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Home > Featured Stories > Embracing Diversity > September 2007 > Symposium Helps Ease Transition to CampusSymposium Helps Ease Transition to Campus
"There is a statistically significant academic difference in those who chose to attend the symposium and those who did not, which carries all the way through graduation."
Dr. Tracey Ray, director of Multicultural Affairs at NC State University
Symposium sessions focus on academic success, team-building and networking.
By Dave Pond, Web Communication
An innovative program that reaches back three decades at North Carolina State University continues to help African-American students and others better prepare for the start of their collegiate careers.
The African American Symposium aims to help foster a sense of community for incoming NC State students and their parents by providing them with information about campus resources, a support network and information on African-American cultural heritage.
There is no fee to attend the symposium, which repeats eight times every summer in coordination with New Student Orientation sessions on campus.
"The symposium started in 1983 to address concerns about the retention and graduation of African-American students," said Dr. Tracey Ray, director of Multicultural Affairs at NC State, which conducts the symposium. "We've seen that it really enables these first-year students to make a smooth transition from high school to college by helping them build a solid community and a circle of support when they arrive on campus."
Although it is open to all races, the majority of students who participate in the voluntary symposium are black, and while 70-80% of NC State students have a parent or grandparent who attended college, about half of the university's black students are first-generation students.
"This program is designed to help the African-American students bridge that gap and help acclimate them to campus and university life," Ray said. "But beyond that, there is a statistically significant academic difference in those who chose to attend the symposium and those who did not, which carries all the way through graduation."
During Wolfpack Welcome Week in August, the symposium was held a final time for students who could not attend a summer program but wanted to get a leg up on preparing for their first year at NC State.
"When I went to African American Visitation Day this spring, I was urged by upperclassmen to attend the symposium," freshman Kornelius Bascombe said. "Through that program, I learned so many things that I don't think I would have learned anywhere else or by myself.
"Coming into a predominantly white university can be a bit of a shock to many African-Americans, but it's an awesome feeling to know that there is a community of African-Americans here to help you with everything."
Year in and year out, one of the most popular symposium workshops is a presentation called "Who Am I?," which delves into centuries of black history to help students realize and reveal the many layers of their true identity.
"If you ask any student what they remember most about the symposium, they'll probably say it's 'Who am I' presentation," Ray said. "We present a lot of facts and information that they might have never heard before, and it also helps to correct some of the mis-education they've received about Africans and African-American history."
"That part of the symposium was most definitely uplifting and had the biggest impact on me," Bascombe said. "The speaker's message was so powerful and so positive, you couldn't do anything but become more intrigued by it.
"Without that experience, I don't think I would have as clear an understanding of who I really am."
Other symposium sessions focused on academic success, team-building and networking - all with the goal of helping incoming students and their families truly prepare for life on campus and beyond.
"My husband and I attended the symposium in July, and it was extremely helpful and beneficial," said Vicki Thomas, whose daughter, Charlene, is a first-year student at NC State this semester. "We truly believe that by attending the symposium, Charlene is better prepared for her experiences at NC State, and we are better prepared as parents."
The skills learned at the symposium stay with the students throughout their matriculation, Ray said.
"There is a faculty member here at NC State who did a study in which she surveyed African-American alumni and asked them to list and rank and list the factors that led them to be successful and graduate from the university," she said. "The number-one ranked and listed activity was the African-American symposium.
"What I always tell students is that it's not just about that one day you're actually participating in the symposium that will a difference - it's when you take the information from that day and apply it to all of your time at NC State," she said. "When you look at it as an overall process, taking the people you've met and the skills you've learned and then apply them, it will make a significant difference in your success and time on campus."
As a first-year student, Bascombe is still learning to navigate NC State's campus as well as college life in general, but he already knows that the skills he honed at the African American Symposium will affect his college experience for the better.
"Only 1% of the world's population gets to attend a college or university, and I am part of that 1%," he said. "That's a major accomplishment by itself. The symposium helped show me that I can succeed here, but it's what I put into my college career will determine what I get out of it."
With each new semester, the Office of Multicultural Affairs sees an increasingly more diverse student population on campus. Ray said that every student that comes to NC State can be successful no matter his or her race - otherwise, they would not have been accepted in the first place. Programs like the African American Symposium, the Native American Symposium and peer mentoring and counseling programs are there to help give students a solid footing and to guide them in the right direction.
"We're making a significant difference in the global aspect of the students that we are graduating and the lives and the communities we are impacting around the world," Ray said. "The whole goal is to maximize the success of all of our students, so that's what we push them to do."