Connections Program Brings New Students to Campus

New students enrolled at Utah State University come to campus early to participate in the Connections course — a multiple-day event that is specifically designed to ease their transition to university life. Students arrived early and activities began Wednesday, Aug. 20, and conclude Saturday, Aug. 23, with a convocation lecture that features the author of A Long Way Gone.

The Connections course focuses on developing critical college study skills, time-management techniques and test-taking strategies, as well as promoting an awareness of the campus community. Most importantly, Connections allows new students the opportunity to develop a support network of classmates, faculty and staff to help ensure a successful beginning to their academic experience.

 

Faculty from colleges across campus teach a variety of courses to Connections students. Connections classes have 20-25 participants per class. A small portion of class time will be spent listening to a formal lecture, while a large portion will be spent involving class members in sharing, reflecting, asking questions and developing learning strategies for the semester ahead. In addition, classes and workshops are held in many different areas of campus, so students learn to navigate the campus easily. Pre-semester sessions are held the week before the start of the semester, and three one-hour sessions are held after the semester begins. The three semester sessions are designed to provide additional support during the transition to the university environment, including crucial information necessary to academic success. Students can ask more questions, seek resources and re-evaluate their study strategies for the semester.

 

Members of the Cache Valley community were invited to participate in the Connections program’s summer literature experience by reading A Long Way Gone. The summer literature experience is part of the larger Connections program. Connections students are required to read the literature selection and write a short paper to begin their academic career.

 

“This memoir is captivating,” said Noelle Call, director of USU’s Retention and First-Year Experience office and the Connections program director. “Readers will definitely want to turn to the next page. The book will encourage readers to raise questions about what is going on in other parts of the world and if they should be concerned.”

 

“The USU common literature book selections have given readers the opportunity to expand their knowledge beyond the borders of Cache Valley,” said Flo Weir, a Mendon resident who has attended the past three convocations that highlight the year’s featured selections. “Through literature, readers have explored the loss of civil rights and freedoms and have been made aware of cultures and philosophies that might differ from their own. A Long Way Gone is yet another opportunity to explore other cultures.”

 

Each year a committee of campus and community members select a book that will challenge readers to think, ponder conflicting ideas and face a world different than their own. A Long Way Gone was selected because of its potential for stimulating thought and discussion about issues happening around the world. It is a memoir of Ishmael Beah, a 12-year-old boy from Sierra Leone, who fled attacking rebels and wandered a land unknown to him. By the age of 13, he was picked up by the Sierra Leone government army, indoctrinated and told to kill. At the age of 16 he was removed from the army by UNICEF and placed in a rehabilitation home in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone.

 

The literature experience culminates for readers with an on campus lecture by Beah Saturday, Aug. 23, at 9:30 a.m. in the Kent Concert Hall of the Chase Fine Arts Center on campus, where all are invited to attend.

 

For information on the literature experience or the Connections program, contact Call at (435) 797-1194.

 

University Connections