The Grove is an immersive curricular experience designed to connect students to Quinnipiac from the moment they arrive and throughout their entire first year. This program offers a unique blend of academic and residential life, providing students with opportunities to build skills, enhance their resumes, and engage deeply with the university community.
Key Features
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Skill Building: Students will have the chance to get involved in various activities, learn to work in groups, and develop project management and leadership skills.
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Resume Building: By the end of the program, each student will have completed a project, adding a significant achievement to their resume.
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Community Connection: The Grove fosters deeper connections with student groups and university clubs, helping students integrate into the QU community.
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Academic and Residential Integration: The program combines academic pursuits with residential life, offering real-life experiences with faculty mentorship and appropriate infrastructure.
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Real-World Problem Solving: Students will address real-world problems, making a tangible difference and finding their purpose through faculty mentorship and collaboration with Resident Assistants (RAs).
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Values and Reflection: The Grove encourages students to live their values by choosing and pursuing themes they are passionate about, providing space and structure for reflection on personal growth and community involvement.
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Experiential Learning: The program emphasizes hands-on learning and social connectedness around specific themes, topics or ideas.
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Communication and Conflict Management: Students will confront and manage group work dynamics and conflicts within the structure of the program.
Grove Community Composition
Approximately 350 first-year students, 40 sophomores, juniors, and seniors and 15 RAs live in the building, along with a residence hall director and a faculty fellow. This diverse community is designed to inspire self-discovery, exploration, and growth, focusing on personal, interpersonal, and civic engagement skills.
Additionally, The Grove emphasizes fostering deep connections with faculty affiliates who work to educate and coordinate each student participating in their chosen theme.
Year-Long Project
First year students will be grouped together based on their expressed interests in one of our four engaging themes. A dedicated trained student mentor will work together with each small group throughout the year. Each small group will be directed under the guidance of their expert faculty affiliate (FA). Each small group will focus efforts on a Community Experiential Learning Project (CELP) they will develop together. Specifics of the CELP will vary between groups and themes, however hands-on learning is the priority. First-year students will work to address challenges and accomplish collective goals within their CELP groups that have real-world applications. The Spring semester marks the end of the year-long CELP where students will participate in a culminating event to disseminate their accomplishments to the University Community.
Themes
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Environmental Sustainability: Focus on environmental stewardship through initiatives like area-wide cleanups, and addressing global challenges such as climate change, clean water, and sanitation.
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Community Engagement: Emphasis on fostering a sense of belonging and engaging in programs in meaningful ways. The emphasis could be on many disciplinary interests, as the focus will be on enhancing engagement.
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Health and Education: Interest in exploring topics related to agriculture, health, and education, with a particular focus on food nutrition. Ideas include developing educational programs or initiatives aimed at enhancing students' knowledge and well-being on these fronts.
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Inclusive Excellence: Addressing issues of diversity, inclusion, and equity related to culture, gender, and disability.
