Sewanee’s FYE program

Sanjana Priyonti, Junior Editor

Next fall, Sewanee’s new First Year Experience (FYE) program will include every freshman, expanding and enhancing a campus immersion program that previously served only a portion of each new class. 

The change aims to ensure that all students begin their college journeys on equal footing. No matter when they arrive, the shared experience of the FYE will offer every student the chance to connect with their peers from the start.

 “It’s not just about the classes; it’s about meeting your classmates, forming friendships and establishing your place here at Sewanee. Those relationships can make all the difference in how a student feels about their time here,” said history professor Dr. Nick Roberts who is helping develop FYE. “We want a first-year experience for everyone.” 

Historically, Sewanee’s first-year programs: Finding Your Place (FYP) and PRE were integral to each incoming class’s introduction to the university. FYP included an immersive ten-day experience followed by 4 credit hour classes through the semester until fall break, centered around a specific academic theme; its goal was to help participants form deep intellectual and personal connections. However, the program’s structure and timing—starting before many students’ official arrival on campus—meant it was only available to about 20% of each first-year class. The other immersive program, PRE, took 210 incoming freshmen on outing trips in and around Sewanee, to give participants the chance to bond while experiencing the rich nature and adventure this Domain has to offer. 

But there were concerns that so many offerings and schedules resulted in a sense of fragmentation among incoming students, with different cohorts arriving at different times due to various pre-orientation activities like athletics or standard orientation schedules.

Recognizing this, Sewanee’s leadership began to reassess how to create a unified experience for all incoming students. Provost Scott Wilson said the shift to a more inclusive First Year Experience, driven by the university’s strategic planning process, emphasized creating a greater sense of belonging and ensuring a shared academic foundation.  

“The strategic planning committee decided to expand (our) first-year program so that all students would have a shared first-year experience,” Wilson said. “Because of the waves of arrival, students have lacked a shared experience and opportunity to bond as an entire class. We expect that the shift to a common first-year experience for all first-year students will foster a greater sense of belonging among first-year students and improve student engagement.”

The new FYE will be divided into 3 E’s: Explore, Encounter, and Embark. Roberts said the new approach aims to ensure every first-year student arrives on campus with a shared academic experience. Through this new structure, he and others said, Sewanee hopes to improve not only student engagement but also retention and graduation rates, echoing findings from similar programs at other institutions.

Rather than the more intense ten-day immersion of the previous FYP model, the FYE program will kick off with four days of engagement activities before the official start of classes. Students will participate in the Explore component of the program, which allows students to engage in either community service work through Civic Engagement, the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, the Office of Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability. Additional programming from the Sewanee Outing Program (SOP) and other offices will be offered when the FYE is expanded in the fall of 2026 . During the Explore component, students will work on outreach initiatives, connect with others across disciplines and develop leadership skills. These opportunities allow students to not only explore academic themes but also to see how their classroom learning connects to the broader world around them. Even though PRE will continue for this year, the SOP will be part of FYE from the next iteration. 

The restructured program will retain some elements of FYP through Encounter, which will be based on three themes and 9 courses: Place, Stories and Story-telling, and Truth and Memory. 

Encounter will start alongside Explore, allowing students to dive into academics and connect with professors and mentors. Chemistry Professor Robert Bachman, who leads the academic aspect of the program, said that the new structure will allow students to explore a theme in depth while also maintaining a strong academic foundation. “The key here is balance,” Bachman said. “We want to keep the academic rigor while making the experience more accessible and sustainable for both students and faculty.”

The final component is Embark, directed by Kim Heizenrater, Sewanee’s Associate Dean for Career Readiness and Student Success. Upon closely observing the University of North Carolina’s Gardner Institute’s training program for weeks, the Embark element is going to be a College 101(a 1 credit hour course) which will help first-year students navigate the transition from high school to college, introduce them to resources on campus, and how to make the best use of it. As Roberts described, “it’s a big difference between high school and college and living alone or separately from their parents,” he explains “ Sewanee’s College 101 [says] here are the resources on campus to help you with counseling or with, the writing center, or something as simple as what is the syllabus?” 

Like FYP, in FYE upperclassmen will be called upon to serve as mentors for first-year students. These student leaders will help guide the newcomers through their initial days on campus, offering insights into both the social and academic challenges of university life. These leaders will play an important role in creating a supportive environment, making the first few days of college feel less overwhelming. According to Roberts, “Having that support system is essential. The mentor-student relationship goes beyond just academics—it’s about helping first-year students navigate everything from social life to workload.”

The program’s evolution is not without its challenges. One of the biggest hurdles Sewanee will face is ensuring that faculty across a wide range of disciplines are willing to take part in this new initiative. The FYE will require more faculty members to adapt their existing classes or create entirely new ones that fit within the thematic clusters. While the program requires a significant amount of faculty involvement, Bachman said, many Sewanee professors are already excited about what it may add to the University’s academic offerings.  “We’re encouraging faculty to think outside the box, and many are already excited about how they can integrate their existing coursework into this broader framework,” he said.

Provost Wilson noted, “The goal is to make this experience the best possible for all students. Whether that means helping them develop a strong academic foundation or fostering deep connections with peers, we want to create a sense of belonging that lasts throughout their time here.”

For students who have participated in FYP in the past, the new FYE may seem like a significant shift. However, the new program’s architects say, the changes they’re introducing represents a careful balance between maintaining what worked in the old structure while adapting to the needs of today’s students. They’re confident that the reimagined FYE will offer a more inclusive, adaptable and engaging experience for Sewanee’s incoming students. “None of us know what the right answers are… but I’m seeing that this could be a really good thing.”, said Roberts.“It also sounds like something where they really care about welcoming us. they want us to belong and they’re kind of inviting us to experience all these fun things.”