Graduation Club begins new class series

Students will reflect on their first semesters at JMU through "What you won’t learn in the classroom," a new program organized by the Office of Residence Life and First Year Involvement.

"What You Won’t Learn in the Classroom" is part two of Graduation Club, an ORL-sponsored program that helps freshmen become involved and settled on campus. During the fall semester, the Graduation Club provided information with academic sessions on test-taking skills, building up positive relationships with professors and advisers, and much more.

"If people can’t make it to each week, that’s fine," said Jennifer Kasey, graduate assistant for Academic Support in the FYI center/ORL. "They can come on a [staggered] basis."

The seminar topic planned for this week will be "The College Experience: A Reflection on First Semester." The second week will consist of "Identity Awareness and Personal Accountability," followed by "Stereotyping" the third week. An open question-and-answer forum led by a panel of seniors will occur the last week.

Kasey was planning these discussions since last semester. She modeled the idea after a first-year seminar program that she had attended as an undergraduate at the University of Virginia before transferring to JMU.

Besides Kasey, graduate assistants Dave Urso and Brianna Glenn also will be facilitating the seminar discussions.

"I’ll have people up and moving," Urso said. "There’s an interactive element [involved]. They have to come willing to be engaged and to offer something and to share pieces of themselves."

One of the main goals of the seminar discussions is to help freshmen make the most of their college experiences outside the classroom.

"I would argue that you actually learn more outside the classroom than you do in class," Urso said. "The experiences you have, the things you encounter, the relationships you have are not something you can necessarily recover."

Although the seminar discussions are mainly directed toward freshmen, other people can attend as well.

"I think they’ll have an opportunity to gain some personal insight," said Kathleen Campbell, assistant director of Residence Life for Student Learning Programs. "But I also think that they’ll have an opportunity to learn something about JMU and have a successful year."

Two sessions will take place each week on Mondays from 4 to 5 p.m. and 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the Constitution Room, Huffman Hall, B section. One session will be held Tuesdays from 6 to 7 p.m. in Gifford Hall.