By Maurisa Warren

Move-In Days

Pushing carts filled with all the accoutrements needed for college, West Chester University’s first-year students will move into their new residence halls today between 8 AM and 4 PM. Upperclassmen will start moving into their residence halls on Saturday between 9 AM and 5 PM. The first day of classes for all students is Monday, Aug. 27.

The university expects this year’s fall enrollment to exceed last year’s, which totaled 17,306 students (14,451 undergrads and 2,855 graduate students). Official enrollment numbers for the fall will be available on the 15th day of classes.

New Program Piloted for WCU’s First-Generation College Students

This fall, 24 percent of WCU’s first-year students self-reported during orientation registration that they are first-generation college students. More than 100 first-generation college students and their 200-plus family members will be welcomed intermittently between 10 AM through 2 PM in Sykes Student Union (2nd Floor) in the Center for Student Involvement, located at 110 West Rosedale Avenue.

After moving into their new on-campus rooms, the new students and their family members will drop-in to speak with WCU President Christopher Fiorentino, faculty, staff, and other students, many of whom were also the first in their family to attend college.

Members of Student Affairs and Academic Affairs are collaborating to launch a pilot program that has been specifically designed to support the university’s first-generation college students and their families. Throughout the coming year, monthly programs will be offered to these students that foster a strong support network, promote campus resources, and connect them directly to their peers and members of the campus community.

[uam_ad id=”79286″]

Making Summer Meaningful

This summer, three WCU students – Christopher Yingling, an early grades major; Amanosi Agbugai, a psychology major; and Leigh Wolfrum, an exercise science major – are making a difference in their communities as participants in the FCP Summer Youth Corps program. As such, they served as interns in nonprofits all over Bucks County and helped to shed light on important causes.

Yingling feels a sense of purpose in his summer internship at The Conservatory in Doylestown. The Conservatory, which provides the community with music instruction and music therapy, has taught him how much hard work goes into the day-to-day operations of running a nonprofit.

“I did everything from board meetings to maintenance and everything in between, but the most interesting and fascinating experience I had was observing the music therapy programs,” he said. “It was incredible to see how beneficial making music is with people of all abilities. As an early-grades elementary major, this showed me how even small actions of kindness can make ripples through the surrounding community.”

“We strive to select hard-working college students from Bucks County,” FCP Executive Director Ron Bernstein said about program’s selection process. “We’ve been doing this (program) for 11 years and we make sure that both the Bucks County nonprofits and the interns themselves benefit from each other. We pick our 16 students from 25 candidates; we want the best students for these nonprofits. The Summer Youth Corps is a game-changer for college students looking for meaningful work.”

[uam_ad id=”58462″]