EOP First Year Experience

One of the great services provided to EOP students is the First Year Experience (FYE)—a year-long orientation program designed to assist freshmen with the transition to college life. FYE participants benefit from the Summer Bridge program and are offered the opportunity to live in an on-campus residence hall. The FYE program comprises of many different components, including specialized advising services, a course link program, educational workshops, and social programs.

Advising Services

Every EOP freshmen is required to see an EOP paraprofessional advisor at least twice a month throughout their first two semesters. The EOP FYE advising staff is composed of full-time advisors and several paraprofessional advisors. The paraprofessional advisors, or “parapros,” are upper-division students trained to offer advice on academic, personal, and financial issues. Parapros monitor their students' academic progress and engage in discussions with their students on topics such as course selection, problems with transitioning from high school to college, and time management skills.

Course Link

A course link is a collection of classes, each of which is attended by the same group of students. The EOP FYE course links may include the following classes:

Freshman Composition (ENGL 130; Area A2; 3 units)

Small Group Communication (CMST 132; Area A1; 3 units)

Introduction to Multicultural & Gender Studies (MCGS 155; Area D3; 3 units)

EOP Freshman Orientation (UNIV 102; 2 units; UNIV 198; 1 unit)

Each section of the EOP Freshman Orientation course is co-taught by a full-time advisor from the EOP office and a paraprofessional adviser. Each of the students enrolled in a course link will be assigned to the client group of the parapro that is teaching his or her orientation class.

Educational Programs

Throughout their college careers, CSU, Chico students are given the opportunity to participate in a number of educational programs. We encourage, and sometimes require, attendance at these programs for our EOP FYE students. The programs include:

Supplemental Instruction (SI), which involves weekly tutoring sessions taught by trained leaders. Both CMST 132 and MCGS 155 are accompanied by Supplemental Instruction. The leaders attend every class meeting throughout the semester in order to offer customized tutoring sessions.

Study Skills Workshops, which are sponsored by the university's Student Learning Center. These workshops, led by trained study skills experts, focus on topics such as time management, note-taking, concentration, and test anxiety.

Wellness Workshops, which are sponsored by the university's Wellness Center. These workshops focus on topics such as home-sickness, safe partying, stress management, and understanding anger.

Social Programs

Throughout the FYE, students are invited to attend many social events that are exclusive to EOP FYE participants. Usually, these outings are completely funded by EOP and have staff in attendance. In the past, these events have included white water rafting, a pizza and karaoke night, a day-trip to Alcatraz and Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco, an end-of-the-semester banquet, a snow shoe trip at Mt. Lassen, dinner and bowling, rock climbing, canoeing on the Sacramento River, and an ice cream social and pottery painting. EOP students may also be eligible to participate in the EOP Student Association and the Honor Society of EOP.

Yvette Zuniga, FYE Coordinator
Educational Opportunity Program
California State University, Chico
Chico, CA 95929-0710
530-898-6831
yzuniga@csuchico.edu