Summer program gives first-year students ‘the tools they need’

When Makyler Compton was offered a spot in the First-Year Scholars at Yale program (FSY), a six-week summer session for incoming first-year students, she didn’t hesitate — even though the timing conflicted with a rare family trip to St. Lucia, where her family immigrated from.

Now, as she begins her first full semester as a Yale student, she already sees the many ways in which the program has prepared her: with a community of familiar faces, a knowledge of campus and its many resources, and a strong start in her academic work. “I truly have no regrets,” she said. 

The program, offered to students from low-income and first-generation families, helps them prepare for the coursework to come, as well as to forge relationships that might fortify them throughout their college years, and perhaps a lifetime. Created in 2013 and run by the Yale College Dean’s Office and Yale Summer Session, FSY is part of a concerted effort to make Yale more accessible to talented students, regardless of their socioeconomic background, and to help them thrive once they arrive on campus.

The program has nearly tripled in size over the years, from 33 incoming first-year students its first summer to this year’s cohort of 93 students.

The FSY academic schedule consists of “English 114,” an introductory expository writing and research course (for which they receive one credit), and a quantitative reasoning course (one of three different levels of calculus or a statistics course, for which they receive a half credit).

“I had always asked my high school teachers, ‘How can I improve my writing so that it is a little bit more sophisticated?’” said Compton. In her “English 114” course, she finally found her answer. “Learning how to make a paper cohesive — to tie each piece of evidence to an overarching argument — is one of the things I’m definitely going to take with me as I go through my humanities courses later on.”

The course requires each student to write an eight-page research paper, starting from annotated and working bibliographies, and then to describe their findings in oral presentations. They also have a chance to practice their discussion skills in seminar groups, learning to exchange ideas and deepen their understanding of the works they read.

“The idea is that this will give them tools they need to be good seminar citizens,” said Heather Klemann, a lecturer in English in Yale’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences and course co-director of the “English 114” writing seminars.

John Hall, head of FSY’s quantitative reasoning courses, noted that these classes help bolster students’ abilities and confidence. At the same time, he added, “there is a big emphasis on community, whether it is within the cohort or with experienced instructors. We have smaller class sizes and there are no large lecture classes in FSY.”

By delving into a demanding course load right off the bat, organizers say, students get a better sense of what will be required of them as Yale undergraduates. And earning credits for their work also helps free up some of their time during the regular academic year.

For Jay Simms, a second-year student at Yale College, FSY not only gave him a preview of the school year, but also the tools to manage its demands. “Coming from a small town in the countryside of Tennessee, I felt underprepared for Yale-level courses,” he said. “FSY allowed me to ease into the difficult aspects of Yale by showing me the variety of resources that are offered by Yale.”

“The program is guided by the goals and ideas of community building and fostering a sense of belonging,” said Sara Spear, director of the FSY program and director of academic affairs for the Yale Summer Session, which offers an array of undergraduate courses and programs for Yale and visiting students. “We want to help students get acclimated with what university is like. Everything from talking to an advisor, office hours, how homework works, being in a lecture course, to social outings and counselor group meetings.”

“There’s so much support around academics and so much support around advising,” said Compton, citing Undergraduate Learning Assistants, writing partners, counselors (many of them FSY alums), and workshops. “Asking for help may not come easy to people like us, because we're so accustomed to trying to figure it out on our own. They kind of broke down that mindset for us: ‘You're at Yale now, there's a plethora of resources. And here are these resources.’”

‘Choose your own adventure’

Inside the Yale Peabody Museum one recent summer morning, a group of FSY students peered at an assortment of butterflies and moths — resplendent in greens, yellows, and shimmering blues —in the institution’s entomology collection before heading downstairs to explore vertebrate paleontology. The visit was just one introduction to the constellation of priceless objects and artifacts held across the university and now theirs to explore.

Over the six summer weeks, the FSY cohort also became acquainted with academic advisers, personal librarians, and professionals who could help them with financial and career counseling. They met with experts at the Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning’s Academic Strategies Program and Writing Center, and visited Yale’s world-renowned museums — including the Yale University Art Gallery and the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

They also took part in workshops — a few mandatory ones, including “Strategies for Academic Success” and “Building a Mental Health Toolkit,” and a myriad of optional ones. These included workshops on volunteer work, arts opportunities at Yale, and budgeting, said Fernando Lopez, an FSY alum and counselor, and a rising senior at Yale College studying Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology.

“This year, FSY created a ‘choose your own adventure’ approach to scheduling,” he said. “So, they have a lot of wiggle room to pick the things they feel will be most helpful or the most beneficial.”

For Simms, the FSY alum from Tennessee — who returned this summer as a counselor — regular counselor meetings were a highlight. “Everyone from my group was so different, yet the challenges we faced and insecurities we had were similar,” he said. “We were able to talk through how we coped with being at Yale and what was hard for us, and this was such a unifying experience for my group.”

FSY scholars were also invited to attend presentations hosted by undergraduate students in the Science, Technology and Research Scholars (STARS) Summer Research Program, who participate in laboratory research with Yale faculty members. (FSY students have a guaranteed spot, should they choose to apply, in the STARS I Program, which during the academic year provides seminars, networking, mentorship, and professional development tailored for first-year undergraduates.)

In addition to the program being tuition-free, FSY students receive a $350 stipend, and the summer share portion of their financial aid package is waived. This means approximately $1,600 is added onto the participant’s scholarship during their first year at Yale, said Hall. “It’s their last summer before they start Yale,” he said. “Many would be working during this time if they weren’t doing FSY. There is a stipend to try to help cover those potentially lost wages.”

All housing, meals, textbooks, and travel costs are also covered by the university — including the journey to and from campus at the start and conclusion of the program.

During the program, students also had the chance to confer with past First-Year Scholars and other Yale alumni who know what they’re going through; at a panel and reception event hosted by 1stGenYale, this summer’s cohort mingled with alumni who shared their own experiences adjusting to life on campus.

“We do this because we care for the FSY community and its students,” said Afrin Tarafder, a rising senior, counselor in this year’s FSY program, and an FSY alum. “There are many on-campus summer opportunities, but we chose this because we enjoyed our time in the program and want to give back.”

Added Lopez: “I wanted these new students to experience the full breadth and range of what FSY has to offer.”

“They don’t have a minute to rest,” Klemann, the “English 114” co-director, said. “On top of their coursework, students try to find as much time as possible to socialize, stay up late, and do the fun things that college students do.”

Now, as Compton begins her first semester at Yale, the summer’s heady mix of independence and responsibility — playing board games late into the night in the residential college buttery, cramming for deadlines in the courtyard — still lingers.

“It was a feeling that, ‘We're treating you like an adult, but be respectful and understand that you're in a community with other people,’” she said. “And I think we've built a really good community.”

To learn more about the First-Year Scholars at Yale Program and view photos from this year’s session, visit @fsyale on Instagram.