New program improves student planning

New program improves student planning

Morgan Reddekopp, Editor-in-Chief

Students at Winona State University will now be able to use a program called You Achieve to plan out their courses or to look into switching their major or minor.

Winona State’s Senior Associate Registrar, Lori Beseler, said the program is a rebranding of the company that created the DARS program.

“College Sources are vendors for [MinnState], they created DARS. They went through rebranding. You Achieve is actually just a new name for DARS,” Beseler said.

Ron Strege, the director of Winona State Warrior Success Center, has already used the You Achieve program to help the many students he has advised.

“The best thing about this program is that if you are thinking of switching majors, you can go to the You Achieve Portal and look at your courses as it relates to that major without actually declaring that major,” Strege said. “It’s a pretty slick tool that I have used with a number of students already.”

The new You Achieve program will not be too different from the way DARS already is, according to Strege.

“It’s not a replacement of the DARS, it is just a rebranding of the name. Some schools in the system utilize the DARS more than others. But the concept remains the same,” Strege said.

The concept, Strege said, is the ability to look at the courses a student needs to graduate on time.

Strege also believes that this program will make advising sessions much easier for both students and advisors by helping students prepare more for their advising sessions.

“We encourage students to be checking their progress and to use the tool to develop good questions for their academic advisor,” Strege said.

Winona State students are currently able to access this new program through their eServices account.

“It’s up and running now for students. Students access You Achieve Self-Service through their eServices account. In the left navigation, they would search under Academic Records then Degree Audit Portal,” Strege said.

Lori Beseler said the rebranding into You Achieve is a step in the right direction.

“I think it’s a good move forward, the next step would be the You Achieve Planner. It allows students to plan out their college career,” Beseler said.