At Vanderbilt, freshmen reside in a resi-
Why wait? Professor Barry Allen took 12 incoming Rollins College freshmen to Costa Rica for 10 days before the semester began. He was nervous about accom- panying youngsters, some of whom have never been out of the U.S., to a place that is often without communications or even electricity. Having never met them, he based his picks for the program on their applications. Would they fall apart outside their comfort zones? Would they behave them-
A pre-freshman freshman experience
selves? Was it worth the risk of trying to do field study with high school students? In a word: yes. Hannah Lewis was one of the youthful participants. Now a happy
sophomore, she recounts: “It was the best decision I have made so far in college. I remember the exact moment I received the postcard detailing the program last summer. Immediately after I read the field study description, I told my parents ‘I’m going to do this.’” She and her friends dove headfirst into the Costa Rican rainforest, where five-hour hikes and days without showers were not uncommon. “Participating in this trip helped me start college off on the right foot,” Hannah
says. “I went into orientation week confident, prepared and with 11 new friends.” One of them is her new roommate. Dr. Allen says, “The kids left the U.S. as high schoolers and returned as Rollins
students. They knew how to comport themselves. They blossomed. The biodiversity and sustainable development that I teach for a semester, they got in one day on the ground.” The next task for him—like all his colleagues at other schools—is to track this cohort and monitor their persistence, graduation rates and success in school.
dential living and learning community called The Commons, based on a British Oxford- Cambridge model. Each entering first-year class lives together in the ten Houses of The Commons. Each House has an apartment for its resident Faculty Head of House. He or she is a member of the university faculty who serves as mentor and helps residents of the House create community norms, identity and activities. A staff of student life profes- sionals and undergraduate and graduate res- ident advisers assures the health, well-being and safety of each member of The Com- mons community. Vanderbilt acknowledges the Commons
helps ease the fear and anxiety of first-year transition. But they proclaim its main goal is to create the environment for a transforma- tive education. Says Dean of The Commons Frank Wcislo, “The purpose is to have stu- dents and faculty live together and create opportunities for them to explore ideas and experiences beyond the curriculum they study in the classroom.” At Pasadena City College, a Summer
Bridge combines with a First year Experi- ence (FyE) called “XL” to help its primarily Latino students transition into a community college with 27,000 students. Summer activ- ities include field trips, reading assignments and Outward Bound-style team-building exercises. During FyE students help stu- dents, with upperclassmen serving as volun- teer tutors and mentors. A student-produced video with Latino accented speakers and use of Spanish-origin titles helps subtly under- score the sense of community.
Affinity relationships Ironically the number of programs and opportunities at a large institution are them- selves often overwhelming for new students. So much so that they engage in none of them. Freshmen Interest Groups (FIGs) help overcome that resistance by engaging students with similar interests. These may or may not be related to the curriculum or career track. They may or may not be set in residential environments. Nearly one-third of the University of Missouri’s 5,620 first-year students participate
14 Today’sCampus subscribe at no charge at
www.todayscampus.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68