Amy Proctor

Student Athlete Support System (SASS) helps them stay on track

Attending classes, studying and completing assignments while life’s demands chew up precious time: It’s the plate-spinning act most college students face on a daily basis. For those who participate in sports, with the additional time commitment due to practices, games and travel, sometimes a plate or two crashes to the floor.

Schoolcraft College’s Student Athlete Support System, or SASS, can help pick up the pieces. This program, one of the most comprehensive among community colleges, serves as both a checkpoint and a way to get students back on track.

Dr. Michael Oliver, now Associate Dean of Career Services, helped form SASS in 1997 to help student-athletes succeed.

“Many student athletes struggled academically due to the demands of their sport, demands on their time and their academic load,” he said. “Therefore, to help student athletes be successful academically and graduate with a degree, certificate or successfully transfer, Schoolcraft took ownership and proactively developed a comprehensive academic support program aimed at holding student-athletes accountable for their academics and at the same time provide them with the support needed for them to be successful academically while recognizing the importance of their sport.”

“I work with the student to find out what they need help with. Do they need tutoring? An academic coach?”
Amy Proctor, SASS Coordinator

Amy Proctor is the SASS Coordinator. Essentially, she’s the liaison among instructors, coaches, the athletic director and, of course, the students. Faculty report to her six times a semester (about every two weeks) on the following:

Attendance
Passing
Borderline
Failing

“SASS is here to help student-athletes academically,” Proctor said. “If a student is on the SASS report, coaches, the AD and the student are notified.”

From there, the focus is on finding the root cause of the issue and tailoring an individual solution.

“I work with the student to find out what they need help with,” Proctor said. “Do they need tutoring? An academic coach?”

Dedicated SASS Coordinator

Proctor is well-qualified for this role. As a former standout swimmer in both high school and college, she knows first-hand the challenges of balancing academics and athletics. Further, she adds 23 years’ experience as a counselor at Farmington Hills Harrison High School, where her responsibilities including helping prospective student-athletes stay on track for NCAA and NAIA eligibility.

Proctor generally works to help students improve in five key areas:

Time management
Textbook reading
Memory
Note-taking
Test taking

“We’re committed to helping the students stay on track to get their associate’s degree,” Proctor said. “Generally speaking, if they hit their deadlines, they’ll be OK.”

Proctor started in the role part-time in March of 2019 ahead of the closure of Farmington Hills Harrison that June.

“I love working with students – I always have,” she said. “Harrison was very special to me, but this has been a perfect fit and is very rewarding.”

Dedicated space in the Physical Education building is available to help student-athletes with their studies.

Recognizing that students arrive from different academic backgrounds and had different resources, Proctor has implemented some technology-based solutions to aid in success.

“You have to meet the students where they’re at, which is on their phone,” she said. “All of the student-athletes are on the Remind app, so for example I’ll text them about JumpStart! sessions or remind them about class registration. Just making sure they’re taking care of the things they need to take care of.”

Office Hours

Proctor’s office is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesday as well as 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Students also can scan a QR code at the door of her office in the Physical Education Building to make an appointment.

Throughout the year, Schoolcraft College has about 200 student-athletes on 11 teams. From that, Proctor estimates she sees less than one-fourth of that total.

“Most have the ‘student’ part down really well,” Proctor said. “We want everyone to stay on track, so we’re here to assist those who need a little help now and then.”

Inclusiveness is a key part of SASS as well.

“The SASS program continues to evolve,” Oliver said. “With the addition of academic success coaches through Learning Support Services, student-athletes are provided more in-depth academic support.

“Furthermore, Schoolcraft was proactive in addressing the needs of our athletes with disabilities and worked with the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) on allowing for a reduced academic load for our student-athletes with a documented disability so they are able to compete as a student-athlete.”

To help positively reinforce academic excellence, SASS and the Department of Athletics has begun recognizing student-athletes of the month and also held a drive-through student-athlete academic honors celebration in July.

In addition, Schoolcraft College was named the 2020-21 National Junior College Athletic Association Academic Team of the Year in Women’s Bowling for achieving the highest grade point average in their sport. As a team, Schoolcraft compiled a 3.59 GPA.

Visit the SASS web page for more information.

As a team, Schoolcraft compiled a 3.59 GPA

Before – and after – the Schoolcraft College women’s bowling team hits the lanes, they hit the books. Hard.

That dedication to academics paid off in a big way as Schoolcraft was named the 2020-21 National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Academic Team of the Year in Women’s Bowling for achieving the highest grade point average in their sport.

This is the first time the women’s team has achieved this honor. It’s also the first time any Schoolcraft College team has achieved it since 2015-16 (men’s bowling).

“It’s obviously a very special and prestigious honor when you look at all of the other schools across the country that were eligible for this.”
Patrick Yelsik, Schoolcraft College women’s bowling coach

“It’s obviously a very special and prestigious honor when you look at all of the other schools across the country that were eligible for this,” coach Patrick Yelsik said. “Knowing the kind of young women who we have in our program, it doesn’t come as a total shock.

“Being around them every day, you learn very quickly that it is an exceptional group that has a laser focus and can be borderline perfectionists, and I say that in the highest regard. I’m extremely proud of them.”

As a team, Schoolcraft compiled a 3.59 GPA. Sophomore Allison Little (Livonia Churchill) earned NJCAA Second-Team Academic All-American honors with a 3.98 GPA in 2020-21, as did freshman LeiLani Williams (Carlson) with a 3.92 GPA. Sophomore Amanda Fsadni (Anchor Bay) was named to the NJCAA All-Academic Third Team with a 3.70 GPA.

Student-athletes in all sports face tremendous pressure balancing making time to play the sport they love with their academic load as well as other responsibilities.

“We practice two hours a day, four days a week, and then our tournaments are on Fridays, so it’s not uncommon for those to be 12-to-14 hour days when you factor in travel,” Yelsik said. “Then combine that with the fact that most everyone on our team has some sort of job on top of taking a full-time class load, there is definitely a time management component that they have to be able to successfully navigate, as is the case with any student-athlete.”

A key resource Schoolcraft College has in place to help student-athletes succeed is the Student Athlete Support System, or SASS. This program, one of the most comprehensive among community colleges, serves as both a checkpoint and a way to get students back on track.

The Schoolcraft College women’s bowling team achieved the highest grade point average in their sport in the National Junior College Athletic Association for the 2020-21 season

Amy Proctor is the SASS Coordinator. Essentially, she’s the liaison among instructors, coaches, the Director of Athletics and the students. Faculty report to her six times a semester (about every two weeks) on the following:

Attendance

Passing

Borderline

Failing

“Most of our student-athletes at Schoolcraft College have the ‘student’ part down really well,” Proctor said. “We want everyone to stay on track, so we’re here to assist those who need a little help now and then.”

Yelsik is grateful for her help.

“A big thank you to Amy Proctor, our Student-Athlete Support Services Coordinator, for her tireless work on the academic side of the fence with the students as well as the rest of our Athletic Department Staff and my assistant coach Ashley Schou, who is able to provide much more guidance with homework on those long bus trips than I can,” he said.

Director of Athletics Cali Crawford is understandably proud of the achievement.

“This is a tremendous accomplishment, and full credit to our coaches for setting the right example and proper focus on priorities, to our women’s bowling team student-athletes for putting in the time on their studies and to our support staff for all of their help,” Crawford said. “I have no doubt that these young women are going to continue to be successful with whatever the next step in their journey may be and beyond.”