As Undergraduate Student Congress vice chairman, Jonathan Vann occupies one of the highest-ranking positions within UOSA, but he took an unusual route to get there.

At Vann’s last Congress meeting as vice chairman, he shared his story about how his involvement with the organization saved him from dropping out of college.

Vann said it was always his dream as a Norman native to attend OU and study architecture. After one semester on campus, however, Vann said he discovered he did not like architecture and struggled with the transition from high school.

Vann’s grades left him on the verge of academic probation, and by the end of his freshman year Vann said he fully intended to drop out.

“I just hated school, absolutely hated it. I was completely lost and totally confused,” Vann said.

Vann’s only connection to the university outside of classes was his job as a student clerk in the UOSA offices, he said. As he struggled academically, his boss at the university, Student Programs Director Brynn Daves, noticed his grades. Daves, along with Clarke Stroud, vice president of Student Affairs, approached Vann about his performance.

“There were some indicators that Jonathan wasn’t doing well … clearly Jonathan is a really sharp guy … we took it as an opportunity to help him,” Stroud said.

Stroud and Daves took Vann aside and told him he had the potential to do better, Stroud said.

“It was a teachable moment, and it was one of those times when the stars aligned, and it was the perfect time for a conversation with him,” Stroud said.

With their encouragement, Vann returned to campus for his sophomore year, received a 4.0 GPA in his first semester and continued working as a student clerk at the UOSA offices.

Seeing Vann’s work as a student clerk, fall 2009 and spring 2010 Congress Chairman John Jennings recruited Vann to be a Congress committee chairman, Vann said.

Vann began as Congress’ Problems and Projects Committee chairman his junior year and eventually became Congress vice chairman his senior year.

“Once I got involved in Student Congress, once I got connected to the university and actually felt like I was a part of the university … I really got to see how awesome this place really is, how great of a community we have here,” Vann said.

Vann said he expects to graduate with an advertising degree in December and hopes to continue his studies in graduate school.

Though Vann was a success story, Stroud said he has had a lot of conversations with students that have not been successful.

There are a lot of things that impact students’ grades, and the university has many mechanisms to work with students who need help, Stroud said.

Speed reading and study strategies programs, gateway classes, resident advisers, and graduate services are among these services, Stroud said.

Academic Standing recourses are available to students who might need help, Academic Records Director Richard Skeel said.

Within the universitywide academic standard, there are three levels of academic standing: good standing, probation or notice and suspension, Skeel said.

Academic probation and suspension are not meant as penalties but as warnings, Skeel said.

“If they are continuing to slip, we don’t want them to fall so far behind where they can’t recover,” Skeel said.

Students on academic probation have one semester to raise their GPA to a 2.0 before being suspended or must attain a 2.0 GPA for that semester, Skeel said. Suspended students must sit out the next fall or spring semester before they can reapply to the university.

“I encourage students that are out there, if they need help, to reach out,” Stroud said.