U.S. News and World Report ranked Ball State University among the nation's top 40 colleges for freshman transitional programs for the fourth year in a row.
The programs are designed to make the transition between high school and college easier for incoming freshmen, Lynda Wiley, director of Student Life and assistant vice president for Student Affairs, said.
"The biggest goal of transitional programs is to make sure that our students are able to make a connection at Ball State so they feel like it's their university," Wiley said.
She said although she is impressed with the university's high ranking, she cannot take all the credit.
"I think it's the result of a lot of hard work by a lot of people across campus," she said.
Ball State offered two new programs this summer, Wiley said. Seven students participated in a Leadership Challenge Trip to Camp Tecumseh Leadership Center in Brookston, Ind. Camp Tecumseh is a YMCA-sponsored camp that provides leadership development and both high and low ropes adventure courses, which include rock climbing and zip lining.
The overnight Leadership Challenge Trip focused on leadership and team building activities, Wiley said.
Seventeen students participated in the second new program, the four-day Whitewater Rafting Expedition in West Virginia during the last week of July.
"I enjoyed the people," freshman electronic art and animation major Chris Horn said. "It really helped me adjust to college because I already knew so many people."
In fact, students enjoyed this trip so much they are forming an Extreme Adventures club this year, he said. The first introductory meeting will be held Sept. 9 in the L.A. Pittenger Student Center, Horn said.
The magazine also discussed other Ball State transitional programs such as Cardinal Leadership and Service Seminar, Early Start, EXCEL, Freshman Connections and Welcome Week.
The EXCEL program is sponsored by Ball State's Multicultural Center and has many similarities to the Cardinal Leadership and Service Seminar program, Wiley said. The program is targeted at incoming freshman minorities, she said. It focuses on skills that will help students perform better socially and academically during college.
CLASS is an older summer transitional program in its eleventh year, she said. Participants move in the Sunday before classes start and she said they participate in three days of leadership and service development.
"Students learn more about campus so that they can feel acclimated and at home really quickly," Wiley said.
The program is unique, she said, because upperclassmen serve as the leaders and mentors of the program.
One such mentor, senior meteorology major Joe Thomas, participated this summer in both the CLASS program and the Early Start program.
"CLASS was one of my first experiences at Ball State," Thomas said. "I became a mentor because I wanted to do for other freshmen what my mentors did for me when I was a freshman."
Laura Helms, assistant dean of University College, said Ball State's Early Start program allows freshmen to enroll in summer workshops. Students live and dine on campus while attending workshops on topics ranging from leadership development to telecommunications, she said.
The three day program is offered three different weeks in June and allows students to earn one college credit for being enrolled.
Thomas said being a mentor is one of the most rewarding experiences because mentors can give something back to Ball State.
In addition to summer programs like these, Ball State offers the Welcome Week program.
John Bennett, assistant director of orientation and Welcome Week coordinator, said this program is a collaboration of different departments throughout campus. He said Welcome Week is a week-long experience designed to help incoming freshmen become more comfortable with campus.
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