The program, which aims to ease the transition between high school and college, was launched in Fall 2009 as a student-run initiative and originally co-sponsored by the Dean of the College Office and the Office of Institutional Diversity. Micaela Klein '10, who founded the original program, said the success of FYSEP's first year led College President Jim Yong Kim and acting Dean of the College Sylvia Spears to allocate funding to support the program, which allowed additional events before the start of First Year Orientation.
"The administration liked the work that we had done and used it as more of a launching pad for this bigger and better program," Klein said in an e-mail to The Dartmouth.
To choose FYSEP participants, the Admissions Office and the First-Year Office target students who come from non-traditional backgrounds. The incoming students are either first-generation college students, have attended a non-college-preparatory high school, come from a low socioeconomic background, or are otherwise not fully prepared for their transition to Dartmouth.
"The idea for this program has been one that students and administrators have been wanting for many years," Klein said in an interview. "Although all students accepted to Dartmouth meet a certain high academic standard, the transition to college is hard, and it's harder for students from backgrounds where neither parent when to college, or from high schools that didn't prepare them for college."
During the 2009-2010 academic year, the program featured workshops and discussion sections focusing on academic skills, including note-taking and participation in class discussion, The Dartmouth previously reported.
Klein coordinated the program over the summer with the help of Elizabeth Agosto '01, the associate director of the Collis Center, and Assistant Dean of Student Life and Advisor to Black Students Samantha Ivery.
"Last year the program was able to run on its own just through the commitment of the students involved," Klein said. "Now the goal is to expand it in future years to include more students. Other schools have similar pre-Orientation programs, but we want to make Dartmouth's one of the most cutting-edge programs in the country."
Kim and Spears worked together this Fall term to support the mentoring program and to launch the next phase of FYSEP, according to the College's website. Changes included a new five-day pre-Orientation program for freshmen participants, with a range of workshops, activities and seminars designed to simulate life at Dartmouth and to prepare new students to handle challenges they may face during the course of their first year.
"At first I didn't really know that the Orientation was going to be so intensive and time-consuming," FYSEP participant James Lin '14 said. "It's like mock school for a week we took exams and had homework."
Lin said the five-day program was a useful introduction to College academics.
"I really liked how they had professors at the Orientation go over lectures and assignments," Lin said. "It really put students like me in the mindset of school, since we've been off for three months, and helped us get ahead academically. Looking back it was a very wonderful and necessary experience."
Students also met with members of the Office of Pluralism and Leadership, the Office of Institutional Diversity and Equity, Dick's House, the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students and the Academic Skills Center during the pre-Orientation program, according to Klein.
"The program helped students learn about all the different resources and offices on campus," Klein said. "Our goal was to expose them to what college is going to be like the feeling that you're constantly running and to link them to a network of upperclassmen."
The program will continue throughout the year with one-on-one mentoring provided by trained upperclassmen on an individual basis, she said.
The program also encourages social interaction between freshmen participants, providing them with a network of people in their own class, several FYSEP participants said. Abigail Macias '14 said she spends time with some of the students from the FYSEP program every day.
The upperclass mentors were selected for the program because of their enthusiasm to help incoming students and their personal experiences transitioning to Dartmouth, according to the College's website. The mentors will also help organize social events, such as movie nights and bowling in order to foster a sense of community among the students and student-mentors, according to the website.
"I don't know how they matched me with my mentor, since they only asked us about five questions, but we get along really well," Macias said. "I can go to her for anything she's helped me a lot with the transition."
Unlike other pre-Orientation programs, such as those for international and Native American students that primarily focus on social adjustment, FYSEP is aimed at providing an academic support network.
"I came into Dartmouth wondering if I was prepared for the academics," Macias said. "[FYSEP] gave me confidence that I'm here for a reason and that if I put in enough effort I will succeed."
