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NEWS
Fundamentals to successful college year
CLACKAMAS
PRINT
Editorial
STORY ANQ? PHOTO BY JARED PREBLE ■
S tu d e n ts e n g a g e th e firs t y e a r e xp e rie n c e course.
THE CLACKAMAS PRINT
W h e th e r c o m in g fr e s h ly grad uated fro m
h ig h s c h o o l o r r e t u r n in g a fte r a lo n g
b reak , th e in itia l sh o ck o f college and th e
tre m en d o u s w orkload th a t fo llow s can be
overw h elm in g.
W ith o u t th e p ro p e r to o ls to c o m b a t
p r o c r a s tin a tio n , th e slo p e th a t le a d s to
fa ilin g grades can be q u ite slip p ery. D avid
G r e e n , te a c h e r a n d a d v o c a te fo r F ir s t
Y e a r E x p e r ie n ce , said le a r n in g th e r ig h t
p rin cip les fo r a su ccessfu l college life sty le
is critical to o n e ’ s acad em ic fu tu re.
FY E is a t h r e e - p a r t c o u rse w ith a n
instructor who educates students on how to
properly handle college. E ach class focuses
o n a d iffe re n t asp ect o f success and h e lp s
to p rep are stu d e n ts fo r th e lo n g p a th to
graduation. It has also proven to help th em
stay o n track:
T h is s o u n d s f u n d a m e n t a l to th e
im p r o v in g o n e ’ s g rad es a n d w o rk e th ic
b u t h a s i t h e lp e d stu d e n ts as m u c h as it
ad vertises? A n d sho uld it b e m and ato ry? .
understand college life m ore, th ey ’ re doing
b e tte r in th e ir c la s s e s ,” S ta p le to n sa id .
“ M o st o f th ose stud en ts have n o t ta k e n an
FYE class and d id n ’ t know th at th ey should
have or th a t it w as available. Y ou d o n ’ t She
s tu d e n ts w h o ta k e FY E as o fte n c o m in g
b a c k to us n ee d in g to get th a t assistan ce .
S o , it ’ s really a fo u n d atio n al class and i t ’ s
an im p o rtan t first s te p .”
R oss F o ster, a stu d en t w h o h a s gon e
through all three courses, said th at the class
h a s b een essen tia l to g iv in g h im th e to ols
needed to m a in ta in a stead y w ork eth ic . A
vete ra n in h is 30s, h e fo u n d th a t FYE gave
h im th e stru cture h e th riv ed o n w h ile in
th e m ilitary.
“ I do b e lie v e it s h o u ld b e m a n d a to r y
and th e reason fo r th a t is a lo t o f stud en ts
w h en th e y com e in fro m h ig h sch oo l d o n ’ t
m a d e it w h a t it is today.
. H e said FYE w as th e b rain ch ild o f C asey
Sim s and Lisa N ielson a few years ago. They
w anted to b rin g in a college success course
in to th e sch o o l. “ I w a sn ’ t involved at th at
tim e b u t I ’ m glad th e y d id ,” G re e n said .
“ It’ s really e n lig h ten ed m e .”
G r e e n h a s s e e n tr e m e n d o u s g r o w th
w it h in th e c la s s a n d sh a r e d s t a tis t ic s
p ro v id ed b y in s titu tio n a l r e s e a r c h , th a t
fu rth e rs h is m e ssag e.
From 2014 to 2015, w h ich w as th e first
y e a r o f F Y E , th e rate o f su c c e ss fo r FY E
students higher than non -FY E students was
6.9 percent. From 2015 to 2016, it ju m p ed to
11.8 p ercen t. From 2016 to 2017, it ju m p ed
to an u n p receden ted 22.5 p ercent.
“ W e ’ re proud o f i t ,’’ said G re en . “ W e try
to m ake th at transition fro m w here th ey ’ re
c o m in g fro m sm ooth er. T he m a in th in g o f
u n d erstan d w h at to e x p e c t,” Foster said.
