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		A New Residence Life Programming Model For First Year Students: The “CSU SUCCESS” Model By Jennifer Roy, Coordinator of Programming and Leadership Development, University Housing and Food Service, California State University, Chico When I arrived at CSU, Chico in the fall of 1999, the “Wellness Wheel” model that was being used in our residence halls for programming seemed to be no longer working. In assessing the potential need for a new residence life programming model I asked myself the following questions: Is our current programming model meeting the needs of our resident population? Does the resident advisor staff use the current model in their programming? Are the resident advisors deliberate in using the model or do they just “fit it into” what they already have planned? Is the current programming model understood? Is the current model helping or hindering programming efforts in the halls? Does the model help the resident advisor staff understand why programming is needed? Are we seeing positive results from our programming model? After many discussions, observations, and working with the wellness model for a year, I concluded that this model was not meeting our current resident student needs and that our resident advisor staff struggled with incorporating the model into their programming. They were not being deliberate in using the model to guide the types of programs that they were offering to the residents but rather fitting the model in as an after-thought once they had already decided what program they wanted to do for their residents. I began to realize that the resident advisors did not really understand the purpose of having a programming model and that when we tried to have them use this model with their programming they felt the model was a burden upon their programming efforts. Since our resident population has become almost primarily made up of traditional-aged freshman, we felt it would be important to move to a programming model that focused more on the first year experience and the transitional issues our freshman go through living in the halls their first college year. After reading John Gardner and M. Lee Upcraft’s book The Freshman Year Experience and going to a regional conference on this topic, I realized that we needed to be more deliberate about incorporating the theories and recommendations for helping freshman in their first year in college into our Housing curriculum. The Freshman (or First) Year Experience focus and concept has grown tremendously over the last few years in awareness, focus, and implementation in university housing programs across the country. I felt that creating a new programming model was the most effective way to address first year student needs in the residence halls as well as help our resident advisor staff to be more deliberate in trying to use programming to meet the needs of their residents. As a result, the “CSU SUCCESS” model was developed for the 2000-2001 academic year. The CSU Success Model For our programming efforts in residence life at California State University, Chico, we developed a model based upon the common transitions our mainly first year resident student population goes through while living in our residence communities. The resident advisors in the halls focus on these areas for programs in their communities for the academic year. They also welcome any ideas or input the resident students have on programming in their community. Resident advisors have a unique opportunity to influence the “out of classroom experiences” of our resident students through programming and this is why we developed a model based upon the common transitions our resident student population goes through while living in our communities. The ten monthly dimensions we chose to adopt for programming at CSU, Chico are: C-Community Building (August) S-Support Systems (September) U-Understanding Academic Needs (October) S-Self-Identity (November) U-Unity in Community (December) C-Coming Home (January) C-Cultural Awareness (February) E-Encouraging Involvement (March) S-Service To Others (April) S-Saying Goodbye (May) “CSU SUCCESS” Programming Model August C-Community Building: The focus of this first dimension involves building a strong and cohesive community from the first day of move-in onward. The first few weeks are vital to the success of a solid community where residents feel a sense of belonging and pride in where they live and who they live with. The resident advisors role and a majority of the programming they do in these first couple of weeks should center upon building up their community into a place where residents feel comfortable, safe, and welcome. September S-Support Systems: The focus of this second dimension involves helping residents to develop support systems for themselves whether the focus is social, academic, emotional, physical, spiritual, and/or cultural. Resident advisors play a big role in educating their residents to know what resources are either on campus for them or in the Chico community. The programming the resident advisors do centers upon bringing the various resources into the living communities or giving the residents the tools they may need to seek out the resources on their own. October U-Understanding Academic Needs: The focus of the third dimension involves understanding the academic strengths and weaknesses of the resident advisor’s community. Programming should relate to these aspects. It is important that resident advisors celebrate those residents who are developing good study habits and to involve them in role modeling and tutoring opportunities. It