Bridgewater, VA – On Jan. 25, Seiya Nomura, Coordinator of First Year Experience and Orientation, held a SOAR introduction meeting in the library where he created a Kahoot! to answer questions regarding the SOAR position for the next school year starting in fall of 2024.
As Bridgewater College starts to prepare for the incoming 2024 fall class, students are signing up to be future SOAR mentors and leaders. Bridgewater College has students sign up to be SOAR mentors or leaders for the incoming freshman class.
SOAR mentors’ duties will be welcome week. They come for the full seven days of Welcome Week in August. They spend the first half of that week in training that will teach them everything they need to teach their freshman. During this week, SOAR mentors will show freshmen around campus, explain to them things they should keep in mind as incoming college students, learn about their freshman and be available to answer questions. SOAR mentors make $250 for this position, which they will receive at the end of the welcome week.
SOAR leaders’ duties are to be the teacher’s assistants for the freshman Foundations In Liberal Arts (FILA) classes. Duties for this position range from professor to professor. Some duties may range from taking attendance to creating rubrics. SOAR leaders will also attend the class and answer questions from students. SOAR leaders can give preferences for which professor they would want to work with, and professors will do the same. SOAR leaders and professors will then be matched according to these preferences. The class counts as an X credit towards your degree. SOAR leaders make $500 for a semester, and this is broken down into two payments: $150 at the start of the semester, and $350 after completion of the semester.
Nomura is in charge of this program. “The interactions between SOAR mentors and first-year students are very important and formative interactions. SOAR mentors, for most first-year students, are their first connection to the Bridgewater College community. This connection point helps us in a multitude of reasons with the main reason being that if a first-year students needs assistance or information, there is another student there to be able to support and direct them to the resources they need. This helps ensure the success of our first-year students and creates a foundation of support that lasts until they graduate,” said Nomura.
Kendra Arbogast, a past SOAR leader, said, “My favorite moment from this past year would have to be the friends that I made and the opportunities that I was presented with. When I first came here, I was so shy, and I did not want to be a hermit in my room anymore.”
Being a SOAR mentor or leader will not take up much time. Students have the ability to be a SOAR mentor or leader even if they do sports, become an RA or have a job. It does not require time outside of classes. Additionally, a student can be a SOAR mentor and a leader.
Students can reach out to Nomura to apply to be a SOAR mentor or leader by emailing him at [email protected].
