Freshmen Forum

The Freshmen Forum is a year-long, highly selective program for incoming freshmen, organized by the Office of Student Affairs at The University of Alabama. This year over 700 applications were received, but only 153 students were selected. The members are divided into 11 committees: Meetings and Event Logistics, Beat Auburn/Beat Hunger, Community Outreach, Finance, Diversity and Global Awareness, Historian/Awards and Recognition, Homecoming, Publicity, Campus Collaborations, Social, and STAR. The main purposes of the Freshmen Forum are to improve the leadership skills of its members and to promote the engagement of freshmen in activities on campus and in the community. During the year, the Freshmen Forum provides substantial community service opportunities for its participants and is expected to create new projects to attract new members.

The Freshmen Forum mainly focuses on civic activities, which includes public awareness and community service. The students of The University of Alabama come from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and more than 70 foreign countries. This high diversity benefits the university in many ways, but it may also cause some problems. For example, many freshmen have very limited knowledge about the state of Alabama and the city of Tuscaloosa (Andreen). One of the Freshmen Forum’s goals is to inform freshmen about a wide range of civic activities from community services to local politics. In college, students tend to get into a “college bubble” with their daily routine – sleep, shower, class, eat, and homework. Most of time, they are shielded out of the society. The Freshmen Forum provides its members a chance to step out of the “bubble” and become more involved in the community activities. The members of the Freshmen Forum are more aware of the community’s news and happenings and also give their feedback to the community. The Freshmen Forum provides guidance for students to get involved with activities to meet the community’s needs, such as the local food bank, the humane society, or local politic activities.

The civic activities organized by the Freshmen Forum help its members to be aware their responsibilities and feel the need of others, increasing their social experience. These are the reasons for many inexperienced college students want to become members, taking their responsibilities and contributing their value to the society. As a former participant of the Freshmen Forum stated that the experience “served as a fun and beneficial catalyst which expanded my desire and passion to fulfill my civic duty, for not only my time at the University, but also for my future after UA” (Fowler). Many members have agreed that they have felt the sense of being needed when doing community services for campus and the community. The Freshmen Forum has been a stepping stone for them:

If it weren’t for Freshmen Forum it would have been really hard for me to find a favorite place to volunteer. It requires each member to serve at least fifteen hours, and also gives us a variety of places to go, such as: Alabama Books for the Black Belt, Up ‘Til Dawn which benefits St. Jude Children’s Research hospital, Community Culture Festival, and more. Being able to have so many different community service opportunities allowed me to find my volunteer passion, working with special children at the RISE Center (Loftin).

Other former members said the program strengthened their leadership skills and influenced them to take on leadership roles in the Student Government Association. Milton Nettles, a former participant, said it gave him “the initial drive and focus [he needed] to make a difference” (Nettles). When people are in an unfamiliar place, it is difficult to make a difference. The Freshmen Forum brings together those students who have the same interests and aspirations.

One downside about the Freshmen Forum organization is the lower level exposure to freshmen, even the whole campus. Josh Langsam, a freshman that I interviewed, said: “I can’t speak for all freshmen but I have no clue what Freshmen Forum is.” Brittney White, another freshman, had heard of the program but could not name anything that it had done for the progression of the freshmen class nor for campus at all. These cases indicated that Freshmen Forum is not getting enough exposure and credit it deserves. We need to do more work to change this situation.

Freshmen Forum members are very active in promoting the interest of the freshmen students. One way to increase the recognition is to have a Freshman Town Hall meeting. This meeting is normally held with several of The University’s vice presidents, and allows every freshman on campus to have a chance to express his or her opinions. Another project is the Beat Auburn/Beat Hunger Food Drive program. The Freshmen Forum was ranked at the first place among the organizations who donated the most last year, helping The University of Alabama raising more than 270,915 pounds of food for the West Alabama Food Bank. The Freshmen Forum has proven to be beneficial to its members as well as the Capstone and Tuscaloosa community.

Works Cited

Andreen, Kathy. "UA Reaches Record 28,807 Students." UA News. 09 Sep 2009. The University of Alabama, Web. 26 Oct 2009. .

Loftin, Elizabeth. Personal INTERVIEW. 27 October 2009.

Hill, Linda. "CCSO Names Freshman Forum Student Organization of the Month at UA." UA News. 24 Aug 2009. The University of Alabama, Web. 27 Oct 2009. .

Nettles, Milton. Interview with Student Involvement and Leadership. The University of Alabama. Tuscaloosa, Alabama. 2009. .

Fowler, James. Interview with Student Involvement and Leadership. The University of Alabama. Tuscaloosa, Alabama. 2009. .