Enrollment Management and Student Success (EMASS)
November 9, 2018
SYE NEWS Second Year Experience Highlights | Morgan State University Message from the Vice President In August, President Wilson sent a campuswide email announcing the launch of Morgan’s Second Year Experience (SYE) Program. Funded by Lumina Foundation through its HBCU Student Success Project, Morgan’s SYE program provides opportunities to engage in high impact practices for members of our freshman cohort who return to the university for their second year. It’s my pleasure to provide this newsletter to update the campus community on the SYE Program to date. Special thanks to Brenda James, Director of the Center for Academic Success and Achievement (CASA), Rhonda Battle, Assistant Director of CASA, and Mark Barnes, Associate Professor of History and Geography for their leadership in developing and running the SYE Program. – Dr. Kara Turner SYE NEWS
Disengaged. Overwhelmed. Floundering. These are words often used to describe students’ state of mind during the murky middle years of college. But at Morgan, our secondto third-year retention rate is the highest it’s ever been, at 63 percent. This is largely because of ongoing efforts to engage and support students at all levels, intervening immediately when academic warning signs occur. The Second-Year Experience (SYE) expands on our current success to engage students even more, providing them with experiential learning opportunities, including internships, study abroad, service learning and research.
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Enrollment Management and Student Success (EMASS)
November 9, 2018
Group photo of PEARL Field Trip participants at the end of the day.
PEARL Field Trip The SYE program held its first field trip on Sept. 28 when students visited the Patuxent Environmental and Aquatic Research Lab (PEARL). They were able to listen to brief lectures about the research work and research opportunities for students in the Chesapeake Bay and surrounding areas. One student, Jon’Yea McCooty, shared on her Experiential Learning Plan, “This trip has broaden my spectrum of what I can do with my future degree. It’s made me want to dip my hands into a lot of different things outside of my comfort zone. I also ate a raw oyster which wasn’t that bad! I’m happy I’ve signed up for this trip.” Students preparing to sort through oysters, far left. Learning about the work performed at PEARL, left. SYE NEWS
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Enrollment Management and Student Success (EMASS)
November 9, 2018
WBAL-TV field trip The SYE program will host its second field trip on Friday, November 13, 2018 to the WBAL-TV station. Students will be given a tour of the studio, see a live news broadcast, and ask questions of the professional reporters and other staff members.
SYE App CASA/SYE is working with technology company TransitioningU to develop an app for second year students. The app will provide students with information on the SYE website in addition to other opportunities based on the students’ interests. These opportunities will include internships, study abroad opportunities, service learning activities, and many others. The app also provides students with information about scholarships and opportunities to win incentives as they complete their SYE experiential learning requirement.
SYE NEWS
Work Study/Part-time Job Fair SYE participated in the MSU Work Study/Part-time Job Fair held on Sept. 6. The CASA staff targeted second-year students to remind them of their requirement to participate in an experiential learning opportunity as part of the SYE program and to highlight the many opportunities that are available on the SYE website, which includes Work Study.
Students interacting with external and internal collaborators at the SYE Opportunities Fair.
SYE Opportunities Fair The SYE program hosted an Opportunities Fair on Oct. 9 in the USC Ballroom. Second year students were invited to visit with internal and external collaborators for this project who shared specific details of the experiential learning opportunities that are offered at their sites.
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Enrollment Management and Student Success (EMASS)
November 9, 2018
MSU Campus Organization Fun Fair The Office of Student Life and Development hosted an Organization Fun Fair on Sept. 14, in the MSU Ballrooms. Rhonda Battle and Crystal Radford shared information about the Second Year Experience program that is being initiated at MSU this fall.
Students visiting the SYE table at the Organization Fun Fair, left, to learn more about SYE.
A PEER-TO-PEER EXCHANGE
SYE Achievement Symposium
Hear how fellow students studied abroad, interned, and researched with faculty around the globe to achieve their career planning goals in a panel discussion forum led by them.Â
The SYE program hosted its first Achievement Symposium on Nov. 1 in the Behavioral Social and Sciences Center first-floor auditorium. Students shared their experiences while engaged in studying abroad, interning, and researching. They spoke about what they deemed as critical moments in their experiential learning opportunity. Many students have said that experiential learning opportunities have broadened their horizons, positively influenced their thinking, and expanded their career and personal achievement goals. SYE NEWS
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Enrollment Management and Student Success (EMASS)
SYE Website launched
Second Year Experience website
November 9, 2018
 
https://www.morgan.edu/sye
Morgan State’s Second Year Experience (SYE) program attracts students with an informative Y2 website that provides steps to engage in an Experiential Learning Opportunity; lists the types of Experiential Learning Opportunities; Opportunities within Schools and College; images and videos from SYE events, and upcoming SYE opportunities. Students with SYE shirts they received at the SYE Opportunities Fair, far right. Right, students exploring oysters fished from the bay during a SYE field trip to PEARL.
SYE NEWS
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EMASS Enrollment Management and Student Success
Thank you to the SYE task force! The SYE Task Force is comprised of faculty and staff from all Schools and the College of Liberal Arts, EMASS, Student Affairs, Academic Affairs, and International Affairs. Its role is to provide guidance, facilitate broad-based support, and ensure successful implementation of the SYE Program. SYE Task Force Members: Sanjay Bapna Mark Barnes (Co-chair) Rhonda Battle Terra Bowen-Reid Adam Bridge Johanna Cottman Seana Coulter Brenda J. James (Co-chair) Simone Gibson Doug Gwynn Christine Hohmann Carl Hyden Johnson Niba Thaddeus Price Shelia Richburg Stepheca Sawyer Kate Weeks Larry Wilkerson Natasha Williams
The SYE Program thanks Lumina Foundation HBCU Student Success Project and Morgan's 50 by 25 Campaign for their support.
SYE NEWS
November 9, 2018
SYE needsNovember you! 12, 2018 The centerpiece of the SYE program is a mandatory experiential learning opportunity. Well-planned, supervised and assessed learning opportunities can simulate academic inquiry, promote interdisciplinary learning, civic engagement, career development, cultural awareness, leadership and other professional and intellectual skills. Such opportunities may include study abroad, undergraduate research, service learning, internships, job shadowing, career-related part-time jobs, and academic and career-related field trips, among others.
“This ambitious program requires the participation and support of us all!” - President Wilson We are asking all faculty, staff, and administrators who may have relevant opportunities available to inform the program at SYE@morgan.edu. If you don’t currently have relevant opportunities available, think about how you can perhaps integrate SYE into your classroom or office in future semesters. Please also share any relevant opportunities you may know of off-campus.
Campus Compact Mid-Atlantic AmeriCorps Vista Member Crystal Radford, Campus Compact Mid-Atlantic AmeriCorps Vista Member, began working with the SYE program in July. She has been charged with locating SYE opportunities off-campus for our second year students. Ms. Radford has been instrumental in locating over 25 sites for our students’ engagement in experiential learning opportunities. 6