Maryville’s First-Year Experience: Providing a foundation for college success

By Dr. Peggy Cowan
Chair of the Maryville Curriculum, Associate Professor of Religion and holder of the Ralph W. Beeson Chair in Religion

Beginnings are important. They shape what follows and often determine the endings. What seems like an obvious truth has not always been applied to introducing students to college life. It was assumed that if they were accepted into college, they were ready for its challenges. However, going to college is a major transition for students. As one of our faculty members described the experience recently, it is like traveling in a foreign country for the first time. New students experience culture shock. The culture of critical thinking, analytical reading, academic inquiry, and precise communication of difficult ideas is foreign to a world of sound bites, video games and slang expressions.

To negotiate this new world they must learn a new vocabulary, unfamiliar skills, strange customs, and meet previously unheard of expectations. Few students really understand the phrase ‘liberal arts’ and must learn that a Maryville education is about enhancing their lives as citizens and whole human beings, not just their job or career. Words take on new meanings. For example, students have heard the term ‘myth’ used commonly to refer to a falsehood. When they arrive in biblical studies courses, they must learn the meaning that ‘myth’ has in the study of religion. They must also recognize that arguments, opinions, and theories cannot be based primarily on perspectives and assumptions they have grown up with, but must be supported with evidence and logical arguments. Academic discussion involves reaching shared understanding of a reading or topic before one can offer a valid assessment or application of the material.

Perhaps the biggest change in expectations is the amount of time students need to spend on school work outside of class. While in high school, very few students spend more than a few hours a week on homework. A general guideline at Maryville College is 2-3 hours outside of class for every hour in class. Outside of the classroom, students have to learn to manage their own lives, negotiate financial aid, live with a roommate, and develop a new set of relationships.

Thus, what was known as the freshman year in my college days is no longer simply the first of four years, but is the critical transitional period that lays the foundation for a student’s academic career. What happens in that first year is crucial in determining whether or not they will reach a successful conclusion – graduation – and go on to become educated persons and engaged citizens.

For a number of years, Maryville College has been intentional about providing a positive foundation in the first year. When I first started teaching in 1990, we had a meaningful orientation program and a seminar for new students called “Inquiry.” Gradually we recognized that our students needed more acculturation in order to get the most out of their college experience. As part of developing a new curriculum that was inaugurated in 1996, we developed a first-year seminar sequence lasting the full academic year. That sequence is described elsewhere in this edition of FOCUS. Through the 10 years this program has been in place, we have made minor changes, but have found the sequence as a whole to be quite effective.

One of the keys to helping first-year students develop a foundation for college success is understanding what their strengths and liabilities are when they arrive on campus.

In the first few weeks – or even days – new students establish patterns and relationships that will govern their experience for four years. They learn to study – or not – and research has shown that whatever pattern they establish for use of time becomes the blueprint for the next four years. In other words, if they study for four hours a week in their first semester, they will study for four hours a week their senior year. But it is not only the amount of time they spend on school work that becomes ingrained; the ways they use that time and the study habits they acquire also remain constant throughout.

Important, too, is the establishment of a commitment to higher education and Maryville College. If students are not well acculturated to our liberal arts culture, they are unlikely to decide to stay four years and complete their degree. Not only do we have to help them establish effective study habits and learn fundamental skills, we have to nurture an understanding of what it means to become an educated person and how the Maryville Curriculum is designed to accomplish that goal. Very often, a course they take in the first year catches their interest and entices them to select a major in that discipline. Thus, for many their connection with the core curriculum and their identification with a major area of study are set early.

Whether or not they understand and value the curriculum is one piece of the commitment to MC, but at least as important is whether or not they have a significant relationship with a faculty member. If students maintain the attitude carried over from high school (that interacting with teachers is not cool), they are unlikely to take advantage of one of their greatest resources – faculty members who are dedicated to teaching and mentoring them. Those who interact with faculty outside of class in their first year will continue to do so, and that connection will be a major source of support as they negotiate the academic culture.

Staff members, too, can be an important source of support and connection to the institution. As students encounter them in orientation, in the residence halls, as coaches, and through campus organizations, staff members contribute to their transition into the Maryville College community.

Another source of support – or of negative behaviors – is the set of relationships new students develop with peers and campus groups. As they begin to sort out their own place in academic culture, the role models they choose can have a powerful impact. If their primary associations are with students who are eager to learn and engaged in campus life, first-year students tend to develop similar patterns. Campus organizations provide lots of opportunities for students to connect with students, faculty and staff who are engaged in positive efforts to enhance the college community or contribute to the community beyond the campus. Life-long relationships and attitudes toward civic engagement often have their roots in a student’s first college year.

What we have discovered more recently is that we need to think beyond orientation and the first-year seminar sequence when thinking about the First-Year Experience. Culture shock associated with the transition to college involves both academic and non-academic facets of campus life. Earlier this year we developed two mechanisms for thinking about the First-Year Experience beyond the seminar sequence and academic transitions. The first of those is a FYE Coordinating Group that consists of faculty, student development staff and representatives from admissions and athletics. Reporting directly to the College Cabinet, the Coordinating Group is charged with oversight of all first-year programming, implementation of recommendations from the Foundations of Excellence Project, and informing the campus community about first-year programming. Most important, this group will be able to facilitate integration of all pieces of the first-year so that new students have a coherent experience.

The FYE Coordinating Group developed the second mechanism, a statement of philosophy for our first-year experience, which was approved by the Cabinet and will guide us as we continue to enhance our programming for new students. That statement reads: The First-Year Experience at MC provides students a foundation for college success by helping them to connect with the mission of the College, establish roots in the College community, develop new ways of thinking, and live as responsible citizens.

As we look to the future and continue to enhance the first year for our students, we also will be considering ways to make sure such courses as Introductory Psychology, Biblical Studies, Principles of Chemistry, Foundations of Western Civilization, and Introduction to the Fine Arts meet the needs of our entering students and reflect our philosophy of the FYE. Knowing something of the characteristics specific to students who have grown up in the late 20th century gives us insight into ways to capture their interest. And understanding the stages of intellectual development enables us to design pedagogically appropriate classroom experiences.

Beginnings are important. As we lay a foundation for students’ success in their first year, we are seeking to acclimate them to a foreign culture. They must learn the vocabulary of the liberal arts and of academic inquiry in various disciplines. They must cultivate the habits of mind that are essential to genuine learning and careful, critical thinking. They must develop commitment to the mission of Maryville College and to becoming an educated person and engaged citizen. And they must establish relationships that can nurture and sustain them for four years and beyond.

If first-year students work through the culture shock to find themselves truly engaged in the academic world and prepared to continue the journey then the First-Year Experience at Maryville College has successfully served both its purpose and our students.