about trying harder.
Many students who stop out are not unmotivated. They are working, managing responsibilities, struggling quietly or trying to navigate college without a clear map.
When things get hard, they may interpret the struggle as proof that they aren’t smart enough, prepared enough or cut out for college.
My workshops help students replace that shame with practical strategy.
Through plainspoken conversation, real experience and evidence-based tools, students learn to recognize trouble earlier, ask for help sooner and take action before one difficult week becomes a lost semester.
SIGNATURE STUDENT SUCCESS WORKSHOP
“Become Who You Came Here to Be”
is A data-supported, story-driven workshop that helps students understand six common pressures that can lead to stopping out. “The Blueprint” is the custom workbook where the students will build a personal response to each one.
I know this work because I lived it.
It took me five attempts and 26 years to finish college. I stopped out four times while working, building a career and trying to manage life without understanding how to make school fit the life I actually had.
I eventually finished—and went on to earn a master’s degree in positive psychology.
I didn’t stop out because I wasn’t capable. I kept running into challenges I didn’t know how to recognize, talk about or plan around.
This is the workshop I wish someone had given me.
What students explore
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Students identify when financial demands, employment hours or basic needs begin putting their education at risk.
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Students learn to treat a low grade or difficult class as information—not a final judgment about their intelligence or belonging.
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Students consider where they feel disconnected and identify one relationship, group or campus connection they can strengthen.Description text goes here
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Students create a response plan for the moments when health, family, transportation, childcare or other responsibilities interfere with school.
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Students reconnect with why they enrolled and what finishing could make possible for their lives.
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Students map the people, offices and resources they can contact before a difficult situation becomes a departure.
THIS IS NOT A SIT A LISTEN PRESENTATION.
The Student Success Blueprint
Every participant receives a guided workbook designed to become their personal persistence plan.
Students use the Blueprint to document:
Why finishing matters to them
The pressures that could put school at risk
Their early warning signs
The strengths they already bring
The people and resources available to them
What they will do when they begin disconnecting
Who they will contact before making a decision to leave
One immediate action they will take after the workshop
This isn’t busywork. It is something students can reopen when they are tired, overwhelmed or questioning whether they should continue.
Designed for the students who may not see themselves in the usual college-success message.
This workshop is especially relevant for:
First-generation college students
Working and commuting students
Adult learners and returning students
Students in career, technical and trade programs
Students balancing school with caregiving or family responsibilities
Students experiencing academic difficulty or questioning whether they belong
New students navigating an unfamiliar educational system
Become Who You Came Here to Be can be adapted for universities, community colleges, barber and beauty schools, workforce programs and other career-training institutions.
Workshop formats
A 75-minute interactive experience featuring student reflection, periodic Blueprint work and a personal action plan.
Includes The Blueprint Workbook
In person delivery
Max capacity of 40 attendees
A shorter speaking format built around Dee’s five-attempt, 26-year completion story and the message that struggling does not mean a student does not belong.
BIPOC, Queer, Neurodiverse and gender- queer representation
Non-traditional success story
Expert Facilitation
A customized program that combines the signature workshop with follow-up coaching, accountability sessions or additional student-success skill development.
Customizable experience
MEET DEE:
A student-success coach who has lived the work.
Dee Marie, MSPP, ACC, is a positive psychology coach, speaker and student-success professional.
Before entering higher education, Dee spent 20 years in the grooming industry as an award-winning master barber, platform artist, educator, manager and business owner. They understand what it means to work on your feet, manage real-life responsibilities and build a successful career outside the traditional college path.
Dee also understands what it means to stop out.
After leaving college four times, Dee returned for a fifth attempt and completed the degree they started 26 years earlier. They later earned a Master of Science in Positive Psychology and became an ICF-credentialed coach.
Today, Dee combines lived experience, professional coaching and practical student-success strategy to connect with students who may not respond to polished speeches or academic language.
Dee does not talk at students or shame them into trying harder. They help students understand what is happening, identify what they can do next and recognize that asking for support is part of getting the job done.