When minority students arrive at predominantly white system schools, campus climate surveys routeinly show that they feel out of place. A new initiative at UW-Stout aims to make their transition a little easier.
Students Thriving in Academic Resilience — or STAR, as the program is called on campus — was launched this year in an effort to provide first-year minority students with a safe space to build a community and get settled on campus.
“STAR allows students to get a jump start on their Stout experience in academics and involvement, which is why we have our scholars move in two weeks early,” said Vickie Sanchez, UW-Stout Multicultural Student Services coordinator. “The program is designed to help students transition from high school to college.”
Students in the STAR program arrive on campus a week before classes start, during which time they participate in workshops and community activities. Then those students take classes together during the school year and live together in a learning community dorm.
Until this year, the STAR program was called Stoutward Bound. In 2016, retention rates for students enrolled in Stoutward Bound were 62.1 percent, while the retention rate for minority students not enrolled in the program was 55.4 percent, according to a UW-Stout release. The first-year retention rate for all students was 73.1 percent.
