Melissa Hayes-Connolly remembered the day in the fall of 2023 when Brandon Bradley, then Ƶ’s head wrestling coach, came to her office in Cochrane-Woods Library. “He told me, ‘I’m struggling to get my guys feeling prepared for college.’”
Hayes-Connolly directs Nebraska Wesleyan’s Cooper Center for Academic Resources. She described the backgrounds of many Ƶ wrestlers. “Oftentimes, they’re first-generation college students coming to Nebraska Wesleyan from under-resourced high schools.” They often arrive on campus without the exposure to role models or effective study habits that many of their peers grew up seeing.
Bradley wanted to know: Could she help his team get stronger?
“We set up a team-wide, 10-week study hall,” Hayes-Connolly said. “We started with data collection—asking lots of questions about their study skills and current processes. We asked them, ‘What’s working for you now? And where are some areas where you know you want to improve?’”
Hayes-Connolly took that information and developed a special curriculum. This curriculum didn’t cover academic disciplines, like algebra or American history, but instead focused on broader fundamental academic habits, like notetaking, time management and reading comprehension strategies.
Most weeks, Hayes-Connolly brought three or four student tutors with her from the Cooper Center. “We wanted the team to recognize them as classmates and just know who they are. They could say, ‘Hey, are you a math tutor?’ And those relationships make asking for help a lot easier.”
Hayes-Connolly was careful not to stereotype. But she said there’s truth to the image of wrestlers as tough, proud and masculine. “And sometimes masculinity’s rules make it hard to ask for help or admit you’re weak at something.” The team study hall helped address that.
Over time, she saw the team’s culture shift. “And it became more than just a study hall,” she said. “Studying the right way became about being accountable to yourself and to your team,” she said. “You can be an amazing wrestler, but if you don’t make your grades, you can’t compete. You can’t help the team win.”
The results of this culture shift were dramatic, Hayes-Connolly said. “By the spring of 2025, we had zero wrestlers on academic probation for the first time” since Ƶ reintroduced wrestling in 2016.
Those results caught the attention of the International College Learning Center Association (ICLCA), an organization which supports the professionalization of academic resource groups like the Cooper Center at colleges and universities across the Americas.
Hayes-Connolly accepted the 2025 ICLCA President’s Outstanding Learning Center Award for Specialized Populations at its annual conference in Rapid City, S.D., in October.
“Melissa and the Cooper Center have been fundamental in the success of our student-athletes,” said Assistant Athletic Director Erin Dwyer. “Not only have we gotten at risk students off probation and suspension, but we have kept them in good academic standing and put them on a path to success for their futures.”