Surviving College and Beyond covers the depths of several obstacles, unforeseen transitions and timely milestones that adolescents experience during their matriculation at post-secondary institutions. Research focused on college retention rates and overall persistence will inform the audience about the gaps in learning that impact the success rates of students. It is in my best interest to convey which soft skills, and solutions are most helpful for students to adopt as best practices. After ten years of stewarding high schools, community colleges and university staff, and scholarship foundations, these findings are a compilation of definitive moments that prove applying to college is just as cumbersome as surviving college. The call to action will ensure attendees feel empowered to impart influence on current college students through the three C’s methodology (connection, contribution and community). Throughout the speech, I will incorporate learnings from my most recent social experiment as a castaway from Survivor. Tim Spicer is a facilitator, entrepreneur, and international expert with a decade of experience in the post-secondary education field; specifically, helping students navigate their academic and career pathways through college, vocational training and beyond. As the Associate Director of Post-Secondary Access at PeerForward, he manages a portfolio of high schools and colleges that implement a peer-to-peer mentoring model to boost self-advocacy and college access. Additionally, Tim is revered in his community for his introduction of President Barack Obama during his 2009, Address to Students. While supporting over 1,000 graduating seniors annually, Tim has fine-tuned his niche by earning his M. Ed. in Curriculum & Instruction from the Graduate School of Education & Human Development at George Washington University 18’. With his life aspiration to inspire people, Tim recently competed on CBS, 46th Season of Survivor. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx