The DDI Summer Experience: Getting a Head Start on Life at RIT | September 2023
One group of in-coming first year RIT students earned college credits this summer through the Division of Diversity and Inclusion’s Summer Experience Program.
Fifty-nine students got a chance to see what college life is like during the four week program led by Jessica Saltzberg, associate director for Student Success and Engagement, Multicultural Center for Academic Support (MCAS) , and Maria Vega, interim director with the Arthur O. Eve Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP).
Saltzberg says, “DDI Summer Experience is a chance to build relationships, build confidence, build academic skills, and build familiarity with all things RIT. Students will rejoin RIT in the fall with a whole toolkit of skills and knowledge to guide them and foster their success.”
The students are either HEOP, MCAS or Destler/Johnson Rochester City Scholars and represent 37 different majors from Biomedical Sciences and Computer Engineering Technology to Game Design and Development. It is an intensive program. Weekday schedules included breakfast, a Foundations of Sociology or College Algebra class followed by opportunities to visit with professors or their DDI coach. After lunch, students attended either a Writing Seminar or Literature and Cultural Studies class. After dinner, students had study hours.
Saltzberg admits it’s a packed schedule, but says it is balanced with plenty of “down time” as well. Peer Advisors coordinated movie nights, games, trips to the gym and on weekends, trips to The Strong Museum of Play, Camp Stella Maris and Lasertron. She says students get a lot out of the experience.
“They meet new people and make new connections and friends. They become familiar with resources at RIT, like CaPS, the ASC, and MCAS, among others. They have peer advisors who are upper class RIT students to help them navigate the challenges they encounter—and to help them literally navigate campus which is not an easy feat! Students also get to meet faculty and staff and learn how to communicate with different people they’ll encounter during their time here. They also work with an academic coach either in HEOP or MCAS who will be the same one they’ll work with throughout their RIT journey. “
The program ended with a closing banquet August 3rd. This was a chance to look back at all of the hard work by students and also a chance to recognize and say “thank you” to RIT leadership, the special partners, faculty, staff and peer advisors and tutors who made this year’s DDI Summer Experience possible.