The Accelerate Summer Bridge Program gained plenty of positive feedback from those who participated this year.
The program is specifically designed to help incoming, first-year freshmen become adjusted to life at Ball State.
"I think this year was a fantastic year and I couldn't have asked for a better group of student leaders and participants," Ryan Cole, Accelerate student coordinator, said.
Out of the 200 students to apply for a position in the program, only 169 were chosen to participate.
"The students were so excited to be at Accelerate," Sarah Gremer, Accelerate coordinator, said. "Seeing students excited was really inspiring."
"I enjoyed it a lot," Kaitlyn Arford, an Accelerate participant, said. "I got to meet some really cool people."
Not only did the students get to know each other better, they were also able to experience the campus and community before the Fall Semester rush.
"It really did help me get started [and] adjusted to Ball State," Zane Langenbrunner, an Accelerate participant, said.
The program began in 2007. This year, it lasted from Aug. 12 until Aug. 16. During the first three days, students participated in icebreakers and learned their way around campus. They also listened to inspirational speakers, such as Jon Vroman.
According to Vroman's website, his goal as a public speaker is to "encourage individuals to find and develop their unique talents so that they will make the biggest impact within their campus and community."
The last two days of the program were set aside for the Accelerate students to help other freshmen move into the dorms.
Gremer said the program is designed to help students get acclimated to campus life and get a jump start on the semester.
Langenbrunner said there was a very good range of activities to help prepare students. He described Accelerate as a way "to help students get a head start on college."
Another aspect of the program that intrigued students was that Accelerate was free.
Rebecca Reid, another participant, said it was a great experience "and why not take the free opportunity?"
Accelerate goes through yearly changes to increase the quality of the program and the enjoyment for the students.
"I [felt] like this program was better than programs in the past," Cole said. "Everything that this program was this year turned out way better than I had ever imagined it could be."
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