As an incoming freshman, joining a school of almost 50,000 students can be daunting. Reading Round-Up is meant for freshmen and transfer students to find familiar faces in their peers and faculty. Every summer, the First-Year Experience Office organizes an optional summer book club. Students can choose from various books and then meet the Sunday before the fall semester begins to discuss the book with faculty members and students. This experience is a great way to find a smaller cohort before school even begins. However, freshmen don’t get to connect with upperclassmen during this experience.
Connections with older students are beneficial, as they have the most relevant advice. In First-Year Interest Groups led by upperclassmen, classes of 18 to 25 first-year students meet once a week with a mentor to help navigate their first semester. Similar to the mentor group format, Reading Round-Up should implement upperclassmen to co-lead the discussion because it opens up opportunities for both freshmen and older students before the semester starts.
“We think that peer mentors play such a vital role (because they are) going to college right now at this time,” Patty Moran, assistant dean of First-Year Experience said. “(There are) real in-time experiences from fellow students.”
These classes are a semester-long commitment for mentors and an alternative short-term way to help guide freshmen would be collaborating with Reading Round-Up.
“We have also been thinking about getting more upperclassmen to help welcome (freshmen),” Moran said. “Because that’s what it’s about, right? It’s helping welcome the new students.”
This idea could be taken further by having students co-lead a book discussion with a professor. Upperclassmen could choose a book they think would be a good fit, and professors could sign up to be paired with them. Students could choose books that may be more appealing to the freshman demographic and create discussion questions more tailored to the younger audience. The only barrier described by the office is the level of interest for upperclassmen to volunteer.
“We were thinking about (whether) upperclassmen would volunteer for that,” Moran said. “How can we get them involved?”
However, this opportunity could be a great resume booster for upperclassmen by allowing them to build a relationship with the professor they work with. It can also be good for letters of recommendation and networking.
Furthermore, this could be testing grounds for students unsure if they want to commit to a long-term mentor role, such as orientation advising or first-year mentorship. Sarah Tang, a mathematics and Plan II freshman said she would take the opportunity to volunteer if presented to her.
“I would definitely do it,” Tang said. “I’m fond of upperclassmen bonding with underclassmen. I think that would create a more tight-knit community. … A connection with a professor would especially be beneficial to students.”
By implementing this collaboration of upperclassmen and professors, Reading Round-Up has the potential to connect students across classes. Students can show interest by giving feedback to the First-Year Experience Office and the Reading Round-Up professor leads. If enough students are interested, co-leading Reading Round-Up has a chance.
Xu is a government freshman from Fort Worth, Texas.
