This year, approximately 3,000 WVU students will graduate. Watch closely and you can see them racing to finish up core requirements, juggling work and studies, getting serious about the job search and trying to have some fun at the same time.
The challenges facing the”net generation”arent new, but WVU officials want students to enjoy and celebrate that all-important senior year, not be pained by it. Thats why theyve created the Senior Year Experience.
“The senior year experience will not only allow us to provide extra support to our students in this transition year, but its also an opportunity for us to celebrate our seniors,”explained Vice President for Student Affairs Ken Gray.”Theyve worked hard to get to this point, and we want to recognize that.”
Activities for the Class of 2001 have already begun, but perhaps most visible in the coming weeks will be buttons worn by parents during Fall Family Weekend (Oct. 6-7) that read”Proud Parent of a WVU Student.”
Seniors will also be recognized and asked to standjust as football seniors willat the Nov. 18 WVU -East Carolina game the finale home contest of the season. Special scoreboard photos of seniors will be featured throughout the game.
Convocation for December graduates and May commencement exercises will be enhanced as well, and senior privileges or discounts will be offered at campus food establishments, the WVU Bookstores and some downtown locations.
“We want to bring closure, connectivity and reflection to the diverse set of activities students have experienced as undergraduates,”Gray said.”Enhancing the senior year inside and outside the classroom will help us bring closure to what has hopefully been a great overall student experience.”
Gray said all degree programs are developing capstone experiences for seniors that will help to tie different aspects of their class work together and demonstrate how their studies will apply to their chosen career. Capstone experiences will range from portfolios of writing submitted by English majors to completion of a seminar and a presentation for math
majors to attendance at a hands-on field camp for geology majors.
Starting in the freshman year, Gray noted that students were exposed to Resident Faculty Leaders in campus housing, treated to an array of diverse speakers as part of the Festival of Ideas programming and offered opportunities for career planning and internships through a Career Success Academy.
WVU also offers opportunities to form closer student-family bonds through the Mountaineer Parents Club and non- alcoholic, campus-based options on weekends such as the WVUp All Night Program in the Mountainlair.
Students are inducted into honoraries as wellChimes, Helvetia and Mortar Board during their sophomore, junior and senior years, and 30 outstanding students are awarded the Outstanding Senior award during Weekend of Honors activities in the spring. Eight of those top seniors earn the Order of Augustathe Universitys highest distinction for graduating seniors.
It all adds up to the Ultimate Student Experience university officials say.