University Communications and Marketing

First-year student Dana Qualy expected to expand her love of theater into filmmaking when she signed up for Freshman Film Club, a first-year seminar course at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

 

What she didn’t expect were personal insights into managing her finances or discovering how the university’s Tutoring Learning Center could be a resource for another course.

 

“I love this class, it’s my favorite,” said Qualy, a student from Portage who hasn’t decided on a major. “It’s about a specific field but it also helps you adapt to a college lifestyle and take responsibility for yourself. Because of it I’m feeling more like a college student — and an adult.”

 

Qualy is among the more than 800 first-year students in 40 first-year seminar (FYS) courses at UW-Stevens Point this semester. The courses were added to UW-Stevens Point’s general education curriculum in 2011 to help high school graduates transition to college.

 

Although the topics vary, all first-year seminar courses have common goals: to help students think critically, adapt to the academic community and campus life, and take responsibility for their education, career choices and personal development, said Nancy LoPatin-Lummis, director of general education.

 

“It’s a wonderful, interdisciplinary foundation,” she said. “In this world, students need a wide base of knowledge to succeed.”

 

The first-year seminar provides the practical skills first-year students need, such as note taking, time management, teamwork and problem solving. They also learn the value and importance of a broad-based education.

 

“It helps them understand their world and think outside their discipline,” LoPatin-Lummis said. “The small class size encourages close connections with the instructor and fellow students.”

 

Qualy said her first-year seminar goes beyond a typical class. “Instead of regular lectures, we have a dialogue on topics like diversity, film or whatever we don’t understand about campus and college. It’s continuously an open place to speak to each other and our professor.”

 

Among the seminar topics this semester are personal wellness, family relationships, “The Lord of the Rings,” The Beatles, spirituality, sports, architecture, violence in America and international culture. Courses are proposed and taught by members of the UW-Stevens Point instructional staff, including faculty, coaches and an emeritus faculty member. All instructors attend professional development sessions about first-year seminar courses, and their courses are regularly evaluated and revised.

 

As the instructor of Freshman Film Club, music professor Lawrence Leviton integrates film studies and first-year seminar goals by bringing in guest speakers and showing a diverse list of films. Most are from other cultures but feature current social and economic issues.

 

He enjoys sharing his love of films with students. “People may have a passion outside of what they normally teach,” said Leviton, who has taught cello at UW-Stevens Point for 26 years and studied both music and film in graduate school. “This gives faculty and staff the opportunity to explore that passion in depth. We’re learning with the students, and that’s exciting.”

 

The seminars also offer a social outlet for incoming students, as they are encouraged to attend university events together and write about it for class, LoPatin-Lummis said.

 

“Taking part in FYS gives them a reason or permission to attend a student organization meeting or take part in something they wouldn’t have attended,” she said. Some are given scavenger hunt-type assignments that take them around campus to find resources and services. Many form study groups and develop close ties.

 

Baihly Birdseye, a dietetics major from Rochester, Minn., is taking the first-year seminar course on Raising the Wellness Bar. She enjoys the group dynamic in her class. “I’ve met a great group of people, and we’ve gotten really close,” she said. “We all hang out together outside of class.”

 

Her instructor, lecturer Betsy Barrett, is teaching a first-year seminar course for the fourth time. She was inspired to create the course because of an experience she had in a similar first-year seminar in college. “It resonated with me, and the friends I made in that class were my friends all four years. I wanted to share that experience,” Barrett said.

 

She has seen many of her students become empowered. “The first-year seminar classes are more than just academics and content,” Barrett said. “It’s very personal. I have enjoyed the chance to impact these students’ college experience and get them on the right track.”