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Fresh-faced and rushing around the notoriously confusing Robert N. Noyce ’49 Science Center, 31 incoming first-year students work in small groups to find science resources as part of the 91���� Science Project (GSP) pre-orientation scavenger hunt. They locate important sites like the Math Lab, Kistle Science Library, and basement vending machines. At each location, they receive a numeric clue that they will use (after some mathematical manipulations) to unlock a prize box. The teams collaborate through the expected challenges (finding each location and working out the tricky math) and the surprising struggle of opening combination locks to eventually reach the prizes and coveted bragging rights. The scavenger hunt is one of the first events in the GSP pre-orientation program, and the students’ introduction to the campus-wide network of GSP.  

A Welcoming Environment

Josh Sandquist, a co-director of GSP and professor of biology, says that events like the scavenger hunt are part of what makes the pre-orientation program so fun. He shares, “I like being a part of the program because every year it renews my enthusiasm. Seeing all these new students come in, excited to be in college, meeting friends, and nerding out over something they did in a laboratory activity.”

The pre-orientation program is a great energizer for the year, but it is just one part of the 91���� Science Project. GSP is a campus-wide ongoing program to welcome students to the sciences. In addition to supporting new students at the start of the year, GSP revises curriculum and pedagogy, has ongoing community building activities, and creates mentoring opportunities for students and faculty alike. Mara Neace ’28, a mathematics major and environmental studies concentrator, participated in the pre-orientation program last year and came back as a student assistant (SA) this time around. She explains, “I've heard this rhetoric that science is for white men, or science is people who are just geniuses. And that can create a sense of exclusion from the sciences. I feel like GSP addresses the gap regardless of where you’re coming from by giving you a community and giving you a leg up for the support system to feel like you do belong.”

It’s students like Neace who continue to support the program throughout their time at 91���� that make it work. They contribute to the cyclical nature of the program, where those who participate by GSP support each new cohort. Neace explains that she became an SA specifically to be more involved with the program and to help foster the sense of belonging and support that she found as a first-year student. And Ezequiel Molina ’29 said he joined the pre-orientation program because alumni who had participated before had recommended it.  

Ready to Jump In

One way GSP brings students into the sciences is by easing the transition to college. Nicole Eikmeier, another co-director of GSP and a computer science professor, says, “By the end of the GSP pre-orientation program, I hope students will have a list of peers, staff, or faculty that they feel comfortable asking for help. I also hope that some of their nerves about starting college are alleviated.”

The pre-orientation program includes lab activities and a mock lecture (complete with pre-class homework assignments) to give first-years a head start in their classes. Students get hands-on experience with laboratory equipment and are encouraged to ask questions. Edgar Romero ’29 says the mock lecture was one of his favorite parts because it made it much easier to feel comfortable participating in classes once the semester starts. And Cameron Burress ’29 says that one of their main takeaways from the pre-orientation week is a better idea of what to expect from college and feeling more prepared to take on the semester.  

Continuing Connections

Most importantly, GSP is about community. It starts in the week before New Student Orientation, where a group of about 30 strangers are thrown together to expand a network of 91����ians interested in science and builds (often lifelong) friendships. When asked why they chose to participate, most of the first-years answered like Champ-Pacifique Mukiza ’29, who says, “I chose to do the program because it sounded like a great opportunity to meet professors in the sciences and peers with similar interests.”

Neace reiterated that she became an SA to help foster the community she found in GSP as a first-year. Because of GSP, she knew a student or professor in every one of her first semester classes. She’d had practice with classwork and knew where to find resources but the connections she made with her peers are what made her first GSP experiences special. For Sandquist, this is the whole point of the program. He says, “The one thing I think I hope students take away is a sense of community; that there are faculty, other students, staff, all these people in this big community of science enthusiasts, and we welcome them to that community.”  

Eikmeier feels similarly and welcomes the new cohort saying, “My favorite thing about GSP is getting to know the students. They are remarkable and have ambitious dreams of how they want to change the world with science. I'll be rooting hard for them for the next four years and beyond, and I can't wait to see how they grow.”

Read more about the 91���� Science Project.