Anna Marie Almanza
11:01:19 AM
Thank you for joining me today! We will be starting shortly.
Hello good morning everyone or good afternoon depending on where you're located. My name is Andrian Munson, their current outreach coordinator for the key communities. Thank you so much for joining me today. I'm excited to get to tell you a little bit more about transition and the first year and why it's so important to really put in every effort that you possibly have into making that first year experience the best.
So with that said, I kind of want to pose the question about the first year experience right. Why is it important? I think that is a very much loaded question for a lot of students, and because they were coming in thinking OK, I don't know what. I don't know. There's going to be a lot of different things that are going to be occurring, and I think there are also some different already kind of just thought out ideas of what the first year experience is supposed to be an. So that could mean a lot of different things for a lot of different students. And we always want to make sure to kind of just help them think about like what it is that you want to accomplish in the first year, I think.
From my perspective I, I think about the first year experience being something that could really make or break your college experience as a whole. Based on your experience, that's going to mean whether you want to come back, whether you want to stay, what it is that you want to get involved with, and so I think posing these questions ahead of time really giving folks an idea of like what is what is it that we should be thinking about, and what should we be looking for. So this is how you can invest in that first year experience and how the key communities can really help with this process, because I want to make sure that in an ever changing environment.
So you're not coming in with unrealistic expectations, especially as you can all imagine with the pandemic happening. It was absolutely not. What first year college students this fall semester. We're experiencing and so since things have had to change. I really, really want folks to be able to have kind of an open mind about how things could continually progress and change and what it is that you really want to make sure that this is what I cannot do without this is what I cannot live without and so I will talk a little bit more about what we offer in being able to have that, so that you can at least know that these are.
Certain guarantees that you would be able to have, regardless of different experience, whether it's a virtual experience or whether it's an in person experience. And so I would just want to make sure that we have that now. We obviously know that it's important because you're adapting to a new environment that is, without a doubt without question. The number one thing you are either going to college and you're going to be there and that can be a little intimidating for folks. Or if it's a virtual environment that can still be a little exhausting, right? You might be all zoomed out by certain point, and so all of these things are really going to be really important to kind of. Keep in mind, being on your own.
Kind of knowing how to navigate the college experience, where to find resources, where to find connections, how to build community, all of these pieces are why it's so important to be like really involved, really kind of getting out there as much as possible, asking the questions and really getting connected and getting those resources ahead of time. So that is why I think the key communities really can help in that first year process. And This is why I wanted to kind of talk a little bit more about who we are and how we can help in that process. Because you're asking yourself this question, you're like.
There's a lot to think about, and so I want to make sure that we can kind of talk to you a little bit more about all of these things. So within key we are first and second year residential learning communities, and what we focus on is being able to help students in bringing folks from all different backgrounds, bringing your history, your experiences, your ideas, your perspectives, bringing them all together to be able to create a welcoming and positive and nurturing environment where students can really learning Rowan. Acclimate to their first year experience.
That is really big piece of what we want to make sure that our students are benefiting from and that is what we are able to do. Within key we bring together everything that we possibly can to create that first year. Well rounded experience. So we want to make sure that you're growing academically that you're growing personally and that you're growing socially that you're having all of these different experiences that is going to create that culmination of the first year experience. And that's going to be really, really important. We have been around for over 20 years and we were founded on the values of academic diversity community.
Leadership and service. So all of these.
Values really come into play when it comes into what we do, and it goes into every core of what we have because everything that we do really kind of makes sense in the way that you can get connected in so many different ways that all of these different pieces that we're putting together in a structured environment really do create a resource, a place where students can grow and learn, and so that's going to be really, really important and key.
Pardon the pun, but that is why we are so excited. I was not a participant in the communities. I didn't know about the key communities or anything like it. When I was going through college, and so I think about, you know, as a parent or, you know, as an outsider kind of looking in. This is an amazing program and I wouldn't be so like invested in being able to help students really get this piece if I didn't realize that it was actually going to be something that they weren't going to benefit from. It is a major benefit. It is huge. I would encourage any and everyone to be apart of it just because of everything that we provide for our students.
