It was Saturday night when Payton Holp emailed her advisor to say she was dropping out.
"I wrote, ‘Just to let you know, I'm withdrawing tomorrow. I appreciate your help, but this isn't working out. I should have never come here,’” Holp said.
Laura Toomb wrote back almost immediately: "I'm going to call you."
Holp was doing well in her business classes, but was “nervous for what was ahead.” As a commuter, she was struggling to connect with campus life.
She turned to Toomb as her holistic advisor. Not only had the pair met one-on-one to plan Holp’s classes for her entire undergraduate career, but they saw each other weekly in Toomb’s Biz 101 class.
Now, every incoming undergraduate has a holistic advisor like Toomb.
“We want to be that person they can talk to about every aspect of their lives. Their frustrations and their celebrations,” Toomb said.
Toomb has connected students to resources on campus like tutoring or peer mentoring, helped them maximize their class schedule to add a minor or second major, even talked about how a first date went.
When Holp sent that email, Toomb was ready to act. She connected Holp with another student, a sophomore business commuter she also advised, knowing both students, their goals and their personalities would be a good match.
“She said, ‘I’m going to give you this girl’s email to talk to her,’” Holp said. “And I’m thinking, oh, whatever, this will be like every other friendship where we say we’ll hang out but never do.”
Instead, Holp and Allison Wesley met at a campus coffee shop and talked for hours. Now, they call and text regularly, and walk to class together every Tuesday and Thursday.
“Honestly I have a friend for life now,” said Wesley, a junior double major in business management and marketing, who said Toomb is “like a second mom” who “truly cares about me” and checks in regularly on not just her academic progress but her life.
Toomb also set up a meeting with Holp to talk about her career goals, which led her to connect Holp with an advisor in communication.
Today, Holp is a sophomore in communication. She is interning with the Warren County Convention and Visitors Bureau. She found her vocation in public relations and marketing. Although she has a new advisor in the College of Arts and Sciences, she still connects regularly with Toomb.
“She checks up on me," Holp said. “And I write her to say ‘I just wanted to tell you I’m loving comm. I’m very grateful for you. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you.’”