Every student’s academic path looks different, and sometimes that path gets interrupted. At the University of Florida, students who pause their studies for three consecutive semesters, including summer, are considered “discontinued,” launching a formal process to re-enroll. It’s a label that can feel like a closed door, especially for students facing personal hardships, mental health challenges or unforeseen obstacles.
But for Joe Uong and Rebecca Sandbach Woods, that label wasn’t an end; it was a call to action.
Together, they created Close2Grad, a groundbreaking program that’s giving students a second chance. Uong, a data management analyst in CLAS, collaborated to create the digital report that collects the necessary information to identify students who left UF on the cusp of graduation. Sandbach Woods, an academic assistant, brings the heart. With every outreach email, phone call and check-in, she reopens the doors for students who may have believed they were closed for good.
“I am on their side. I am their cheerleader until they tell me to stop,” Sandbach Woods said.
Whether it’s offering guidance through re-enrollment, helping navigate holds or financial barriers, or simply providing encouragement at the right time, the program aims to catch students early — before momentum is lost — so they can finish what they started.
Their combined effort is already rewriting stories. In the two years since Uong and Sandbach Woods began pulling data and reaching out, 38 students have been identified and contacted. Thirteen have since crossed the finish line and are now proud Gator alumni.
