Program helps new freshmen find a fit at university

One of the first things an incoming freshman looks for is to find his or her fit in college. Fort Hays State University offers a great opportunity for a student to make that transition to college and find a home away from home. It’s called the First Year Experience (FYE).

The FYE offers 18 learning communities for new freshmen. A learning community is a group of 20 to 25 students who have similar majors, interests, or backgrounds. They will live on the same floor in a traditional residential hall and take classes together throughout their first year at the university while offering co-curricular activities for our students to be involved outside of the classroom, such as social activities, community service opportunities, and the possibility of study-abroad trips.

FHSU also has many resources to support first-generation students, one of them being a first-generation learning community, which helps students connect with students of similar backgrounds and helps make the transition to college easier. Current student Melanie Arellano-Luna, a Kansas City, Kan., sophomore, said that being a part of a learning community helped her in making personal connections with faculty and staff before the school year started.

“We were able to move in early and meet students who had same interests as us,” she said, “and when school started we already had a group of friends we could attend events with, which made it easier to get involved during that first semester of classes.”