Summer Program Prepares New Miners for First Day of Class

By Laura L. Acosta

UTEP News Service

The first day of college can be daunting for incoming freshman, but a summer program at The University of Texas at El Paso is helping new Miners soothe their first-day jitters by making their transition to university life as smooth as possible.

For a second year, UTEPPrep is providing incoming freshman with tools and resources to help them get prepped for their first fall semester at the University.

Seventy-five recent high school graduates accepted an invitation from UTEP to participate in the program from June 16 to Aug. 1 on campus.

Incoming freshmen like Miguel Molinar are taking a UNIV 1301 course and either a math, English or communication course.

“Now that I am in college, I am fully prepared to give it all I’ve got,” said Molinar, who graduated from Mountain View High School in June and plans to study biology. “(UTEPPrep) has really helped me prepare for what’s to come, because these professors are nothing like my high school teachers. I guess you can say the professors of UTEPPrep help give you a glimpse of what you’re made of.”

“The people who are involved in this (UTEPPrep) program are people who work with students in a variety of settings such as the Entering Student Program, the Academic Advising Center, developmental math, developmental English and other units around campus,” said Donna Ekal, Ph.D., associate provost for undergraduate studies at UTEP. “We know some of the challenges that incoming students face, so we design programs to alleviate some of the concerns that these new UTEP Miners may have. It has now evolved into UTEPPrep, which we think is a pretty good solution.”

Students receive financial aid to pay the program’s tuition. They also receive books, school supplies and a bus or parking pass to minimize barriers to attending class over the summer.

Classes are taught in a hybrid format, which integrates face-to-face and online learning.   Students meet in the classroom on Mondays and Wednesdays. Courses are taught online on Fridays.

“Not only are we teaching students how to transition to the University, we’re also teaching them how to take online courses, because we know that almost all of these students will take one or more online courses at some point during their undergraduate education,” Ekal explained.

Students also benefit from a strong support system. Each UNIV 1301 class is taught by an instructional team consisting of an instructor, an academic adviser, a university librarian, and a student peer leader who serves as an instructional guide and academic role model.

“The peer leaders model what it is to be a successful student at the University. They are students who go to work, school, and balance a social and family life,” said Dorothy Ward, Ph.D., director of the Entering Student Program. “It’s not just somebody telling the students in the class how to be a successful university student; it’s somebody demonstrating it. Peer leaders have a credibility that perhaps the instructors don’t when they talk about how students should balance their time and approach their studying. Peer leaders can say, ‘This is how I approached it,’ or ‘This is how I make sure I have a sufficient amount of time to study.’”

Peer leader Olivia Kolenc wishes that UTEPPrep had been available when she started at the University three years ago. She remembers being too shy to talk to her professors or make new friends.

“The question I get asked most often by the students in the program is if they will have lives after they begin college,” Kolenc said about the freshmen with whom she works. “They are worried they will not be able to have time for everything – school, work, family, friends – and have time for themselves as well.”

Kolenc said the best advice she can give new students is to stop procrastinating and to start prioritizing.

“Even if something seems scary, you are unsure, or it seems too easy, don’t avoid what you know you have to do,” said Kolenc, a cellular and molecular biochemistry major. “If you do this, you won’t have to deal with any of the consequences that come with procrastination, and you will be able to successfully manage your time and be able to do everything you want and need to do.”

In addition to a new student orientation, UTEPPrep also hosts a family orientation where family members meet the program’s faculty and staff and learn how they can help their students succeed at UTEP.

“The family orientation is very important because a lot of our students are first-generation college students, and their family members may not know what is expected of their students in terms of studying or attending class,” Ward said. “We think it’s very important for UTEP to have that connection and communication with the family members.”

According to Ekal, data shows UTEPPrep works at preparing students for university life.

The 50 students who attended UTEPPrep last summer had fewer failing grades and withdrew from fewer classes compared to the students who did not participate in the program.

Another way to tell whether or not new students benefit from participating in UTEPPrep is by looking around campus the first day of the fall semester.

“You see first-semester students looking lost, nervous and uncomfortable,” Ward said. “Students who complete UTEPPrep enter the fall semester feeling very confident. They know what the college courses are going to be like. They’ve become familiar with the University and the campus resources. They know the students they were in class with, and they’ve got a network of support based on the instructors, peer leaders, librarians and advisers who worked with them.”