New Transitions program extended into next year

Transitions, Vassar's pilot orientation program, was implemented to help ease low-income or first-generation college students into campus life. It was recently extended into next year, and although its participants valued the experience on the whole, some believe that small changes should be made.

The program, as explained by Lotto, is meant to support students by "providing academic expectations before beginning the regular school year, alleviating possible culture shock and easing the cultural transition, rendering awareness of campus resources and support opportunities, facilitating peer-to-peer/administrator-to-peer networking and mentoring relationships, fostering community ties and relationships, and helping students build confidence in themselves."

The need for a Transitions program was felt as early as 2007, when, according to Dean of Freshmen Benjamin Lotto, "several Vassar students formed the Class Issues Alliance as a way for first-generation, low-income and working-class students to come together to talk about the issues they faced at Vassar." Two years later Vassar faculty, administrators and students formed an independent group called Transitions to Vassar and began work, which culminated in last fall's pre-matriculation program.

To achieve these goals, students were divided into small groups and each group was assigned a faculty, administrative and student mentor. This trio's purpose was to guide students through the intricacies of Vassar's academic and residential resources throughout the summer, freshmen orientation and the academic year. The Transitions trio was similar to a student fellow group in that, in Lotto's words, it also "provided a smaller, more intimate setting...and opportunities to share their stories with each other and with the student member of the trio about their experience of coming to Vassar." Unfortunately, these pairings, particularly their faculty and administrative components, were sometimes lackluster.

Christian Romero '14 wrote in an emailed statement that "the trio concept was much better on paper than in reality," and that the expectation of faculty participation was "a bit too ambitious." He understood its purpose, but felt that the trio's usefulness was limited to the first day. Ian Edwards, ‘14, held similar views, commenting in an emailed statement that Only the senior advisor in my group...actually interacted with the group." Both students, however, appreciated their student mentors. "The senior advisor in my group...interacted with the group both before our arrival on campus and throughout the time since then. She was and still is a great resource for my ‘trio group' to go to," wrote Edwards.

Several events similar to those held during orientation were held during Transitions Weekend to facilitate bonding and spread information. Transitions freshmen attended financial aid lectures, course previews, introductions to campus resources (including the Learning, Teaching and Research Center), open-mic performances and dinner at Juliet Billiard Cafe.

Romero praised the social benefits of these events, writing that they helped him "meet new people, many of whom I still hang out with now, and establish a friend base early on." Edwards, however, considered some events to be redundant, and wrote, "we were shepherded around through some programs that I thought were simply a repeat of information found during orientation."

Some changes for next year's program have already been planned. Among other things, Transitions will last for an extra day, for a total of three days. Other changes to the trios or activities will be based on surveys circulated among currently participating students, their families and trio members.

"[Transitions] definitely still had an air of first-year pilot program about it," wrote Edwards, adding, "but it was helpful because it gave me more time to adjust to the campus and a couple of familiar faces to say ‘hey' to."