Missouri Southern’s Student Success Center was recognized last week by the National College Learning Center/Learning Support Centers in Higher Education for the quality of its website. The Student Success Center’s second place award in the Website Excellence Award competition is the best result the school has ever achieved.

Stephanie Hopkins, director of the Student Success Center, and Debbie Fort, an academic skills specialist, will be presented with a plaque honoring their achievement during the NCLCA National Conference October 5-8 in Milwaukee, Wis.

“Winning this award is an amazing honor for us,” said Hopkins.

A panel that included a student, a faculty member, current or former learning center administrators, a prior first-place award winner and a non-learning center web master judged the websites. All college and university comprehensive Learning Center websites are eligible for the awards.

“That award really means a lot because it was judged by a panel of peers from around the country,” said Hopkins. “They know what we do every day so their expertise is unquestioned.”

Hopkins says one the things that makes the website so great is the amount of content it offers.

“We have a lot of pictures on there, sliders, there’s also a lot of videos and presentations that students can use to help them with different types of study skills. We also have quick links to outside materials like Khan Academy that can help tremendously,” she said.

This year’s first place winner is Dunwoody College of Technology in Minneapolis, Minn. Other recent winners include the University of Cincinnati, Clemson University and the University of Central Florida.

“I thought the Student Success Center was great. It was certainly helpful and I think I did a lot better on my test afterward,” said Ashley Geter, senior general studies major. “I would definitely use them again.”