The First-Year Success Program

First-Year Success (FYS) is a year-long immersion program for entering students at The American University of Paris. It provides students with the skills and information necessary to adjust to new living arrangements in a diverse, multicultural city and plan their trajectory through AUP, while building a sense of community among the incoming student cohort.

FYS consists of several key elements:

• a mentorship program
• an orientation event
• a common read project
• a series of group-based workshops
• other events and trips.

The first-year mentor is a staff or faculty advisor who guides students through their first year at AUP, offering a listening ear and providing information and advice on how to adapt to life in Paris.

Prior to arrival at AUP, students are asked to fill out a survey about their hobbies and interests. The answers to this survey are used to assign students to a group of about 10 to 15, who all then take the same first-year mentor. The first-year mentor co-leads the FYS workshops alongside the group’s student advisor.

The first-year mentor forms part of a trio of support personnel—along with the student advisor and FirstBridge academic advisor—that each student can go to for advice while adjusting to their first year at AUP.

The FYS program kicks off during Orientation with the Welcome Day. Designed specifically for first-year degree seeking students, this day-long event series welcomes students to the University and sets time aside for students to meet and bond with their peers and advisors for the coming year.

The day includes a cultural excursion to the Chateau de Vincennes—a former royal residence on the eastern side of Paris in the beautiful Vincennes Park—where students take part in a team-based scavenger hunt.

There are also two additional workshops held at Orientation:

• Safety and Consent: Students work with counsellors to familiarize themselves with the University’s safety and consent guidelines, ensuring all community members understand how to create safe, respectful environment for everyone on campus.
   
• The Liberal Arts: Professor Russell Williams leads this workshop on the liberal arts as an umbrella concept, welcoming students into the academic culture in which they will work for the next four years.

The FYS Tote Bag

Students are also provided with a class-based gift: a fully customizable tote-bag emblazoned with their class year. Additional patches can be picked up at events and study trips throughout their time at AUP, so no two bags will be the same by the time students reach their graduation.

The Common Read is a class-wide project in which all incoming students read and discuss the same text, chosen to coincide thematically with their experiences of arriving in a new city and culture. The text engages with themes common to AUP’s global liberal arts curriculum, encouraging students to begin to see the world through AUP’s academic lens.

For this inaugural Common Read, the FYS Program has selected James Baldwin’s Encounter on the Seine. Baldwin moved to Paris from the United States, meaning his work reflects the idea of an expat finding his way in a new community. As an African American gay man, his work also ties into conversations about diversity and confrontation between cultures—both common themes in the AUP classroom.

First year students are provided with a free hardback copy of Baldwin’s text during Orientation. In November, they are invited to a guest speaker event in discussion of the text, as well as a group-based book club allowing them to express their own thoughts on Baldwin’s work with their peers.

These workshops, which take place throughout the Fall semester, are scheduled to alternate with students' FirstBridge reflective seminars. They are also attended by each group’s first-year mentor and student advisor:

• At Home at AUP: This workshop checks in on students a few weeks into their time at AUP, giving them a chance to discuss how they feel about their housing and giving mentors and advisors opportunities to share some initial advice about adjusting to the city.
   
• World’s Fair Planning: The World’s Fair is a long-running AUP tradition consisting of a food and culture festival that brings together culinary traditions from across the world in a single shared meal celebration. This session allows each FYS group to pick a country from any of the 102 represented by AUP’s diverse student body, before planning their own table for the annual World’s Fair event.
   
• Time Management: This workshop acts as a check-in on how students are doing midway through the semester. It offers mentors a chance to have one-on-one discussions with mentees and provides a space for students to have conversations about how they are organizing themselves and their work in the run up to midterms.
   
• The Wellness Fair: Less a workshop and more a celebration of self-care, the Wellness Fair is a whole-of-class de-stressing event designed to give students room to breathe before midterms begin. Students can pick up a wellness kit, enjoy freshly made smoothies and even engage in some canine therapy at our much-loved puppy play event!
   
• Diversity at AUP: Designed in collaboration with AUP’s Diversity Council, this workshop consolidates resources for students around diversity and inclusion and encourages group conversations about an important topic for anyone studying as a part of AUP’s international community.
   
• Design Your AUP: This workshop—the first in AUP’s flagship, co-curricular Global Professional Skills (GPS) Program—helps students strategically plan their time at AUP and make connections between their personal values and their academic objectives during their university experience.

The cultural excursion to the Loire Valley provides students with a mid-semester community-building opportunity to expand their friendship circles by meeting new people on an overnight stay in one of France’s most beautiful regions. Students tour some of the country’s most famous chateaux, while enjoying social activities, fine food and the beauty of the French countryside. The cost of the trip is €50, which includes all travel, castle entry, food and accommodation.

The Fall semester culminates in a community-wide FYS celebration in December, where all participants are invited to celebrate their successes together and end their first semester in style!

The conversation about settling into Paris and AUP and planning individual pathways through higher education continues into the Spring semester. Additional events, including an additional class excursion, further dialogue surrounding the Common Read and an introductory session about the Sophomore Mentoring Program are among plans for the second semester of FYS.