In coordination with the First Year Mustang Adventure program, Student Affairs hosted the first in-person Rising Sophomore Summit since the COVID pandemic in 2020.
English professor and director of the First Year Mustang Adventure Melissa Nevens described how the pandemic has left a strong impact on this generation of freshmen and sophomores.
“Gen Z are a little bit nervous to talk to each other and they want to stay behind their screens or rather stay in their room, any kind of opportunity where they can have in-person, face-to-face conversations and interactions and I think that’s a plus,” Nevens said. “I think the last time they did this (the Sophomore Summit), they tried to do this virtually, so now they (the students) had this opportunity to interact with each other face-to-face and play games.”
The event is designed to help first-year and second-year students actively think about their professional development in college, navigate available resources on campus and network with academic advisors and students in their major.
The summit was divided into two stages.
The first one revolved around student success and included workshops for degree planning, paying for college, signature experiences and personal well-being.
The second stage represented a social opportunity for students to gather and network with advisors and professors from different colleges and majors, as well as reunite with fellow students who took part in the First Year Mustang Adventure in the fall.
Pre-veterinary freshman Exlona Smith liked the learning opportunities she received from the event. She explained how the summit helped her.
“Learning how to better myself and finding opportunities through all the organizations we can join, the research and the advantages it actually presented,” Smith said.
“We’re trying to build community and make you feel like you belong here, so being able to meet with people from your major, getting to meet the faculty and staff that work in your college and getting to talk to them outside of the classroom I think can also be a fun way to connect with folks,” Nevens said.
Every student that attended received a free MSU soup and cereal bowl and a chance to win a raffle-drawn scholarship worth $500.
Apart from the prizes, students were provided with food and drinks, as well as a fun selection of games they could play to unwind and make connections.
With this event, Nevens hoped to give MSU students something to look forward to when they go back home for the summer.
“I think that we are very focused at Midwestern at retaining our students, you know, making sure they don’t leave after a semester, or after a year and so I think this is designed to help them have something to look forward to,” Nevens said.
Through the Rising Sophomore Summit, school officials hope they will keep retention numbers up, by encouraging students to finish their undergraduate studies at MSU.
Nevens observed that one of the main reasons students leave MSU is because of financial difficulties.
“They’re (the students) worried about how they’re going to pay for college, perhaps they had some local scholarships that helped them with that first year and then they’re not sure how they’re going to do it again,” Nevens said.
That is why the financial workshop they prepared might come in handy for some students.
“That’s why we had before the college reunion piece, they had a breakout session that was about paying for college. So that was one of the areas that we wanted to focus on so that would not be the reason that you leave – that it’s not finances,” Nevens said.
MSU registered record enrollment numbers this fall with a 17% increase from the previous year, adding up to a total of 925 new, first-time, full-time students.
In terms of retention, MSU reported a slight increase compared to the previous year, of 2%.
