Saddle Up is in its third year at the University of Wyoming, and many students are still confused and upset by the long hours and seemingly unnecessary activities that plague the orientation program.
Saddle Up is a program designed to increase retention and help students become better prepared for their first year of college.
The pilot run of the program saw many concerns from students and changes have been made across the past three years in order to ensure Saddle Up achieves its intent. Students are given experienced leaders as well as structured activities and a mock class as a way to inform themselves and get a headstart on their collegiate career.
Abby Markley and Nycole Courtney stated, “We think Saddle Up continues to get better and better. This year we implemented a new Saddle Up check-in process to reduce lines at move in day.”
The process of Saddle Up is not without criticism, however. Markley and Courtney address these concerns, “While we know that some students have aspects of Saddle Up that they would change, we also know that a lot of students are reporting how much they are enjoying it. This year we added some new skills sessions that were around content students suggested wanting to learn more about.”
These changes are intended to make Saddle Up more representative of what students actually need. On the note of whether or not Saddle Up works, Markley and Courtney reported, “Fall first-time Saddle Up participants retained at 77.7% from fall to fall.”
Ultimately, Markley, Courtney, and the whole team behind Saddle Up, “continue to be thrilled with the way this program serves as a message to the incoming freshmen about how much our institution cares about them and their success,” and believe that “Saddle Up is a great week for students to prepare academically and to start to build their connections on campus that will serve them their entire career at UW.”
