The Holistic First-Year Experience program aims to support growth mindset and increase college knowledge among incoming first-year students. Specific interventions include summer on-boarding activities, First-Year Seminar GGC 1000 course with discipline-specific content, learning communities, ITEC 1001 EXACT (experiential learning and critical thinking) course, and Grizzly Peers for Success.
The Holistic First-Year Experience strategy has been initiated as one of GGC’s 2025 ASPIRE Top 5 Strategies for Success. The strategy fits squarely within the institution’s Strategic Plan. As noted above, the team and the specific efforts associated with this strategy draw largely from established programs that can benefit from closer collaboration and data-informed interventions.
FYS – GGC 1000
In fall 2023, only 58 students were enrolled in FYS; by fall 2024, enrollment grew to 177 students and in fall 2025, nine sections of the first-year seminar course were connected to first-year learning communities, which helped to increase the overall FYS enrollment by 26.6% from fall 2024. Additionally, three sections of FYS were discipline-related and provided content tailored to Pre-Nursing, Business, and STEM majors.
Summer Onboarding
Grizzly Launch Day 25 drew nearly 1,000 registrants, with over 600 new students attending. Planning for Launch Day 26 begins in May, maintaining the successful format.
SPARC’s redesigned curriculum earned high marks: 76% were extremely satisfied, 94% would recommend it, and 59% felt very confident starting the semester. However, attendance was low—only 20% of 129 registrants participated—possibly due to a last-minute venue change. To improve engagement, we will consider integrating SPARC activities into other onboarding events and add pre/post surveys to measure impact
Planning discussions and focused development of a holistic FYE framework are expected in 2025. Additionally, a working group will develop a proposal to scale the FYS course to be mandatory for all new first-year students.
Challenges will likely center around consistent, clear communication and definition of markers of success that will inform the work within the Holistic First-Year Experience strategy. Challenges related to the First-year seminar center on scalability including adequate funding and sufficient staffing.
We will explore ideas and recommendations from our System Office colleagues and from fellow USG institutions as we develop this key 2025 ASPIRE and Momentum strategy.
