With finals right around the corner, officials with the Advising, Counseling, and Testing Service office are ready to help students with finals, enrollment for next semester and any type of counseling that may be needed.  

The ACTS program was originally called the “Student Success Center.” The staff’s mission is to guide, aid and encourage students’ academics and their personal well-being. Overtime, the name changed to the ACTS, to focus more on the overall purpose.

The first focus is on advising. Advising services are designed to help students make a blueprint for their studies, move forward with degree exploration and furnish students with to tools that help them with their academics. 

Staff work with students who are undeclared to determine a major by the completion of the general education requirements. 

Although staff mainly assist undeclared majors, they also help students with declared majors such as a bachelor’s degree in general studies, bachelor’s degree in health science-business life, and a bachelor’s degree in applied sciences, graduate early. 

For students in need of help in the form of an adviser, the staff are prepared to lend a hand.

“We are the professional advisors to help students, we work through lunch hour and we are the generalist,” said Faustina Abrahams the director of the ACTS services. 

The counseling service helps Southern students with individualized, confidential, brief, time-limited counseling sessions. Counseling services are also available to help assist faculty and staff members if needed 

Some of the mental health programs offered by ACTS helps with a variety of problems such as depression, suicide, anxiety, panic attacks, stress and other concerns. These sessions are provided to help students and faculty prepare for the challenges that could stand in the way for success. 

The Missouri Southern State University Testing Center is another component of this program. It helps support the institutional mission by promoting the intellectual growth outside the formal setting of regular course work. 

Testing services include providing the ACT or other standardized tests. The center is also available for those needing a proctor for online testing. 

The ACTS office staff are also in charge of the Lion Alert, for students struggling be it for personal, emotional or academic reasons. 

The main purpose of the ACTS program is to help Missouri Southern students with any academic and personal needs so they may graduate on time and in an effective manner.