Freshman students get a kick out of new LIFE experience

More than 160 students, faculty and vistors attended a celebration of LIFE (Learning Integrated Freshman Experience) on Dec. 4, in the Rodney Room of the Perkins Student Center. At the event, 115 first-year students who were part of 11 groups– called clusters–displayed their end-of-the-semester cooperative projects and answered questions about their LIFE experiences.

The event was the culmination of a new program where students with similar academic interests become part of a small learning community, or cluster, and enroll in thematically related introductory courses, plus UNIV 101, a one-credit First Year Experience seminar. Members of LIFE cluster groups with a residential component also live in the same residence hall.

Students in the LIFE experience program have spent the fall semester working in clusters to complete final projects that range from making advertisements and posters, to creating videos and building a computer. LIFE clusters are assisted by a faculty contact and upperclassmen who serve as peer mentors and facilitate the UNIV 101course.

"The students have been working on these projects throughout the semester," Meghan Biery, program peer mentor coordinator and graduate assistants in the Center for Teaching Effectiveness (CTE), said, "This event is a culmination of that project in a way that is very visible to the University community." ??

Biery said that feedback on the LIFE program has been positive and that additional clusters are planned for the spring semester.

"Students take courses together, and the peer mentors can help direct them towards University resources as they are needed," Biery said. "The clusters give the new students an instant study group and an instant group of friends."

William Frawley, faculty advisor on general education for Academic Programs and Planning, said being involved with LIFE has led him to appreciate the importance of providing a coherent and thematically-focused experience for first-year students.

"LIFE is certainly very much about the students, but it is also about the whole University community," Frawley said. "This experience has allowed students, faculty, support staff and administrators to get to know and work with each other in a new way."

For students in the LIFE program, working on a semester-long project has given them the opportunity to meet individuals from different backgrounds while learning to work together as a group.

"When you work with a lot of people who have different ideas, it can be difficult," Allison Mace, a fashion merchandising freshman from Waynesboro, Pa., said. "It all came together because we learned how to draw on our individual strengths to support each other."

Carolyn Snock, a freshman nutrition major from Westmont, N.J., worked with a group that visited an elementary school with poster boards and food pyramids to teach students about the benefits of eating a balanced diet.

"It's a good way to do community service," Snock said. "The kids loved it, and begged us not to leave. I think they had a lot of fun."

Freshmen involved with LIFE benefit from immediate and meaningful engagement in the University experience. As a result, they experience greater satisfaction because of their academic success and their social encounters, Frawley said. LIFE's special residential learning community fosters active participation in shared projects as well as friendships based upon shared interests. Other benefits include guaranteed enrollment in cluster courses and guaranteed housing for those in the residential cluster. Another plus is the involvement of peer mentors, who provide guidance and help students set realistic goals.

Frawley said he was pleased with the turnout at the LIFE celebration, particularly since a number of students who are not in the program attended to find out more about the new freshman experience project. He said LIFE's first semester has been successful and he is interested in seeing whether students continue in the program during the spring semester.

Currently, Frawley said, students live in residence halls located at different sites throughout campus. Eventually, Frawley said, a specific LIFE residence hall could be designated to house a number of clusters. He said he hopes the program will expand to 250 students in 15 clusters by next fall.

LIFE is part of the General Education Initiative, approved by the University Faculty Senate last spring, which consists of courses and programs for the freshman year experience and other general education components throughout the undergraduate curriculum, such as discovery learning and a capstone experience in the senior year.?

Over the next three years, the Committee on General Education will set guidelines, standards and academic policies for the proposed general education program. The committee will report to the senate with its recommendations by September 2003.

–Jerry Rhodes and Ed Okonowicz