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Fostering a community of belonging for all students is a cornerstone of ������’s mission to be a student-ready university that welcomes learners from all backgrounds.

From the moment a student receives their acceptance letter to The Beach, we aim to imbue this shared sense of support, inclusion, and connectedness. That’s why, in fall 2023, the campus launched Beach XP, a first-of-its-kind, sweeping learning community program at The Beach designed to create a holistic college experience for first-time, first-year students. Welcoming new and returning students this spring, program leaders aim to build on the successes of the first semester and continue to look for opportunities to improve the experience for years to come.

Helmed by Interim Director Candice Chick, Beach XP supports first-time, first-year learners in their transition to university life, helping them achieve academic success early and forge lasting connections with peers. Smaller class sizes, more personalized guidance from professors and mentors, dedicated support navigating student services, and hosted social and skill-building activities are all key perks of the program, which enrolled 750 students in its first semester.

Supporting a compassionate community characterized by a strong sense of belonging, shared governance, and shared responsibility is a tenet of our value system at ������ and a priority articulated in our Beach 2030 strategic planning initiative — one with which the mission of Beach XP sits squarely aligned. And as we strive to improve first-year outcomes on our campus, the program’s goal to cultivate a community for students targets this key factor we know is imperative for student success and retention.

“The concept of building communities is fundamental to enhancing and elevating student retention, in my view,” said Dhushy Sathianathan, Vice Provost for Academic Planning. “It also allows us to engage faculty and staff in really rethinking what is the meaning of student success, in a true sense.

“[Beach XP] has elevated our capacity to rethink, are we ready for students who are coming in here who are underprepared and particularly challenged post-COVID?”

Early data captured from spring 2024 registration shows 95 percent of students enrolled in Beach XP in the fall registered for classes in spring 2024, a rate on par with their non-Beach XP peers, 94 percent of whom registered for spring. Retention rates from fall 2023 to fall 2024 will be key to helping quantify the impact of this program for first-year students.

In addition to registration data, a team of ������ analysts led by Dr. Leilani Madrigal is compiling and analyzing an extensive collection of surveys and interviews from Beach XP students, faculty, peer mentors, and activity coordinators to further study Beach XP’s outcomes. Complete analyses are expected to be published in a first-year report in summer 2024, though Madrigal noted an early review of some interview and survey responses shows comments elicited positive feedback on the connections and community built through the program.

“With the interviews, a lot of the students are talking about their sense of belonging, and how much they value their connection to the campus,” Madrigal said. “A lot of it is stemming around their interactions in those activity hours, and just the connections they are making even during the breaks between classes, or between sessions.”

In the coming years, increased enrollment in Beach XP is the objective. Beach XP’s all-hands-on-deck approach, leveraging resources and support from every corner of campus, is what makes the program especially unique. It has also been meaningful in bringing members of the campus community together to streamline existing processes and work toward a common goal of creating a seamless experience for students.

“A main goal of Beach XP was to ease the transition into college life for first-year students,” Chick said. “In launching this program, we focused on how our students navigate campuses processes and identified the potential barriers they encounter. Beach XP provided an opportunity for us to be innovative and find creative solutions to long-standing challenges that our students face. This effort truly speaks to ������’s vision to have a future with no barriers.”

As we strive to nurture a community of belonging at The Beach, this culture of collaboration will be key to our future success.