So thinking about developing that strong community, developing that strong academic sense that empowerment to branch out and just really take advantage of everything that CSU has to offer is a lot of Wyche is so successful, and so some of those benefits really come into play because you're not only able to really find people that you have things in common with, but you're also able to learn from folks that you didn't know that you could learn, because everything that you contribute in the classroom, everything that they contributed in classroom, you're consistently learning those critical thinking skills are continuously being.
Access there being you know you're getting the chance to question and really think outside the box and not some of the big benefits of the key communities. But also knowing that you have that opportunity that in smaller cohort of students you get the chance to really build that social network. That academic advantage in being in a smaller class setting to know your peers to connect with them, to be able to find help, but then also knowing that you have faculty that are going to be really invested in your education as well.
And that is something that is really important, especially now knowing that you know we could be needing certain accommodations or different accommodations, depending on what this next year could very well bring. So we want to make sure that we you know that all of these different pieces are a part of why the key communities are so successful and why we want to make sure that we're providing you with these enriched opportunities and creating, you know, not only service and leadership, but pretty much everything that can really help you grow and nurture this first year experience. So with that said, I want to talk about like.
Three different pieces that bring together the key communities and so it looks like a lot when you think about it. You're like, Oh my God, this is a little intimidating. What does all of this mean, especially when I think about academics, folks kind of take a step back and you're like, Are we going to be taking extra classes? And that's not necessarily the case, because the way that we're structured in the key communities is very different. So we have cohorts of classes that are together which we call clusters, and so we have.
Ucky seminar course that focuses on being able to bring different topics together so our students are learning about how to integrate those critical thinking skills and really think outside the box with the na seminar. Because of the way that those themes in those topics are coming together. But we are also placing them with either one or two additional court. All University core curriculum courses that help in that process of how you're learning in those.
AUC courses? How does that apply to the seminar and how is it that you're what you're learning in the seminar applies to those classes? So you're really having the opportunity to really, really enhance your learning by learning how to engage in learning up and asking these different questions that are really going to help you all all the way around. And so that's why our clusters are so successful because they provide different topics along the way, so we really do provide a little bit for every student within our different communities. There are also different specific topics, different focuses, different areas of.
Interest that we provide and being able to service our students in this class is really, really important, and so that's what the seminar goes really well. But on top of that, it's also a smaller cohort, so we know that in the past we've been able to have classes that students can go. And you know, maybe 100 hundred 5200 students, very large classes. Key communities has always been able to keep the classes anywhere from 18 to 40 students. That is the reality. So we have a small small class where students can get to know their peers.
They can get to know their faculty one on one. It's a really great benefit for our students. On top of that, built in study groups really come into play, and so being able to have that benefit without having to worry about. Like you know, I'm having to meet people all over again. It's a lot of things to kind of. Consider as you're moving forward, but it's a really great benefit for our students because that also helps you that if you have other classes that you will be taking that you know somebody's going to look familiar and it's going to be less intimidating to be in that class. And that's actually really, really important for students, because part of being welcomed in.
Feeling welcomed on campus is feeling like you know, places that you have people that you're like. Oh, that's a familiar person that is really comforting and actually helps with some of that anxiety. It also helps with avoiding any kind of distractions that are students might have. And so we really, really encourage our students do that. The great thing to about being able to take part in our key seminars anar clusters altogether is they do not take away from anything that you would need for graduation, so you will be needing these classes either to serve as electives or as part of the audio Mercy Core curriculum for the specific major that you will need.
So it's not anything extra that you're doing, it's actually keeping you on track for graduation, so we're not keeping you from doing anything else. You'll still be able to register for other classes that you'll need with your academic advisor, and you will not have any extra.
Commitments a week or during the semester that any other student wouldn't have. You just have the benefit of being able to have those smaller classes. Having a mentor in your class to be able to help you navigate some of those questions and having access to them at various times. So these are all big pieces of why the key communities does a really great job of helping students academically grow. On top of that, we also understand the important of the importance of feedback, and so given that piece of it, we know that in high school.
It's a lot easier to kind of check where you are and where you stand in terms of grades in college that may not always be the case, and so we provide early performance feedback for our students and so mid semester we check to see how students are doing and for any reason you're struggling or you need to get connected to resources. Maybe we need to get some tutoring involved. Anything like that will help you get connected and so that way you know that you have enough time to see if you're going to be able to do better in the class or if we need to find other options of what we can help you with, or if there might be some other discussions we need to talk with your academic advisor about.
