The Office of First Year Experience was created in 1990 as a response to the perceived needs of universities to orient and monitor more effectively the progress of first year and transfer students. Research has strongly indicated that the initial experience and the first months of a student's matriculation are pivotal to overall success in college. The First Year Experience concept at Boston College has a dual focus. First, to introduce the new students to the resources of the University so that they might maximize the integration of their gifts and skills with the challenge afforded them at Boston College. Second, to assist in the inculturation process whereby these new students come to understand, appreciate, and act upon the uniqueness of Boston College as a Jesuit university in the Catholic tradition. The second stage is not seen as an exclusionary mark, but rather as a foundational and guiding philosophy which underpins the efforts of all in the University community. The concept of "magis," for the greater, is seen as a way of understanding personal development and service to others as integral to our pursuit of excellence. This vision we call Ignatian.
The two elements of the First Year Experience practically come together in the first instance during the seven summer Orientation sessions which extend over three days and two nights. A student program runs concurrently with a parent/guardian program during each session.
During the student program, academic advising and registration of classes along with discussion of issues concerning diversity, alcohol, sexuality, service, learning resources, and the intellectual and spiritual life are discussed. The forums for discussion are designed in a more interactive format with the assistance of carefully selected and trained Orientation Leaders who are upper class students and peers. The components of the program are developed to inculturate spirit about Boston College and an acquaintance with the University's values and its expectations for its students.
The parent/guardian program seeks to develop themes surrounding the issues of transition and adjustment which families will experience as a member enters college. Likewise, the issues of community standard surrounding alcohol, sex, diversity, and academic performance are addressed.
Once the academic year begins, First Year Experience has organized programs aimed at continuing support for first year students as they negotiate the beginning of their college career. "Conversations in the First Year," was created in 2004 to welcome students to the intellectual arena of Boston College. At orientation, students are given a book to read. The inaugural text was Mountains Beyond Mountains, by Tracy Kidder. In September, an academic convocation, filled with ritual, ideas, and conversation, will kick-off the academic year. Past convocation speakers have included Dr. Paul Farmer, Senator Barack Obama, Senator John McCain, and journalist Jeannette Walls. The program's motto is "Go set the world aflame," Ignatius of Loyola's (founder of Jesuits) parting words to Francis Xavier who was carrying the Gospel to the East.
48HOURS is a weekend experience open to all first year students who are interested in finding ways to take advantage of BC's intellectual, social, and spiritual resources. On this two-day retreat, participants will hear senior student leaders speak personally and openly about their own college experiences, focusing particularly on their first year ups and downs in regards to the topics of freedom and responsibility, the challenge of academics, co-curricular involvement, unexpected social pressures, and friends and relationships.
The Courage to Know: Exploring the Intellectual, Social, and Spiritual Landscapes of the College Experience (UN 201) is a Cornerstone Initiative seminar that introduces first year students to college life.
The Leadership Project: An immersion experience occurring over the spring break incorporating the process and practice of leadership with a generous heart. First Year students will explore what it means to serve, to be a leader, and to have a vocation in life.
In essence, First Year Experience at Boston College is attempting to create what Ernest Boyer describes as the scholarship of engagement. It does so uniquely in the Catholic and Jesuit tradition and as a first rate academic institution interested in the development of character and leadership for a more just and humane twenty-first century.