According to Barbara Bush, “Giving frees us from the familiar territory of our own needs by opening our mind to the unexplained worlds occupied by the needs of others.” Before accepting my job as a Peer Leader for the 2011-2012 academic school year, I was excited about the prospect of helping first year students. I wanted to make sure that they did not make the mistakes that I had. I thought I would just support them academically to assist them in succeeding. Little did I know that I was going to be impacted more than I have probably impacted them. This job has surpassed my expectations and helped me truly understand how I can best assist my Learning Community.

I have come to discover that there are multiple factors and circumstances that affect student engagement and development during a college freshman’s first year of school. These influences are different for every student. Everyone has a different story and respecting that was the first step I had to take to gain the trust of my students. I had to make myself vulnerable and have them view me as a real student. I first explained how I wasn’t perfect. During our second week of classes I decided that it was time to make some long term individual goals. I started off by asking my Learning Community who did not do well in high school academically, or who knew that they did not reach their potential academically in high school. I had quite a few students put their hands up. I then asked who was ready for a new start from high school. Every single one of my students raised their hands. After gaining this information I decided to enlighten them on my experiences going from high school to college. I decided to take this opportunity so they could go into their first quarter of college with an optimistic attitude. I explained that I graduated high school with a 3.2 GPA. I knew I could do better but I rarely applied myself academically and I was defeated before I began. I continued by letting them know that I tried so hard my first quarter, determined to make a difference and prove that I could do well in school. I received my final grades for Fall Quarter 2010 and I had received a 4.0. I was astonished when I looked at my grade report. As cliché as it may sound, if I could do it, anyone could do it. By admitting that I wasn’t a great student during high school connected me with so many in my Learning Community. They gained insight into my life and by doing so I had a snowball effect occur of other students that began to open up to me.

My Learning Community played games and enjoyed each other’s company. I knew I could make a connection with someone on a personal level but my students had to get along first too if we going to move from engaging the students to helping them develop. I began to notice as time went on a lot of the students began getting along extremely well and would work well together. As the quarter continued, I began to push them more and more. I would bring up leadership opportunities within the Learning Community such as someone creating and bringing in a study guide for a test, brainstorming for our artifact, the execution, directing, and editing of our artifact, along with talking and scheduling meetings with their advisors on their own. I worked extremely hard on creating an environment where they could fall and I would help pick them up. I wanted to give them opportunities to push themselves, but I was never far behind to help them if they were struggling.

After implementing a self-motivating attitude and by providing a safe environment for these students to grow I began to notice the Learning Community taking on a life of its own. I noticed a confidence emerge from a variety of students. I finally had an experience that still brings tears to my eyes. While implementing my last thread, diversity, I decided to do an activity that I participated in during my Resident Advisor training this past summer. The activity consisted of the leader of a group asking between 30-50 questions and when a question pertained to someone they were to stand up and then sit down. The whole point of this activity is to find something new about your peers and realize that you are not alone. The whole group has to be quiet the entire time to respect those who are admitting a variety of information to their peers. A key part to this activity is that if something pertains to you, you are not required to stand up if you do not feel comfortable enough admitting something to their group of peers at that time. I decided to do very basic questions to slightly more in-depth questions but nothing too controversial. The questions ranged from, who comes from a divorced family to who is a first generation college student. At the end of the activity I opened up the floor for people to ask questions and open up to the entire group. As a group, people began to slowly open up. The part that meant the most to me was when a girl in my LC came out and told the entire group that she was a lesbian. The group was respectful of her. It was not the fact that she had come out to the group that meant  so much to me, it was the fact that I had helped create an environment where someone felt safe enough and accepted enough to open up to the entire Learning Community. It was then I knew that not only had my Learning Community developed by the end of their first fall quarter, but I had grown as an individual this year as well.

The biggest part of my success with my Learning Community is that I am always the first to open up. I would never ask my students to do something that I wouldn’t be willing to do myself. By challenging my students without them even knowing and asking them to push themselves, I feel contributed most to my success. Also, I could never ask for my students to develop intellectually without the maturity to back it up. I wouldn’t have been able to have a huge break-through with my diversity thread if I didn’t give my students time to mature on their own in college. I have been able to develop through this experience as well. I have learned more about myself, my students, and what this university has to offer. I want to make my students proud to call me their Peer Leader and I want to positively represent them while helping them to succeed both academically and intellectually.
When I was a senior in high school I was running for re-election for Business Professionals of America, Ohio Association state officer team. While writing my speech I decided to reflect on what has made me successful in my endeavors. I came up with my recipe for success which has three simple ingredients. Those ingredients included dedication, discipline, and drive. It wasn’t until I began writing this essay that I realized how universal these ingredients are to any sort of situation. These three ideals would be the outline for the national first year experience initiatives I would advocate for if I were President of the United States of America.

When becoming a college student there are certain requirements that should be fulfilled and dedication to your studies should be one of them. But, when I talk about dedication in the terms of first year experience initiatives I think that the rest of the student body, faculty, and staff should be dedicated to the success of these first year students. There is a common saying that just about everyone knows when it comes to rearing a child, “It takes a village”. The same concept applies with the success of first year students. We owe it to our new students to help instill the legacy of what we expect out of them while supporting their endeavors, ideas, and passions. College is a place where one can question and grow as an individual and a university and the students that attend that university should help instill a sense of unity to create an environment where first year students are welcomed and embraced.

  Discipline is not an attribute that is easily taught nor acquired. When a first year student enters the university atmosphere it is overwhelming and filled with temptations. It is once again, the responsibility of the university’s student body and officials to help create an environment that supports the academic success and does not try to profit from the “party school” persona. Teaching and preaching to students about being disciplined only reaches so many ears. We have to essentially live what we preach. As Peer Leaders, advisors, fellow students, professors, and other faculty, we need to create an environment where we provide discipline and are self-disciplined as well. By doing our best to be powerful role models, first year students will aspire to do the same.

To ultimately be successful in anything in life one has to have some sort of personal drive to do so. By creating opportunities like the University of Cincinnati does with internships, co-ops, and other various resources, students gain real world experience that they can apply to their academics to help them succeed. First year students gain an understanding of renowned programs the university has to offer and realize how competitive these programs are. They are taught to strive to achieve these opportunities. Once they are obtained, students have something else to work for, a future career in their dream field. By constantly creating obstacles and rewards to challenge first year students they are going to be able to develop a drive that will carry them through college and many experiences throughout their life.

All of these attributes are not just acquired or taught, but are learned by imitation. Some first year students may come in more well-versed with these three initiatives than others, but everyone has room to grow within these qualities. It is the responsibility of every facet of the university to make the success of first year students a priority. It takes an entire university to make successful first year students. To update the mantra of parents from “It takes a village”, we as supporters of first year students can say, “It takes a university”.