The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 44, No. 2 - 20

Kane P. Mach * Sarah R. Gordon * Katie Tearney * Leon McClinton, Jr.

Another student concurred, noting, "You have
these special bonds with these people like you
are neighbors with them and you're family
with them, and it's nice to have those people
you can go up to and ask for help and rely on."

Personal growth. The FIT program is only
open to first-year students who have declared
majors in the College of Agricultural Sciences
and Natural Resources; many of them come
from small towns and/or rural locations and do
not have much experience with diverse cultures
or venturing beyond their social comfort level.
For FIT students, participating in the program
was an important part of their transition to
college and subsequent growth as both a person
and a student. When reflecting on their experiences in the program, several students referred
to "growing as a person." For them, this meant
they learned about diversity in people and ways
of thinking. As one student recalled,
I'm from a really small town; coming from
a place that I graduated with 70 people to a
university that has thousands, it helps you
realize that you have to open up your mind.
There's not just that small town thinking; you
have to go try new things or go learn how to
approach people that are different from you.
Another student concurred, adding,
I came into college just thinking that I was
going to live in my dorm and be by myself . . .
I was never expecting myself to be an open
person and be able to share anything with
anybody. . . . The first couple weeks I was
in FIT I didn't ever talk to anybody and now
I know everybody. . . . It is really nice to be
open minded about it and it has changed who
I am as a person in a big way too.
Another participant stated, "It helps you grow
as a person, it helps you become more com20

patible with people, everybody comes from
different backgrounds, but yet we all have
the same idea of what we want to do with agriculture." It is clear that participating in the
program was an important influence on students' personal growth and development, especially with regard to exposing them to new
experiences and helping them create bonds
with new people.

Leadership and campus engagement.
Being a participant in the FIT program
meant that students agreed to complete specific requirements such as community service
hours and attending both large group and
small group meetings each week. Students
recognized the value of these activities and
acknowledged that participating in the activities made them more engaged and involved
on campus and in the community. They also
acknowledged the attempt of FIT staff to help
them grow as leaders. However, most focus
group participants felt that the leadership activities did not go far enough in helping them
apply the concepts to real-life situations. For
example, one student recalled,
I feel like the majority of the stuff that we do
in large group is more self-focused on how
you can be a better leader, but they were
never really application focused . . . it was
like knowing who you are as a leader, rather
than learning how to be a leader and apply it.
Another student echoed this sentiment,
noting, "It's hard individually for all of us to
grow with our leadership skills. Yes, they do
ask us to find our top characteristics about
ourselves, but you don't ever actually get to put
those in effect." Students appeared to appreciate the opportunity to learn about leadership
skills but seemed to yearn for opportunities to

T h e J o u r n a l o f C o l l e g e a n d U n i v e r s i t y St u d e n t H o u s i n g

The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 44, No. 2

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 44, No. 2