Do you remember all of the people you met during freshman orientation? Do you remember any of them? During orientation you meet many students from your class, but once orientation is over everyone goes their own way. Until now. This year WPI initiated the Insight Program. It's a pilot program that put all of the residents of Stoddard A in the same orientation groups. That way once orientation is over those people are living near each other.
The goal of this program, is to improve the retention rate of freshman and also to increase the number of students that stay until they graduate. According to Dale Snyder, Director of Academic Resources Center, "A major influence on retention rate is the first year college experience."
Students that selected Stoddard as their first choice for housing were enrolled in the program. Stoddard was chosen because "it's condusive to communal living," says Ms. Snyder.
The program is geared toward making students bond with WPI and feel a sense of community. Ms. Snyder says, "During orientation, the orientation group provides support for new students. If we could keep the support structure there it would make it easier for students to bond." She also says, "It's not an elitist program. It's meant to help students make a connection to WPI and ease their transition into college."
It is setup so that the Orientation Leaders spend time on the floors with the group. Each group is also assigned a faculty consultant that they meet with once a week. Each of these meetings has a different theme. The faculty consultants and OL's also tell the groups all of the activities and events taking place at WPI and are ask them to select those that interest them. Once they express interest the OL's handle the rest in terms of signing them up. Ms. Snyder says that sometimes students will be interested in something and don't want the hassle of having to go somewhere to sign up. "We're offering all of these things to them, they just have to reach out and grab it." This way the students become aware of all the different activities on campus. Once they attend the activity they discuss it with their faculty advisor to see what, if anything, they got out of it.
The cost of the program is currently unknown. It is being funded by a three year Davis Educational Foundation Grant and partly by WPI. Planning for the Insight Program started last May once the grant was approved. The Insight Committee met all summer and includes members from all aspects of the WPI community. The future of the program is uncertain and depends on the feedback given by the pilot groups. The hope is that future freshman can be part of the program if they want to.
"I think it's a great program and I hope that students will think so too," says Ms. Snyder. "Our hope is that these students will get insight into the community."