So these are really important things to help our students navigate. Obviously, you're paying for the classes that we want to make sure that you're successful, and that's going to be really, really important. But we also want to make sure that if you are needing something else that you have everything in one stop shop and that kind of comes into play with the people who care because we provide you with the different levels of support. Just like we provide you with these different structures of the classes that we provide, we provide you with the mentors over. The mentors are amazing students. They've been through the first year process. They understand the first year Wolves.
But they also serve as a teaching assistant in the key seminar course. So not only do you have access to them in the classroom, but you can have access to them out of the classroom. So if you just want to go and grab coffee with them, if you all want to kind of come together and create a cluster activity or go bowling, or you know, go on a hike or something like that that you're able to do that with your mentors so they're going to really, really serve as that great one on one peer connection. But most importantly, it's really great that they are, you know, closer to age within everything, so they understand.
You know they are up to date on their social media. They're able to connect with you on certain things, are able to help you. Hey, like, hey I saw this really cool thing you wanna hang out or hey do you want to go and check this out? I just saw this really amazing you know show that's coming up or it's here's here's a great tutoring opportunity. He's a great library spot that you can study. So all of these different things come into play with the mentor and that conversation just comes really organically, which is really great. So we really are appreciate our students for wanting to be able to go above and Beyond and help our first year students as well. But our faculty members are just as amazing.
They are really, really vested in the first year experience in the academic excellence piece as well. So they want to make sure that not only are you engaging in the classroom, but that you're actually taking away a lot more. And I think it's really, really important to start thinking about building that social capital. You know you've been an environment for the last four years where you're like, I know everybody I know who I can go to for a letter recommendation, or I know who's room I can go and hang out in. Or you know anything like that, you want to start building that in college as well. You want to have those opportunities because.
Internships will come up into play. Scholarships will come into play and you really want to be able to connect with folks who can not only give you those letters of reference or letters of recommendation, but also you want to be able to build a relationship. Who knows, maybe they might be working on a great research project that you might be interested in. You want to take part in, so these are really great pieces. Kind of making those connections and if they also know a little bit more about you because you're able to get that one on one experience, they can connect you to other areas of campus. So if maybe you're still kind of exploring, you're not sure where you want to go.
You connect with your faculty are like, you know, hey I heard about this amazing faculty that's doing this. Let's get you connected. So that's how you continue to build and build and build and we really want to make sure that you do that because you want to take advantage of everything that there is. But the key coordinators. They're amazing people that also do the same thing and they are there to support you there to be your number one fan because we know that right now your home dynamic is your family, your family is your number one fan. And when you go off to college, we want you to still have that. So we want to serve as your family away from home.
That you can go to for anything if you're struggling in a class. If you're not sure how to connect with the faculty member or you're having trouble with another student or a roommate issues or anything like that, anything that could possibly come up, they are there to help really help you navigate and we want to make sure that your supported in that spot, so that's really important. Also, knowing that you know you have.
You know like this here. You could have the option to live on campus, or you can have the option to live off campus depending on where you live. We want to make sure that you have that connection to University housing that is going to be where you live, where you reside and you want to know who can I go to if there's something issue you know the sync isn't working. Or hey, where can I get my Mail? You know you really want to have those connections and said We want you to feel safe. Most importantly, and that's going to be really important, not only for you but also for your family as they like you know, kind of make that transition with you into college life.
So all of these pieces really are important, and that's what we value. We really take into account everything now. Anybody could possibly need and we want to put them together into one place so that everyone can feel welcome and feel like they have a place at CSU. But then also it's important to think about the social atmosphere, right? That is a big piece of the college experience is getting out there. Getting to know a little bit more, and so you know creating signature opportunities within key for you to not only meet people from your cluster, which is your code of classes, but then also students.
In other communities, students who are doing some amazing leadership opportunities, some service projects, or you are just, you know, around campus. We really want you to get out there. So we create those opportunities on a greater scale. Given that the pandemic has hit, we have to be a little bit more creative about that. And so we'll have to just, you know, kind of figure out what we can do. But with small cluster events, you still have those small opportunities. If you're like, you know, I really like to say with like my group of people building my community, feeling like these. This is where I need to be. And so you have that opportunity as well.
