By J.D. O’Gara

“At Dean College, we really pride ourselves on taking a holistic approach to education and servicing our students,” says Lynne DaSilva, Director of the school’s Arch Learning Community. It made sense for the college to offer its new students with diagnosed learning disabilities and differences tailored programs through the Arch Learning Community , but of late, Arch was drawing interest from students outside the defined scope of challenges. These students were looking for social emotional and skill building support. Thus, the school created its new Engage Program, a comprehensive social support and skill-building initiative for incoming students. After an extremely successful pilot program of 10 students, the enrollment for Fall 2024 is now open. 

“We started to see a niche of students that were looking for specialized support, and they were applying to the Arch Learning Community. We were seeing that not all of them were really fitting the mold of students that need the level of what Arch supports,” says DaSilva, “We felt an obligation to meet that need, the social emotional support to make that transition to college successful for them.”

Nationally, three out of four high school graduates say they don’t feel prepared for college. Recognizing this need, Dean created the Engage Program to meet the social and emotional challenges faced by so many young adults learning to adapt to college. 

“What we’re seeing is this transition to college – it’s a big change. It’s a new environment, it’s new responsibilities. It’s hard for some students to manage the challenges of academics, to integrate social and to balance at the same time … we’re seeing a group of students struggling to make connections, anxious about talking to classmates, about talking to professors. This is a group of students who spend so much of their time online. A lot of their connections are of virtual nature and the face-to-face can be challenging,” says DaSilva, “The Engage Program has been designed to support students with social, communication, and adjustment challenges in order to make their transition to Dean as successful as possible.” 

The evidence-based Engage Program will help students learn effective communication skills, including reading and reacting to social cues and building healthy relationships through peer socialization. The program will also focus on learning self-care and balance, and effective academic planning and organization.

As part of the Engage Program, students will receive the following benefits:

• Early campus move-in opportunity

• A “Prep for Success” orientation program

• Access to specialized Living and Learning Community housing and residential staff

• Low sensory group meeting space

• Peer mentoring

• Weekly social skills groups and regularly planned social events

• One-on-one academic coaching tailored to individual learning styles

• Study labs with monitoring

• Health and wellness initiatives in collaboration with campus partners

“I think you’re going to see it nationwide,. Transition to college is just crucial to (students) staying in college,” says DaSilva, adding, “A few colleges in the area are starting to pilot programs now. You can’t just provide academics. (Students) need to feel supported and successful across the gamut. It’s higher education becoming aware of the needs of the students beyond the classroom, and I think we’re seeing a little more diversity in the applicants coming to college versus 20 years ago. When you see more diversity, you need to adapt.”

The Engage Program team has specialized expertise, drawing on the more than 25 years of leading-edge support available to Dean College students. Faculty and staff have backgrounds and certifications in autism spectrum disorder, neurodiversity, and social skills training and can effectively help students achieve their full potential. In fact, the Fall 2023 Engage pilot program boasted a 100 percent retention rate from the Fall to Spring semesters; an average GPA of 3.2; and more than 50 percent of participants made the Dean’s list, underscoring the program’s positive impact on academic achievement.

Incoming first-year Dean students for the Fall 2024 semester are invited to visithttps://www.dean.edu/support-success/engage-program/ for more information and to enroll in the program. The cost for the 2024-2025 academic year is $6,500.

“That would be worked into the total cost and the financial aid would be applied,” notes DaSilva.