For most incoming freshmen, faculty and staff give short, standard pieces of advice: “get plenty of sleep” or “take general education classes to find your major” or “don’t spend all your money at once or you will go into debt.” Although it is excellent advice, without the knowledge of how to manage time, find a major or manage money, students are unable to follow any of it.
The Thrive Workshops help change this. Put on by the Student Activities Council, the workshops teach students how to become college students and why it is important.
In the spring of 2013, a committee of faculty and staff members came together to brainstorm ways to help freshmen better transition into college. The end result was the idea for the Thrive Workshops, a series of seminars on topics such as “choosing a major,” “proper financial management” and “having a healthy community in the dorms.” The workshops are a partner of the First Year Seminar classes; students in those classes are required to attend at least two of the workshops.
The Workshops are put on by organizations on campus such as the Wellness Center, the Peer Learning Center, Resident Life and the Career Development Center. The various heads of these organizations present the information at the Workshops. The Workshops take place at 7 p.m. on Mondays and at 11:05 a.m. on Thursdays in the Vogel Community Room in the Learning Commons. Workshops will continueuntil Fall Break.
“I’m really happy with the subjects we chose for this year’s workshops and once they are done, we will run an assessment of the different subjects to see if we need to remove some or add some,” director of student programs Aaron Beadner said.
Although freshmen orientation weekend provides incoming students with valuable knowledge and resources for their upcoming college careers, there is simply not enough time and space to cover such a large volume of topics and material.
“We feel that the Thrive Workshops are a merger between the First Year Seminar classes and Orientation, offering information to students and a way to build community with classmates,” Beadner said.
The Thrive Workshops are open to students in all classes — not just freshmen — and run for approximately 50 minutes. Upcoming Workshops are “Journeying With Jesus” on Sept. 30 and Oct. 3 and the final Workshop “Can We Be Different Together?” on Oct. 7 and Oct. 10.
“I really enjoyed going to the Thrive Workshops, especially the ‘Fostering Healthy Community’ one put on by the Resident Directors,”freshman Lindsey Schaap said. “They actually gave us reasonable answers to why community is important and how to resolve conflict instead of overused quotes and clichés.”