But then there's you know multiple connections on campus that you can make if you decide to work on campus, or if you decide to volunteer your time. Anything like that. Residence Hall is, well, we have committees and organizations that you can get involved with, so there's so much that really you can really do, and we can be creative with how we can kind of move forward and get you into some of those places, so we just don't want you to forget about that piece, because it's a really big part of that first year experience. So all of This is why we do key. This is why we're so successful and being able to help our students.
Really navigate that first year so when they're moving on to their next, you know transitioning into second year, third year, all of the skills that they've learned they are able to apply their able to know they're able to navigate anything that comes their way until we want to continue to empower our students to be successful. To be on their own, and so one of the ways that we also create those atmospheres is being able to provide variety diversity in areas of interest. And with that we have are different key communities because we have areas of interest that we want students, not if it.
I need to be limited to just this we really want them to expand and so we have 4 communities. We have arc academic key civic service are key explore in our key health professions. So all of these communities within each one they have a specific subset that they will focus on so for example, our key academic community. It branches off into 2 different sections. So we have our key interdisciplinary and we have our college partnerships with interdisciplinary you have the opportunity to provide.
You know, kind of expand your learning in a lot of different areas, when it comes to appreciation for diversity awareness social justice. If you want to get involved in leadership opportunities anything like that. The key academic interdisciplinary will really focus on a lot of that, so you will be able to connect those with you know like psychology, and sociology. Annual do alot of ethnic studies. You could potentially be doing something with a lot of Liberal Arts International Studies. Anything like that that really comes together and brings together these different.
You know areas of interest to create kind of an idea of what you want to do how you want to pursue how you think of the world and really expand your horizons in that thought process and it does a really great way of being able to do that the key academic college partnerships does exactly the same thing with the benefit of connecting you specifically to a college and so we have partnerships with the College of Engineering College of business and the College of Agricultural Sciences. So you get the same benefits of key on a smaller scale, but you get that connection.
So that you're not missing anything that any of those students within those colleges are getting to take advantage of so you're still going to be involved in anything that has to do with those colleges. You're still going to be taking classes to stay on track for graduation. You're really going to be able to dive deep into that area interest. All of these pieces are going to come into play. With that, but you just get that benefit of everything that he has to offer and still even more so we really, really appreciative of the benefits that we give our students. Within these partnerships and everything that you're able to take away with it.
Because it's your only going to continue to help you grow and that's what we want to do our key civic service community is focused for students who really want to get involved in civic engagement want to create change in their community, I always think of it as kind of like thinking globally, but acting locally because you have so many opportunities to get involved to get to know whether it's on Csus campus or in the Fort Collins community and so as you're learning about different things that folks are doing that. You might be dedicated and you want to be like this is my new mission. I love this and I want to be a part of it that you can take away everything.
Learn and then be able to take it back to your community and make change and really take on those leadership opportunities and so this is a really great opportunity for our students to get involved. We do require 25 hours of community service within this community per semester, which is absolutely doable. So we always make sure don't procrastinate make sure that you're getting out there and getting all of these opportunities because you know you might like one of the service projects. More than the other and so you might want to be a little bit more vested and see how you can get more involved and so we don't want you to miss out on any opportunities.
If you're not getting out there and not learning about that. But we also bring service fares to you as well so that you can kind of understand what is happening on campus? How can we help you get connected or if you have an area of interest. This is a great topic to talk to your key coordinator about so that they can help you navigate? What can we do to get this project off the ground. So it's a really amazing leadership opportunity for students key explore. This is an amazing opportunity as well. We know that not everyone is going to come in knowing exactly what they want to do and if they do, we know?
That most students will change their major, if not, once or twice by their second year and that happens. A lot, so if you're thinking. You know what I might have a lot of interest where I'm having trouble really narrowing it down to one specific area. Then he explored does a great job of being able to do a lot of self exploration and career exploration so that you have the benefits of both and then being able to figure out OK. How does this narrow down and kind of pinpoint a major at CSU based off of my interest my strengths and so it really kind of helps you learn a little bit more about yourself.
Because one thing that you will notion when I say this, but think about it when you come into college you're going to come in as one person but you're going to leave as another there is so much growth happening in that process. Even the summer before you have completely think you think differently. You want different things. You're going to explore different things. And so we want to make sure if you're not 100% sure vested give yourself some time to really kind of figure out what it is that you want to test the waters with a lot of different areas have these conversations with your academic advisors.
