Grow, Persist, Succeed offers career coaching, boosts student retention
Menomonie, Wis. – An innovative career-development program continues to gather accolades as it helps guide University of Wisconsin-Stout students on a route to post-college success.
The Grow, Persist, Succeed (GPS) Program, part of Career Services, is about more than connecting students to on-campus jobs: It makes these work experiences more meaningful by fostering one-on-one career coaching and feedback from supervisors about students’ evolving career skills.
The program was honored earlier this semester with the Regents Academic Staff Excellence Award, which is given by the Universities of Wisconsin Board of Regents to a noninstructional academic staff program that provides exceptional service.
“This exemplary program embodies the mission of UW-Stout by preparing our students for impactful careers through professional experiences that focus on applied learning and collaborative partnerships,” Provost Glendalí Rodríguez said in a letter nominating the program for the award. “The GPS program provides a holistic and student-centered initiative by pairing students with faculty and staff and meaningfully integrating job experiences with career development.”
Now in its fourth year, GPS is designed for first- and second-year students and new transfer students, particularly those from underserved populations such as first-generation college students. GPS aligns with UW-Stout’s polytechnic tenets of applied learning and career focus. In its first three years, the program supported nearly 100 students across 23 university offices, departments and programs, ranging from Admissions and Athletics to the Discovery Center Fab Lab and the chemistry and physics department.
In addition to developing career skills, the program fosters student retention, said Career Services Director Bryan Barts. “Research has shown us that students who have a job on campus have a higher likelihood of completing their degree,” Barts said.
Built into the GPS program are eight “career competencies” identified by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), which include communication, critical thinking, leadership, professionalism and more. These competencies are seen as national benchmarks for how well students will perform in real-world work environments. GPS participants assess themselves on these skills at the beginning and end of the academic year, and results from 2024-25 showed that students had a 10% increase in their overall confidence about their career skills.
During their participation in the program, students pick a few of the eight competencies to focus on, and along the way receive targeted feedback about these skills from their supervisors. “That’s a really impactful and intentional step to improving the students’ experience, and we’re seeing that the supervisors appreciate the guidance and support that it gives,” Barts said.
GPS helps students develop the skills and confidence needed to succeed later in their academic careers and in the workplace. “Students appreciate knowing what employers are going to be looking for when they are searching for internship and co-op experiences,” said Sara Anger, career development manager with Career Services.
The Regents Academic Staff Excellence Award isn’t the first honor GPS has received: During its inaugural year, the program was given an Innovation Award by the Wisconsin Association of Colleges and Employers, WI-ACE, for providing unique and creative approaches to student programming, university/employer relations, recruiting and training. UW-Stout officials have also made presentations about the GPS Program at state and regional professional conferences.
UW-Stout junior Ian Bryant worked in the university’s Admissions and Advisement offices as part of the GPS Program, which he said has helped him both develop talents and plan his career pathway. “They really tailor it to your skills, what your mindset is, and what your plans are,” he said of GPS. “And that really sets students up for success.”
While students can learn basic skills such as time-management at many other jobs, Bryant said, “The GPS Program adds another layer to it. It really emphasizes professional and personal growth.”
Bryant, a B.S. hotel, restaurant & tourism management major from Rochester, Minnesota, said he isn’t surprised that the GPS Program has won awards.
“This is a perfect example of why Stout has the employment rate it does,” he said, alluding to the fact that 99% of Blue Devils are employed or continuing their education within six months of graduation. “Not only are we setting students up for that hands-on experience in industry, but we’re developing those professional skills, and I think that’s crucial.”
Barts said he expects programs such as GPS to have a long-term impact on UW-Stout graduates. He pointed to the results of the 2024 National Alumni Career Mobility Survey, which found that participating UW-Stout alumni from the classes of 2014 and 2019 rated the university higher than peer institutions on five out of six factors, including career pathway preparation, institutional career investment, career mobility, career satisfaction and community engagement.
“As an early career readiness program, GPS is a shining example of how UW-Stout prepares students quickly for success in future internships and post-graduation careers,” Barts said.
