A Guide for Successful Students was created to accompany a non-credit series of modules for THRIVES, a project of the Student Services Department of St. Clair College. The intention was to develop a series of modules for students entering first semester that would give them information and tools that would ease their transition to college and through that, support mental wellness. A small team was gathered in February 2018 and THRIVES development began in earnest.
Wanting more than a series of policies and dry facts, the structure based on skillsets, attitudes and behaviours of successful students was taken from the Orientation Family and Friends workshop developed by Bob Birnie and Irene Stewart. So that the modules would cover a wide range of topics that would be useful to students throughout their college years, the OER College Success 2015 published by the University of Minnesota was selected for adaptation.