That's why we have the undeclared advising team as he assumes that you can kind of really talk to them about that and see how they can help you navigate and get you know connected with some of these other areas that might be of interest to you so you can figure out what it is that you want to pursue because it's going to be an amazing process to kind of figure out all of these things that you're like, my gosh. I didn't even know that this was a class. I didn't even know that this was an interest so you want to immediately leave yourself open so if you're not 100% sure do not feel bad do not feel like you should have to declare a major as you're coming into college.
Give yourself some time to explore you have the first year to do so and that's why we want to make sure that you can do that in case where does a great job on top of that the undeclared advisors for CSU are actually the faculty members for keyboard community so that's a really great partnership in itself because you'll be able to see your faculty. Maybe once or twice a week versus most students at CSU would only see them. Maybe once or twice a semester so that's a really great benefit in itself, our last community is our health professions community. Now we also understand that we want to make sure.
Students who are an animal or human Sciences any kind of interest. Maybe research that you want to go on to some kind of medical veterinary field pharmacy tech anything like that. You have the opportunity to take advantage of the health professions community because that's what we focus on. We want to bring students from all of these different areas of interest within specific health professions to kind of Expand Horizons. We understand that you'll need to take life 102, which is the biology course, at CSU and Chem 111, which is the chemistry.
Both of those very difficult very time consuming an in a smaller cohort. You have that opportunity to really be successful because, like, I said before you have your built in study groups. You have folks who will hold you accountable because if you miss class or you're not feeling well. You can borrow notes. The faculty is amazing. Eric is just he goes above and beyond for his students. So we know that a lot of students tend to fail. This course because of the difficulty that it is, but our faculty really goes above and beyond, to make sure that our students are academically successful. He's going to do whatever it takes if you're not understanding.
He will sit down with you? What is it going to take water? What is it that we're not getting at? What are we missing and so he's really great about being active being in there and being engaging in our mentors are very much as same thing. They're like OK. We know this class. We get it. How can we help? What can we do and we create those opportunities for you to really feel empowered to know that you're not alone and you don't have to struggle because you can have help and so it's a really great opportunity for our students on top of that we get you out there.
Doing hands-on experience so that if that's something that you really want to do you want to beef up your resume and get it ready for medical school anything that comes after that for your mark that we're getting ready to get on that path and so that's a really great opportunity for us. And so as you can see we really do kind of branch out in a lot of different areas in one welcome any and all students from all majors. Unfortunately, there's only about 5 majors that we can't work with right now and the only reason being is that the curriculum for those specific majors are very strict and so, if they were to try and accommodate even.
Any one of our classes, it would actually put students back a little bit in their graduation, so that's the only reason why we can't work with those specifically and that's music theater art dance in computer science, so those are the only ones, however, if students really are vested in there in these major thing like I can make it happen. I want to do it like we'll make it work, then we will make sure that we are answering those questions. In making sure that we're connecting with your advisors to see how we can best work around that schedule and then also knowing what it is that that will create as an impact for you.
So now that we will do anything that we can so feel free to ask any and all questions so that was.
The reason why key is is so successful. This is why we really want you to take the opportunity to really invest think about what it is that you want because if you want. That first year experience. We can help you in all of those big, big areas. And so we do have an application process that comes with the key communities. However, you must be admitted to CSU first so you have to do your application for the C 4. CSU be admitted once you admit it. You get your E name any password that you set that up, you will then be able to have access to our key application.
So our key application usually opens up about January 1st.
And that's when students can start applying and you can self select which community you want to be apart of there is a short answer response that we ask we have about 2 questions that we ask for our students and the reason that we have kind of more of this holistic process with the 2 questions is because we want to get at what it is that you want to get out of your first year experience? How can we help you get that but then also what it is that you're willing to contribute to the overall environment because we want to make sure that any and all students are comfortable in all students are coming into play.
And feeling like Oh my gosh. This is an amazing like I've just created my family for the year and I really, really feel welcome here at CSU and so that's a big part of what we want to do and that's a big part of why we create all of these structures for our students. So those are the biggest pieces of what we will have to do so that you have to do is step. One apply to CSU and then Step 2 apply to key and usually we get a good turn around bout. Maybe one to 2 week turn around for our students. That could very well change as we are adapting with the pandemic. We are creating changes.
