Penn State Brandywine offered its first full slate of first-year seminars (FYS) this fall, enrolling 425 students across 22 sections of a curriculum designed to help freshmen make the transition to college successfully.

Sierra Coleman was one of the students who benefited from participating in a FYS this fall.

“I had a really good time. I had Dr. Brown and she's just so lively and energetic. She just made it really fun,” Coleman said.

“Dr. Brown prepared us for a lot of stuff. She introduced us to a lot of resources like the STEAM lab, the writing workshop, and all that stuff just in case we did need that extra help when transitioning,” Coleman described. “She always offered office hours. And in case we needed to talk about something extra with her, she always left that open for us. And the fact that she was just so like, ‘Here are all your resources,’ and laid them out and gave them to us, it was just so helpful,” Coleman said.

Explaining the objectives for the FYS experience, Christine Brown, associate teaching professor and coordinator of the Brandywine Learning Center, emphasized wanting to provide resources for students during the challenging transition to college, but also the importance of acclimating students to campus and helping them become a part of their community.

“We also wanted to build rapport and build engagement and sense of belonging amongst our first-year students,” Brown explained. “We wanted a place where students could build that community as well. And then we also wanted a way for them to be able to engage with the co-curriculars and the campus and all the things that are offered. We want them to have that experience and feel a part of the Brandywine community.”

“We also wanted to build rapport and build engagement and sense of belonging amongst our first-year students,” Brown explained. “We wanted a place where students could build that community as well. And then we also wanted a way for them to be able to engage with the co-curriculars and the campus and all the things that are offered. We want them to have that experience and feel a part of the Brandywine community.”

Brown worked alongside James Berkey, assistant professor of English and director of the Brandywine Writing Studio, and Kimeta Straker, coordinator for student success, to bring the first-year seminar program to fruition.

“I think part of the reason the three of us were so persistent and felt that urgency was because of the pandemic and knowing how many of our students were going to be coming in the fall of '21 having been kind of in school for the last year and really needing that community and needing that extra support as they transitioned into college,” Berkey explained.

“It is important because it is one of the best practices across the country, across the nation and even internationally,” Straker said. “I think that it is important to help students one, transition from a K through 12 setting, but also to help them understand how they can thrive and enhance skills that they've developed or introduce skills that they need to develop in order to have a very successful college career.”

Beyond the many benefits FYS provides for students, it has also offered a new teaching opportunity for Brandywine faculty and staff.

“It's a very meaningful teaching experience,” Brown said, noting how teaching a first-year seminar allows instructors to “build relationships with students and help them understand what it is they need to do to be successful.”

“It’s a moment of pride where you see that evolution and transformation throughout the years,” Straker said, recalling one particular student who she saw flourish through first-year engagement programming. “One that immediately comes to mind is Rabia.”

Rabia Rafiqzadah is now a junior, and she still recalls how much her first-year seminar helped her put the right foot forward at Brandywine.

“The first day of school I felt so much more prepared than the average student who had not have taken that course and because of that, I was able to help out other freshmen,” Rafiqzadah said.

It was this experience helping other students that helped Rafiqzadah gain the confidence to pursue other campus involvement, along with encouragement from Straker and Brown.

“Honestly, I'm a really shy person. With (Straker and Brown) being in my corner and pushing me, I stepped out of my comfort zone by this much and then it just went all on out from there,” Rafiqzadah explained.

“She just blossomed from this very meek incoming high school graduate to sitting in my class and learning, and then going on to take (Brown's) class and becoming the New Student Orientation (NSO) leader,” Straker said. “It's just amazing to see the transformation as they begin to acquire knowledge and transition through university into these young adults that go out into the world that we are hopeful about.”