The inaugural college preparation camp, Saddle Up, begins on Sun. Aug 14 with move-in to the residence halls. It will go until the end of the week on Fri. Aug 19 with an optional day included on Sat. Aug 20.
“This is an intensive weeklong, fairly immersive program that is solely focused on personal and academic development,” John Houghton, Saddle Up Program Coordinator, said.
Similar to the former orientation of UW, Saddle Up takes on the role of being the welcome to campus to many incoming freshmen.
“It has increases in retention that we see nationwide anywhere from five to ten percent, which at an institution like ours is just huge,” Houghton said.
“There’s the elimination of equity gaps and education across all but just a couple demographics.”
The program uses current students at the University of Wyoming as Pokes Pack Leaders and Trail Bosses. Trail Bosses are the head student mentors for the program.
“We have 140 students from every single college across campus who essentially, for the week of Saddle Up, serve as orientation leaders,” Houghton said.
“Their job is to be really intentional about their small groups, ranging from seven students to 12. Their job is to walk them through every piece of programming that’s going on that week.”
Throughout the week, there will also be an open resource fair that allows students to find things that interest them.
“If they want to go to SLCE (Service, Leadership, Community Engagement), ASUW (Associated Students of the University of Wyoming) or whatever, they get to talk with those folks about the first-year employment and involvement opportunities that they have,” Houghton said.
“I think that students should know that no matter where they come from, they belong here and that we care deeply about their success,” Nycole Courtney, Dean of Student Success and Graduation, said.
“Whether that’s starting at Saddle Up or a returning student, all students are critical to completing whatever journey they want to be on for their success. We can’t wait for them to start, but for us to help them get there.”
The program will be focused on a single course that first-year students are assigned based on their colleges. This course will tak place during the week and simulate a midterms week for the students, putting them in a high-pressure environment, but it doesn’t substitute the actual course.
The weeklong course and programming come with a cost, tuition for the one credit hour, a $ 200-course fee, and $220 for housing and dining.
Scholarships can cover this cost, but there are options for those who cannot pay for the course.
“We do have waivers available for the program fee,” Houghton said.
“We would encourage any student to let us know [if there are financial concerns], and then we would walk them through that process, and then we would work on how they meet that need,” Courtney said.
With this being the first year Saddle Up is implemented at UW, Houghton and Courtney are both aware changes may need to be made, but they have an optimistic view of the program.
“We know we’re going to need to make some changes depending on how things go, but we are really excited about what we’ve put together in year one,” Houghton said.