is also important for the resident advisors to assess those residents who are beginning to struggle in their academic pursuits and to be aware of their needs and struggles as well as provide to them support through regular communication, advice, and guidance as well as helping to connect them to valuable academic support resources on campus. November S-Self-Identity: The focus of the fourth dimension involves providing programming opportunities that allow residents to learn more about themselves and who they are or who they want to become. Programming provides opportunities for self-reflection as well as opportunities that challenge and celebrate the residents’ concept of themselves and of others around them. December U-Unity in Community: The fifth dimension focuses on how united the resident advisor’s community is and how the residents in this community support each other. The holiday season is a time to come together and celebrate. In addition the community needs to provide strength for each other over the stress of finals week and leaving for the long break. Programming needs to either center upon and celebrate the unity in the community or address the need to build more unity over this festive yet stressful time of year. January C-Coming Home: The sixth dimension involves helping welcome residents back into their living communities. Programming focuses upon making new residents feel very welcome into the already established community as well as celebrating the arrival of returning residents for a new semester. Programming goals are developed around how to build an even stronger community over the second semester and how to better address the needs of residents and the community as a whole. February C-Cultural Awareness: The seventh dimension involves creating an awareness in the resident advisor’s community of the cultural diversity present both locally and globally and the value that this awareness has in the lives of the residents. Programming centers upon education and celebration of a variety of different cultures, values, lifestyles, and beliefs. March E-Encouraging Involvement: The eighth dimension focuses upon encouraging residents to either get involved in the campus community (if they have not already) and/or the larger Chico community and to recognize and celebrate those residents who have already been getting involved in some way. Programming centers upon educating residents about all the opportunities there are to get involved, what the benefits are to getting involved with something, and highlighting what residents are already involved and what they are doing and why. The resident advisor’s goal could include having each of the residents connected and involved in at least one thing outside of their own residence community by the end of the month. April S-Service To Others: The ninth dimension involves encouraging residents to get involved in community service, both on and off campus. Programming centers upon why providing service to others is not only very valuable and important but also extremely fulfilling. The resident advisors play a major role in helping either organize a project for the community or support the variety of service projects available in our community. May S-Saying Goodbye: The tenth and final dimension involves wrapping up the year and the residents’ experience with their living community. It is important that the residents feel a sense of closure to this very unique, very impacting, very joyful, very trying (at times) experience. Programming focuses upon end-of-the-year recognition, awards, celebrations, and memories so that the residents feel that they are taking a piece of the experience away with them in a special way. The MINIMUM programming requirements for each resident advisor are: Two active programs per month, one of which must be based upon that particular month’s dimension in the “CSU SUCCESS” programming model. One passive program per month (bulletin boards), which should incorporate the “CSU SUCCESS” programming model dimensions. Both our resident directors as well as our resident advisors have met the “CSU SUCCESS” programming model with great enthusiasm. The staff feel that this model greatly assists them in their struggle for creative ideas and effective ways to program for their residents. They see this model as a good starting point, a helpful guide, and as a way to focus their efforts towards helping their residents through the transition of the first year here at CSU, Chico. We have seen our staff be better able to meet their programming requirements as a result of this new model as well as be more deliberate in their programming offerings in their hall. Many housing programs struggle to find an effective programming model for their residence life program that can better address the needs of their first time freshmen. We have found this model to be more effective than models we have used or developed in the past. We will continue to modify this model, as we have now seen it implemented for two years, to meet the changing needs of our residents as well as our resident advisors. About the Author Jennifer Roy is the Coordinator of Programming and Leadership Development for University Housing and Food Service at California State University, Chico. Jen received her M. S. in Student Affairs in Higher Education (SAHE) from Colorado State University in 1999 and her B.A from the University of Puget Sound in 1993. Jen has worked in student affairs for about ten years in the areas of residence life, student activities, orientation, and recreational sports. Jen is an avid sprint triathlete and snowboarder and loves to find time to travel.