For many students, the adjustment to the first year of college can be a challenging one; with the help of peers and older mentors, it can be much easier to make the change from life at home to the freedom of the college campus.
The First-Year Experience (FYE) program has served as a way for older students to help the freshman make a seamless transition. Despite its helpful points, the FYE program did have its problems and after months of discussion, Fairfield has adopted the new First-Year Mentor (FYM) program.
“Since July of last year, a committee of faculty, staff and students met to evaluate and assess our current FYE program,” said Associate Dean of Students and Director of Residence Life Deborah Cady. “We did so through a comprehensive process including running many focus groups consisting of current first year students as well as upper-class students, faculty who teach first year students, FYE facilitators current and past, as well as the faculty and staff resource people current and past.”
Emily Dragone ’09 was one of two students on the final committee that decided how the new program would be drawn up.
“Being on a committee that consisted of all faculty and staff with the exception of me over the summer and another student during the school year, it is not surprising that the conversation turned towards a more academic standpoint for FYE,” said Dragone. “I believe that my feedback was appreciated by the committee but in terms of actually decisions, I was definitely outnumbered.”
Dragone said that, as of now, her opinion on the new program is “undecided.” During the meetings, she “brought up concern about focusing too much on the Residence Halls, leaving little room for free socialization,” but added that as a freshman RA, she understood that the dorms are a good place to target.
“My general opinion is not so much about the FYM decision,” said Dragone, “but rather committees in general.”
“I think there needs to be an equal student to staff ratio so that the conversations can prove to be more of an equal discussion than a formality.”
Cady said she believes that student opinion was heard in the process.
“The student voice on the committee really pushed us to further develop the First-Year Mentor role and job description,” said Cady. “The committee worked hard to hear the voices of not only the students on the committee but the many, many focus group interviews that we did with students.” The result was a new program that the University hopes will be more close to the “needs, skills and talents of our current students,” according to Cady.
The program will more closely integrate the living and learning aspect that University President Fr. Jeffrey von Arx has stressed in his strategic plan.
Students will form groups based on what wing of a building they live in, instead of random group assignment, and will meet with only one mentor, instead of two. The groups will meet monthly throughout the school year instead of weekly for one semester. Previously, the FYE program was run by two student mentors and met once a week during the first semester. Students would discuss topics related to their first year on campus, such as drinking and homesickness.
The new First-Year Mentors will be chosen from a select group of students who will undergo a mandatory four-day training program, meet with each student individually at least once a semester, plan a monthly program with the residence assistants focusing on exploring Jesuit ideals and plan monthly community service and social programs.
Some students have been discouraged by the new program.
“I was thinking of being a FYE facilitator until I saw the new program,” said Francesco Barbalaco ’11.
“In any institution that has the Jesuit tradition you will see a heavy involvement of Residence Life in any aspect of campus life due to the dedication of living and learning,” said Joseph Ginese, coordinator of orientation in the Office of New Student Programs. “What we are doing is taking the Jesuit pedagogy and applying it to everyday scenarios that first-year students will experience.”
Ginese said that this past year they ran a few pilot classes with students from Regis and they were pleased with the outcome. “The result was more in-depth conversation in the class, students carrying the conversation back to their halls and continuing discussion amongst their peers,” said Ginese.
Cady stressed that the new program will provide a way to continue to implement the strategic plan and will be a good thing for new students as a way of passing the Jesuit mission on to students, so they can use it in everyday life.
“Our Jesuit mission and identity should guide everything we do at Fairfield,” said Cady.
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