Welcome

FYE explained....

(1) What will be your FYE CQ?

Not to belabor the obvious, but it is important for you to buy into this FYE concept if you wish to reap the most benefit possible in this course. All of us- your professors, your peer mentor, and each of you- will invest considerable energy in the next seven weeks towards a common goal: successful completion of your first course in college.

In many ways, an FYE course is not much different from any of the other courses you will take at CC. You show up on the first day of class, ready to go, and, regardless of the course subject, 3.5 weeks later you see the world and your place in it differently. Sometimes the difference will be profound, dramatic, maybe even ground-shaking. Other times, you may not even notice a change, but it is impossible to learn without intellectual change. That is really our job as professors- we facilitate change in your perspective, and hopefully, that change has something to do with narrow area of expertise from which we are "professing" in the course. So let's operate on the premise that all learning involves change, and for discussion sake, let's define a term for that change- let's call it the Change Quotient, or CQ. We will not attempt to quantify the CQ for any course, but we can talk about elements that will define the CQ.

What makes FYE unique from the rest of your CC coursework is that we formally include your transition from high school student to college student as part of your professor-facilitated CQ for this course. Ergo, we have two major goals in the FYE- (1) like any CC course, we want you to own the intellectual material in the course. This only happens if you pay for it in the coinage of your own energy and desire; and (2) we want to facilitate development of the personal and behavioral tools that will help you adjust to the CC environment and be a successful student over the next four years.

(2) What is expected of you in this course?

Attendance- The Block Plan has no mercy. Never miss class. Especially in the sciences, with rigid timelines for laboratories and field studies, a few missed days may find you so compromised material-wise that you will have to drop the course. This will usually be the professor's decision, and not your choice. Therefore, don't get sick. Take your vitamins. Eat healthy. Get your sleep. Engage in physical activities. And show up for class every day, ready for another increment in your CQ.

Passion- Sometimes, out in "the world", it really does feel like 90% of life is just showing up. At CC, an approach founded upon such a philosophy is a strategy for failure. You have chosen to come to a school where the daily investment a student makes in learning is higher than probably any other undergraduate institution in the country. This will be hard work, and it will be easier (and even fun!) if you can realize some level of passion about what you are learning in each class. As an active intellectual particpant in the process, you will find it so much easier to own your knowledge.

(3) What can you expect from this course?

The experience of a science course on the Block Plan- Learning science on the Block Plan can be quite special. Imagine spending 6-8 hours almost every day on lecture and laboratory work, or a whole week, 24/7, out in the field. It is a real privilege to be able to focus so intensely on one subject area for a short period of time, and many of your science courses will expect you to be comfortable with a 30 hour work week in class alone.

The opportunity to write- Writing well will be central to your success at CC. It is one of the hallmarks of a successful liberal arts education, and that is what we are about at this institution. You may already be an excellent writer. Use this course to get better. You may find writing to be a chore, or just plain difficult. Change that in the next two blocks. Seek out help at the writing center. Spend extra time discussing your work with your professors. Writing is essential, and one of our goals in the FYE program is to insure that you know your current level of skill and how to improve upon it if necessary.

Advising- Transitions in life are always fraught with stress. You may have been planning to go to college since you were six, and view your attendance at CC as a natural unfolding of events, just what you expected at this stage of your life. Or maybe you keep asking yourself "what have I gone and gotten myself into?" Regardless of where you lie on this comfort spectrum, you have some adjustments to make as you start to find that new set of boundaries that define the life of a college student (Note: although you may feel a euphoric liberation in contrast to your previous life as a high school student, DO NOT make the mistake of forgetting that there ARE boundaries). And while you will likely find more than a few CC professors in your college tenure who will make significant contribution to a redefinition of your limits as you grow intellectually and personally with each course, you should realize that your own transition can and should be a topic of discussion with your FYE professors and peer mentor.

The opportunity to establish a "home base" for your college career- Look around you in class. Each one of you has at least one thing in common- the stress of transition, being dropped into a zone of new and unknown expectations. Misery loves company. This is your first exposure to one of the unadvertised benefits of the Block Plan. To quote Mindy Cushing (Biochemistry, magna cum laude, 2001; currently PhD student in Chemical Engineering at UC Boulder)- "..the Block Plan is great becasue every month I get tight with a whole new group of students..." Learning on the Block Plan can be stressful, but it is a stress shared with your peers. Learn how to work with your colleagues. Teach them and let them teach you. The extended course format in FYE gives you plenty of time to explore this aspect of CC life with the same group of people.

A discussion about academic integrity- Academia is a special place. It is a culture that is founded upon three noble endeavors: teaching, learning, and research. The lynchpin of this culture, the fundamental that holds it all together, the harmonic that resonates in every chord of activity, is academic integrity. Without it, a professor has no credibility and cannot teach (who would listen?). Without it, a student cannot learn (absent understanding, there is no learning). So we will have conversations on academic honesty, what is means to the culture and to the individual. We will define, as clearly as possible, what can be construed as breaches of integrity at CC. We will talk about the CC Honor Code and the consequences of being in violation of the code. Some of you may be surprised to find that acceptable practice in high school is a clear violation of academic honesty in college. Assume nothing in this area. Start from scratch and learn about it from the ground up. Violation of the Honor Code is a capital offense and can result in the college equivalent of capital punishment. Make sure you are not confused on this issue at all.