Store application process we are creating.
Anna Marie Almanza
11:30:17 AM
Key.LC.Colostate.edu Key_CSU@mail.colostate.edu
970-491-7095
Contagious for processes as well so no that that could come into play. But if anything does happen that you have questions about. I have entered into the chat how you can get hold of us visit our website. You can email us. You can call. I'm usually the first point of contact so you'll probably be talking to me in the future but it is welcome any and all questions because I just want to make sure that you have everything that you can possibly need and then you can make an informed decision about it is what it is that you want to do.
So that's why we want to make sure that you can see everything that we can provide so are there any questions?
Evan Shores
11:31:08 AM
Hi Anna,
Druanne Miyamoto
11:31:09 AM
How would I join key communities?
I know that's a lot of information just through you, so don't worry about it. I know it's kinda weird environment. I can't see you, but you can see me so I know you're there, so I appreciate the patience and I appreciate the questions. So the question is, is there a fee for a program? Actually there is not. We are completely free program so long as you apply.
You can join the key communities. We do not have any extra fees or anything for our students. We just want you to have an amazing experience and so that's why we're here, we're also one of the biggest communities on campus. And so our students are all over the place, which is amazing. I mean, I've bumped into key students while I've been traveling a different areas, and you know on campus key students are you know pretty much.
Known for so you tell people. Hey, I want to join the communities and or hey. I'm in the key communities. People know what you're talking about they know what kind of student. You are, they know what amazing connections. You already have and they just keep on adding to it. So it's an amazing an amazing piece to be apart of the program there is limited space.
So usually we have about.
About 600 or so spaces that we hold for our student granted our incoming freshman class is over 5000 students, so that's a really small percentage and we tend to fill up usually around April. 'cause our application opens up about January, 1st so we really encourage students that if you are very interested in being a part of the communities go ahead and apply as early as possible get in there, especially knowing that some of our communities are a little bit smaller than others. That creates a little bit of that space constraint so for example.
Our key academic college partnerships those cohorts are about 60 students altogether within the 3 colleges are key health. Professions is only 76 students. So some of those are relatively small so depending on what it is that you want to do, which community you want to go for we encourage you to go ahead and apply early because we do have limited space initially when we run out of space there's nothing else that we can do. But we try to make sure that any and all students who are interested. They have everything that they need with the application process with their next steps.
Evan Shores
11:33:52 AM
Hi Anna, is there a fee for this program?
Evan Shores
11:33:53 AM
Is there limited space?
Evan Shores
11:33:54 AM
That's awesome, thank you!
By the time you attend Bram orientation because Ram Orientation, which happens over the summer is when you will actually get to register for classes. You'll get to meet other key coordinators not just me and then really connect with your faculty with your potential mentor and then also know like what class is it is that you're going to be going into so all of this kind of follows a very specific kind of timeline so great questions anything else that comes to mind that you're like, you know can you elaborate a little bit more on this or is there anything else?
OK looks like I've got a quiet group, but that's OK, so if you do have any questions by all means, in the chat. I've listed all of our contact information. I also want to make sure that if you do have any questions. Here's my contact information as well. Feel free to follow up. Call me email me. I'm the number one person that you want to get hold of Ann I will be there.
No matter what the one thing I will leave you with is we do have one testimonial from a student who was in key a couple years back, and they talked about their entire experience was priceless. It really is up to the individual to make the experience but having an open mind, and going in fearlessly with competence in Curiosity is all that a person truly needs. Everyone the teachers. The mentors and all the students are welcoming an extremely supportive. So I just want to leave you with that because that says a lot about our program. I think in a nutshell they summarized it really well.
But not only that is that they value, the experience that they had with key and it has taken them to amazing places. And so we just want to make sure that as your opening your doors to various colleges and universities, thinking about what it is that you want and what you need definitely put that first and then if you decide to come to CSU. I hope you become part of the community because you know you will be cared for. And if there's anything that we can do or help you get connected by all means, let us know. We're here for you so thank you so much for being joining me today. I appreciate it. I'll go ahead and stay on I'm just going to turn off my camera in my sound.
Druanne Miyamoto
11:35:34 AM
Thank you so much this webinar was really helpful!
But if you have any questions, the chat will still be open if you want to send questions through so thanks so much have a great rest of your day. Bye.