Freshmen reflection

More than over 6,500 students on the Bloomington campus will face the end of a college semester for the first time next week. IU-Bloomington offers an especially wide array of services -- like writing tutorials and academic workshops -- to help students succeed academically throughout the semester. But it doesn't offer services that help freshmen reflect on the first semester of college and make the most of their transition to the second. The Academic Support Center, Student Academic Center or even specific academic departments would do well to add that responsibility to their agendas.\nSonoma State University builds its official freshman seminar on a final paper reflecting on how goals, priorities and expectations have evolved throughout the first semester. The process is crucial for all students. Upperclassmen who have fine-tuned strategies for performance on their own might do it automatically. Some upperclassmen, however, have kept bad habits established during freshman year -- unable to break free from booze, get organized or get healthy until senior year when job applications and the "real world" threaten to replace report cards. Even then it might be too late to establish good study habits and a sense of balance that will impress employers or graduate schools. Now is the time for freshmen to look back at their first semester at college and decide: Is it what you wanted it to be? \nThe first semester of college is an experiment; freshmen test the effect of variables like lack of sleep, intense cram sessions, sports or frequent partying on their happiness and success. Often students combine so many new experiences into one go that conclusions aren't obvious. IUB's academic services could provide workshops intended to separate the variables and help students decide what works and what definitely doesn't. \nSpring semester can be grueling. Many freshmen will be entering high-level classes for the first time in the spring or continuing with challenging course paths. Even some students who consider themselves successful during their first semester might find themselves stumbling come January, after three weeks of living at home and falling back into old habits. This adds all the more reason for IUB to provide services that help students keep good habits established first semester and nip bad habits in the bud.\nNot every student would need the services offered to succeed in college. But every student, even a senior, could benefit from reflecting on the effectiveness of the goals he or she made before Aug. 29. No matter how well a student has adjusted academically or socially, the task of balancing college responsibilities is never complete. \nHow a freshman reflects on the first semester of college shapes how he or she approaches the next three and a half years of classes and extracurricular activities, as well. If a bad habit needs changing, now is the time to change it. The time for New Year's resolutions is fast approaching for all of us -- IUB should help freshmen resolve to make the second semester more successful than the first.