{"id":98051,"date":"2019-06-12T09:52:35","date_gmt":"2019-06-12T19:52:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=98051"},"modified":"2021-03-31T12:58:06","modified_gmt":"2021-03-31T22:58:06","slug":"uh-manoa-first-year-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2019\/06\/12\/uh-manoa-first-year-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Freshmen and transfer students flourish in M\u0101noa First Year Program"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span><div class=\"responsive-video-wrap-post\"><figure class=\"wp-block-embed wp-block-embed-youtube is-type-video is-provider-youtube epyt-figure\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><div class=\"epyt-video-wrapper\"><iframe  id=\"_ytid_56691\"  width=\"620\" height=\"349\"  data-origwidth=\"620\" data-origheight=\"349\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/sI4PRITY7Pw?enablejsapi=1&origin=https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu&rel=0&autoplay=0&cc_load_policy=0&cc_lang_pref=&iv_load_policy=1&loop=0&fs=1&playsinline=0&autohide=2&theme=dark&color=red&controls=1&disablekb=0&\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__  no-lazyload\" title=\"Freshmen and transfer students flourish in Manoa First Year Program\"  allow=\"fullscreen; accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen data-no-lazy=\"1\" data-skipgform_ajax_framebjll=\"\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div><\/figure><\/div>\n<p>When <strong>Justin Nguyen<\/strong> came from San Diego to start his freshman year at the <a href=\"https:\/\/manoa.hawaii.edu\/\">University of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at M\u0101noa<\/a>, he struggled.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I was like really homesick the first month of school. And I really needed like a push,&rdquo; he said.<\/p>\n<p>Nguyen found that push, and much more, in <a href=\"http:\/\/manoa.hawaii.edu\/undergrad\/freshman\/\"><abbr title=\"University of Hawaii\">UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa\u2019s First Year Program<\/a>. Incoming freshmen who sign up are placed in learning communities, based on intended major, or if they are undecided. In their first semester, they take three general education courses along with a one-credit, weekly seminar led by a peer mentor. The mentor, an upperclassman, leads a group of about 15 students in weekly discussions covering college success and their own personal experiences.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Having the mentors there are great,&rdquo; said Nguyen. &ldquo;It\u2019s like having a different perspective, instead of having a professor talk about stuff. And they\u2019ve been in your shoes before.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_98057\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-98057\" style=\"width: 214px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/manoa-first-year-nguyen-justin-headshot-214x300.jpg\" alt=\"Justin Nguyen\" width=\"214\" height=\"300\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-98057\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/manoa-first-year-nguyen-justin-headshot-214x300.jpg 214w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/manoa-first-year-nguyen-justin-headshot-93x130.jpg 93w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/manoa-first-year-nguyen-justin-headshot.jpg 250w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 214px) 100vw, 214px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-98057\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Justin Nguyen<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&ldquo;Giving them a group where they can study, where they can make friends, makes it is easier for them as they transition into college,&rdquo;said <strong>Ashley Deinla<\/strong>, a <abbr>UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa First Year Program Mentor.<\/p>\n<p>Providing that first friend group and a sense of community is key to college success for freshmen, but it\u2019s only one part of the program. <\/p>\n<p>Added <abbr>UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa Assistant Vice Chancellor <strong>Ron Cambra<\/strong>, &ldquo;Making the student aware of all the resources that are here on campus&#8212;the tutoring, the support services, how to get in touch with your advisor. The one-credit course the students take have things in it like library literacy, financial literacy, I mean there is a bunch of topic areas.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The students also learn study and relationship skills, are encouraged to become involved on campus and, when needed, are given resources to help select a major. Students who participate in the First Year Program are more likely to return after their freshman year, graduate and graduate on time. <\/p>\n<p>Nguyen is a believer and is even thinking of paying it forward. &ldquo;Everything is great now,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I was thinking about coming back as a mentor and giving back to the program.&rdquo;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As an incoming freshman from San Diego, Justin Nguyen became acclimated to student life thanks to the University of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>at M\u0101noa First Year Program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,12],"tags":[1466,1051,91,9,56],"class_list":["post-98051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-news","category-video","tag-manoa-enhancing-student-success","tag-mentorship","tag-student-life","tag-uh-manoa","tag-video-2","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98051"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98051\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98212,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98051\/revisions\/98212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}