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Second Year Experience (SYE)
Second Year students are an important component to the residential learning experience here at JMU. Second year students can be positive role models for our first year students but we also recognize that returning students have their own special needs.
Our goals include:
- Providing academic support to sophomore students
- Creating connections to James Madison University
- Supporting the Office of Residence Life mission
We want upper-class students to see the resident advisers first and foremost as a resource. We strive to help students become appropriately and positively connected to JMU resources. The following is the programming model that staff in upper-class halls follows:
SYE Programming Model
The second year students living on campus in the residence halls have different needs than the first year students. In recognition of that, the programs put on by the RAs in the SYE halls are designed to meet those needs.
Community: these programs are centered on building community within the hall by bringing the residents together and challenging them to be active and positive citizens in their residence halls.
Individual interviews: RAs will have structured conversations with their residents in an effort to get to know them better personally, but to also find out how they can be of help to meet their residents’ needs.
Professional Growth: these programs can either focus on providing residents with resources and information to help guide them as they begin to prepare resumes and decide on a career path, or they can focus on providing information and activities to help the residents succeed academically in the classroom.
Pre-Requisites: these programs cover three specialty topics, Alcohol and Drug Education, Sexual Assault Prevention and Safety and Security. In addition to a Hall-Wide Social.
We want our upper-class students to be able to enjoy their second year of living on campus as much as their first. Although the newness of JMU may be gone, the opportunities are still endless.
Our Mission Statement
Photos
Trelawny Learning Community members take a road trip to Washington D.C. National Zoo
Roop Learning Community members take a trip to Kings Dominion in VA for a day filled with fun and physics study.