“ H o n e stly , I ’ m in m y early 30s and after
th e structure th a t I had in th e m ilita ry , I
needed som e idea for how to conduct m yself
in colleg e. I w as h a v in g trouble ke ep in g up
th is course is , it m a k e s th e m prepared for
th e rest o f th eir college career, and as I like
to say in new student advising sessions, the
rest o f th eir liv e s ? ’
C o lle g e an d h a s b e e n in v o lv e d w ith FY E
fo r th e la s t th ree y ears. Sh e said sh e has
w ith m y grades, so I cam e in he re , and I ’ve
b een d o in g a lo t b etter s in c e .”
W h ile s tu d e n ts an d a d v o ca te s are th e
G re e n is ju s t o n e o f m a n y o th e rs w h o
sees th e p o te n tia l th a t th e course h a s to
a ffe c t th e lives o f th ose w h o en ro ll in th e
seen m u ch grow th in th e stu d e n ts a s w ell
as th e class itse lf.
b read an d b u tte r o f a n y goo d co u rse , i t ’ s
th e h e ad te a c h e r th a t k e e p s e v e r y th in g
class. W hile class sizes have grow n steadily
over th e p a st th ree years, G re en still fin d s
“ W h e n stu d e n ts co m e b a c k to us a fte r
w e ll c o n s t r u c t e d a n d o v e r s e e s a ll
o p e r a tio n s . G r e e n is th e b r a in s b e h in d
F Y E , an d w h ile h e is n o t th e fo u n d e r o f
th e course h e h a s ta k e n th e h e lm and h a s
th a t th e FY E co u rse d e se rv e s e x p o su re ,
h e b e lie v e s m a k in g it m a n d a to r y cou ld '
Jo d i S ta p le to n is p a rt o f th e a d v is in g
d e p a r tm e n t a t C la c k a m a s C o m m u n it y
ta k in g an FYE class th e y are really ju s t in
a d iffe re n t p lace th a n th e y w ere w h en w e
first saw th em . They’re m ore prepared, they
drastically im prove th e overall success rate
o f stu d en ts a t C lack a m as.
Letter from the editors
Dear readers,
“ The current peer.assistants (and the Work-
peer assistants, or some departments who have
study em ployee) fro m th e C all C enter have
not had peer assistants (such as R n a n d a l Aid)
Will get assigned som e, or b o th .”
Last week, The Clackam as Print published a
b rief th at w as w ritten b y m e regarding th e
Clackam as C o m m u n ity C ollege C all Center
coining to a close wherein I stated that “ W ith
the end o f the call center com es an end to a
m eans to cover students’ tuition.”
been reassigned to other departm ents so that
they will not lose their tuition waivers or their
most o f the students working in the Call Center.
Sincerely,
This is false and the Print greatly regrets the
unethical publication o f th is inform ation and
As we do everyyear, we will evaluate where peer
assistants are placed around cam pus, and it is
likely that some departments will get additional
A u tu m n B erend , E d ito r -in -C h ie f fo r The
Clackam as Print
lade o f in -d ep th journalism to find the truth.
ON THE COVER:
hourly pay,” Director of Student Leadership and
Engagement John Ginsburg stated in an e-m ail.
“ I run the peer assistant program, which staffed
The P rint appreciates th e sw ift response
from Ginsburg and Chris Sweet in inform ing
the Print o f its mistake, and we apologize.
Happy Valentine’s Day from The Clackamas Print. Cover design by Alexis Wagar and Victoria Tinker.
Editors-in-Chief
Autumn Berend
Managing Editor
Merari Calderon Ruiz
chiefed@clackamas.edu
Copy Editor
Doug Fry
Associate Copy Editor
Victoria Durling
copyed@clackamas.edu
News & Opinion Editor
lan Van Orden
nevysed@dackamas.edu
Arts & Culture Editor
Luis Correa
aced@clackamas.edu
Sports Editor
Jacob Thompson
sportsed@clackamas.edu
Photo Editor
Sam Weston
phbtoed@clackamas.edu
D esign« Web Editor
Alexis Wagar
webeditor@clackamas.edu
Multimedia Editor
Summer Barraza
photoed@clackamas.edu
Ad Manager
Liam Anderson
admgr@ciackamas.edu
Distribution Coordinator
Ali Miller
oped@clackamas.edu
Contributors
Kristie Date
William Farris
Jared Preble
Jeanette Wright
Jonathan Sanchez
MichaelDaniel
Jeffrey D’Auvergne
Adviser
Crystal Kang
cfystal.kang@clackamas.edu
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February 14, 2018