The Office of First Year Experience Programs and the Student Involvement and Leadership Center will host Earn Your Stripes Student Celebration Week to recognize students for finishing their first year of college and prepare them for their second year.
The program will run from April 24-28 at the IMU Starbucks and Centennial Patio. In the case of rain, the program will be at tabling areas in the IMU.
“The whole reason for this is to congratulate first-year students, give them the resources to succeed in their second year — so we’re not just throwing them out to the wolves, or anything like that — and also to have the opportunity to reflect on their first year,” Meg Tobin, Office of First Year Experience programs coordinator said.
This celebration will act as an initiative to create a cohesive support program for students in their second year, Nicky Belle, associate director of the Student Involvement and Leadership Center said.
“Our goal is to better engage populations of students who need more support,” Belle said. “We see that in second years, a lot of retention rates are lower in students that don’t get the support they need, so focusing on second years as an area hasn’t happened yet, but we’re starting on that now.”
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Throughout the week, there will be events leading up to a festival on Friday at the Fine Arts Plaza around Showalter Fountain.
April 24
From 11 a.m.-1 p.m. on April 24, students can receive red Gatorade and white mints to represent IU’s cream and crimson colors.
April 25
From 4 p.m.-6 p.m. on April 25, students can give and leave with a motivational message for and from their peers.
April 26
The Looking Back on your First Year event will be from 4 p.m.-6 p.m. on April 26 where students can write a letter to someone that guided them through their first year at IU.
“It is a great opportunity, I think, for students to take advantage of and take a second to reflect on their first year,” Tobin said.
April 27
The Looking Forward to Your Second Year event will be from 4 p.m.-6 p.m. on April 27 where students can create vision boards and bucket lists of their ideal second year at IU. There will also be customized fortunes for students such as ‘you’ll meet someone under the Rose Well House’ or ‘you’ll run into someone from your past on Kirkwood.’
April 28
From noon to 3 p.m. on April 28 at the Fine Arts Plaza, there will be a festival featuring music, arts and crafts, a photobooth where students can take “last day of class” photos and booths providing resources to help students transition into their second year. The rain location for the festival will be the IU Auditorium.
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IU freshman Amy Nguyen feels that IU should ensure they are giving the same amount of attention to upperclassmen as they are to incoming freshmen, so everyone is receiving support.
“I think there’s always a lot of events for incoming students to make them feel welcomed, but I think it’s really important that with returning students getting back to the grind, there are events for them too,” Nguyen said.
