Freshman Year Experience (FYE)

The mission of the Freshman-Year Experience (FYE) Program is to assist in promoting the successful transition, achievement, and retention of first-year students to college life at York.  FYE is a comprehensive program of academic and co-curricular activities.  The FYE program components include Freshman Advisement, The Freshman Reader, Freshman Orientation, Week of Welcome (WOW)/Spirit Week, Convocation, First Year Seminar/SD110, Early-Alert System, Civic Engagement, Mentoring, and “The Freshman Pledge.”

The Freshman Reader Program

The Freshman Reader Program is designed to provide first-year students with a shared academic experience and to introduce them into an educational community where intellectual engagement is fostered and valued.

The program utilizes a common book that entering freshman are given and required to read during the summer.  The book is then utilized in various freshman classes and activities during the academic year.

Mentoring Program

The York College Mentoring Program is a resource to assist students with their academic and social adjustment needs to the college.  The mentoring program is open to all enrolled students from all majors, especially incoming freshman.  Participating students are paired with an academically successful upperclassman or faculty/staff member with similar interests, who want students to do their best in College. 

Program activities include, training sessions, mentor-mentee meetings, monthly “meet and greets” and other events.  Assessment of the mentoring program’s success includes comparing participating students’ GPA with non-participating students. And we will also compare first-year retention rates of participating students with non-participants.

• YC Mentoring Program

Service-Learning Program

Service-Learning at York College is a teaching and learning method that engages and encourages students to make meaningful connections between course content and real-life experiences through service and community-based research. York College’s aim is to deepen student learning, while increasing students’ level of community engagement and responsibility.

Early-Alert System

This intervention program is designed to connect students to campus support services to ensure their academic success at the college.  Moreover, the Early-Alert System serves as a resource for faculty to report and refer, at any point during the semester, students who are experiencing difficulty in their respective courses to a supportive service program and/or office.  Utilizing a web-based program, the reporting instructor selects from several indicators (i.e. attendance, class participation, mid-term/final grades, and behavioral misconduct, etc.) that describe the area(s) of concern and then a message is generated and sent (email) to the appropriate office and/or program.  The student is also alerted that he/she has been referred for support services.  The office and/or program that receives the reporting faculty feedback can begin to intervene and assist the student in correct poor performance or behavior.