The Problem

First year Hardships

After graduating from high school, jumping into an academic college can be confusing and stressful. At times, students can be so stressed that it may feel as though they are alone in a new environment.

Our program will connect students with the resources to support them through social, residential, and academic issues.

There are so many unknowns when starting your first semester in college. Most freshmen are able to figure out most of them on their own. However, some unknowns require guidance, and our program would support connecting them to the right resource.

For example, a student may be faced with a course and need help beyond the classroom, but have no idea where tutoring is located. They heard it was in the library, but walk in to only find a group of computers. Being unfamiliar with resource locations can cause additional stress to students who are already overwhelmed. This, with a load of other cascading issues from adjusting to college, could leave students feeling discouraged. If unaddressed, this cascade of issues could spiral out of control and result in them eventually dropping out.

The 2023 ODU freshmen class was approximately 3100 students. The likelihood that this was the reality for any one of those freshmen is not only likely but unfortunate. But, if they'd simply been introduced to tutoring centers via group tours of the campus once more with their freshmen cohort, they may have felt greater security in both locating the tutors and moving around a new campus. Issues like these can easily be addressed in programs catered to freshmen like the one we hope to implement.

2019 Freshmen Class Information

Building Empathy

During the semester, we thought of ways we could make each incoming freshmen have the most memorable yet informative orientation ever. We discovered the best way of doing so was to think of our own experiences and how the event affected us as part of the Monarch community. From our discussions, we found that we all had similar thoughts. We remembered the event, but the details of the information presented was not something any of us could recall. Next, we discussed how we discovered some beneficial programs that ODU offered and how each one of us learned about them. Sharing those details among the group was a good way to demonstrate the vast amount of resources we have available.

The next step we took was to reach out to students from other schools. Our goal was to use this information for developing ideas to include in our program. We learned that some schools had an entire year program for their students. Secondly, we wanted to reach out to those who conducted our own freshmen orientation here at ODU. The information collected enabled us to INNOVATE!!!

What we Discovered over the semester

ODU is known as a college for everyone. It's located in an area with a large and diverse population, which includes military families, retirees, entrepreneurs, immigrants, and more. ODU provides a unique experience for this reason. We recognize that diversity also exists in the freshman student body. Some students are figuring out how to live on their own in another country, for the first time, while there are other students who have lived in Hampton Roads all their lives. How can our program support every type of student as they transition into the Monarch body? It is clear that we need to bridge those gaps by introducing a Freshmen First class that extends over a longer period of time than it currently does. This will help minimize the disconnect in our Monarch community and bridge the gap to a meaningful ODU experience.

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