Video: Gateway to Phoenix Success Program
UW-Green Bay’s Gateway to Phoenix Success program (GPS), gives first-year students college skills, campus knowledge, and a personalized support team to help ease worry and stress during their transition into college. The GPS support team includes a faculty and peer mentor, who help guide students through their first year. During the fall semester, students take a First Year Seminar, which teaches skills needed to be successful while introducing them to a real-world issue to wrestle with. The peer mentor helps them get connected on campus, making sure they feel at home at UWGB. In the spring semester, GPS students continue to tackle the issue and strive to make a difference in the community. https://www.uwgb.edu/gps
Transcription: The GPS program here at UW-Green Bay allows first-year students to come into college with a support system. I am very grateful to have the GPS program at UW-Green Bay because it was a very nice bridge from high school-level courses to college-level courses.
There’s this thing in college where it’s like well you’re independent now, well you don’t, you are independent, you have your own choices, but you have these people here that are happy to help you make your choices a lot easier essentially.
The Gateway to Phoenix Success program helped me overcome homesickness and allowed me to make new friends by having smaller class sizes, which made it significantly easier to connect with new people. It really helped me develop my leadership skills, as well as confidence, and it helps me study.
It was something I never developed during high school and I think it is is quite rewarding. So, one of my biggest obstacles coming to college was just all of the nerves that came along with everything. I’m the first in my family to be going to college and pursuing my degree so, I didn’t really know a lot.
I didn’t have many like older siblings or anything that I could reach out to since I am the oldest. So, being able to lean on that support system of my professor and the peer mentor with any questions that I had and they helped push me in directions of places like GBOS and all those other resources that can answer the questions that they couldn’t. Really helped me feel more comfortable and eased a lot of my nerves coming to college.
Coming into college can definitely be scary and I didn’t really believe in myself as a whole but my mentor and faculty show me that it’s okay because we are all in this together. Don’t be afraid, be willing, be open, be adventurous, and know that they have your back.
