FLIGHT is a class-year connections program designed to support Kennesaw State University students throughout their collegiate journey. Using an innovative four-year framework, FLIGHT fosters community, belonging, and student engagement while helping students build a distinct identity within their class cohort. Through targeted programming and developmental milestones, FLIGHT addresses the social, personal, and academic needs of students, promoting retention, progression, and deeper connections to campus resources and the KSU community.
This year marks an important step forward in FLIGHT’s assessment strategy through new partnerships with the Strategic Planning, Assessment, and Analysis (SPAA) Division of Student Affairs and Institutional Research. Together, these teams are developing a comprehensive data collection method to evaluate engagement, retention, progression, and graduation outcomes for students who actively participate in FLIGHT compared to those who do not. The formal data request for this project has been submitted and is currently pending, positioning the department to conduct more robust, longitudinal analysis in the coming year. In the meantime, FLIGHT continues to assess student engagement, belonging, and persistence through a combination of participation metrics, developmental outcomes, and emerging longitudinal data. This multi-layered approach allows the program to connect individual engagement opportunities with broader indicators of student success and institutional impact.
New and ongoing measures include:
- Signature Event Participation: Attendance and outcomes tied to each phase’s milestone event (First-Year Convocation & Runout (Foster), Sophomore Social (Focus), Junior Jump (Flourish), and Senior Cookout (Finalize)).
- Scrappy Hour & Pop-Up Engagement: Number of students reached, repeat participation, and collaborative partners engaged.
- Orientation Engagement: Attendance and feedback from FLIGHT29 students and families during New Student Orientations.
- Hub Integration: Number of FLIGHT students engaged in hub-specific programming and outcomes linked to milestones.
Longitudinal Tracking: Persistence and GPA comparisons of students engaged in FLIGHT programming vs. non-participants.
Now in its fourth year, the FLIGHT Program has reached a significant milestone: for the first time, all four class years are actively represented on campus. This achievement highlights the program’s sustainability and its growing influence on student belonging, engagement, and persistence at Kennesaw State University (KSU).
FLIGHT is KSU’s class-year connections initiative, intentionally designed to provide distinctive experiences that foster the social, personal, and academic development of every student. Guided by a four-phase developmental framework—Foster, Focus, Flourish, and Finalize—the program ensures that students feel seen, supported, and connected to the broader campus community from their first semester through graduation.
During 2024–2025, the department completed a strategic reorganization that expanded staff capacity, clarified roles, and enhanced alignment between programming, assessment, and student development outcomes. This restructuring supported the implementation of the FLIGHT Plan, organized around four progressive phases and four core pillars: Community, Connections, Engagement, and Support. Together, these pillars ensure that students receive the resources, relationships, and guidance necessary to succeed in college and beyond.
FLIGHT’s collaborative and holistic approach has become a cornerstone of KSU’s student success ecosystem. In the most recent academic year, the program led or co-hosted 71 collaborative events, generating more than 19,000 student check-ins across both campuses. Signature milestones such as First-Year Convocation, Runout, Sophomore Social, Junior Jump, and Senior Cookout have deepened class-year identity and connection, while events like Scrappy Hour and the Student Support Fair have expanded outreach and increased access to campus resources.
Partnerships with Housing and Residence Life, Orientation, Career Planning & Development, Alumni Relations, and Student Leadership have further extended FLIGHT’s reach. The redesigned Leaders in Kennesaw (LinK) Weekend engaged 88 upper-division students, including 12 Ambassadors, in leadership development and community-building activities. These collaborations demonstrate how shared programming and intentional design can foster a culture where belonging, engagement, and achievement are mutually reinforcing.
As FLIGHT enters its next phase, the program will continue to refine class-year milestones, expand data-informed assessment dashboards, and strengthen cross-campus collaborations that connect students’ engagement with their academic and professional growth.
As FLIGHT enters its fifth year, the program is shifting from growth to refinement—strengthening alignment between its four developmental phases (Foster, Focus, Flourish, Finalize) and continuing to build belonging through class-year traditions and engagement milestones. The focus will be on deepening consistency, enhancing data-informed decision-making, and ensuring every student’s FLIGHT journey remains intentional and meaningful from entry to graduation.
- Advance the FLIGHT Framework: Further define each phase of the four-year model with distinct developmental outcomes, reflection touchpoints, and engagement milestones.
- Enhance Signature Milestones: Continue refining and scaling First-Year Convocation, Runout, Sophomore Social, Junior Jump, and Senior Cookout to strengthen each class year’s sense of identity and connection.
- Broaden Engagement Opportunities: Expand mid-year and co-curricular programming that reinforces FLIGHT’s pillars of Community, Connection, Engagement, and Support.
Implement Data Dashboards: Collaborate with SPAA and Institutional Research to visualize participation and belonging outcomes, aligning engagement data with retention and progression metrics.
As participation grows across all four class years, maintaining the personalized, high-quality experiences that define the FLIGHT model will require continued strategic management of scale, staffing, and data capacity.
- Sustaining Quality During Growth: Increased event participation and expansion across both campuses create logistical and facilitation challenges.
- Resource Capacity: Additional staffing and funding are needed to sustain event execution, assessment, and student leadership development.
- Assessment Infrastructure: Continued refinement of engagement-tracking systems and survey tools is needed to connect belonging outcomes to academic performance.
- Balance of Breadth and Depth: With 40+ annual events, prioritizing experiences that deliver the strongest developmental impact is essential to maintain focus and relevance.
To build upon FLIGHT’s success as a comprehensive class-year engagement model, external collaboration and benchmarking will be key to sustaining quality, expanding reach, and enhancing evaluation capacity.
- Peer Benchmarking: Collaboration with institutions that employ class-year or cohort-based engagement models to compare frameworks, staffing, and assessment structures.
- System-Level Data Access: Access to USG-wide belonging and engagement metrics to contextualize KSU outcomes within the broader student success landscape.
- Funding and Sustainability Guidance: Consultation on scalable funding models that support tradition-based programming and student leadership pipelines.
- Evaluation Alignment: Support in refining longitudinal assessment frameworks that connect engagement, belonging, and retention outcomes across the four-year student journey.
