Students in Mattie Childs’ First Year Experience class learn how to succeed in a college environment. (Photo by Sue Ann Kuhn-Smith)

The better experience students have in their first year of college, the greater likelihood that they will graduate and move on to successful careers.

That’s the simple philosophy behind Georgia Perimeter College’s new First Year Experience seminar class.

The seminar, a three-credit course, is designed to introduce new students to college life, explore careers, explain expectations of college students and build information literacy through investigation of a specific theme, says professor James Engstrom, coordinator of the GPC first-year program. “The course focuses on strategies for achieving academic and personal success,” he says.

Students in Mattie Childs’ first-year class, “Literacy for Life,” learn core college survival skills, such as how to study and how to manage stress, while also honing critical thinking skills.

“This course not only helps students make the transition from high school to college, but also enables students to work on projects that link learning to real-life experiences,” says Childs. “They learn how to process information, explore their options and make decisions based on in-depth, creative thinking.”

Marsalis Holloway believes the lessons he is learning in Childs’ class will help him succeed in college. “It’s a great way to open our minds to other ways of thinking, and that can only help us when we’re learning information in other courses,” he says.

“We know that if students do well their first two semesters and make real connections with the college, they will succeed at college,” says Dr. Lisa Fowler, assistant vice president of Enrollment Management and Student Success. “Our goal is to increase student learning and success, and that in turn raises retention and graduation.”