The Power of Day One

Inside Freshman Academy

It’s the first day of college, and you step into a packed classroom. You are surrounded by unfamiliar faces and wondering how you’ll find your footing. Everyone seems to know what they’re doing, and you’re just trying to keep up. Enter Freshmen Academy - a first-semester course designed to help students navigate the pivotal first months of college. But what makes Freshmen Academy truly remarkable is isn’t just the curriculum—it’s what students reveal about their own growth.

At the end of the semester, students in Freshmen Academy deliver a final presentation reflecting on their personal growth. In 2024, the Huntsman team transcribed and analyzed 342 of these student presentations, looking for common threads. Four powerful themes emerged, voiced by the students themselves: Courage. Creativity. Collaboration. Curiosity.

Courage

140 students had courage as their core theme. For many, simply showing up to college felt like an act of bravery. They described the fear of isolation, the anxiety of asking for help, and the uncertainty of starting over. But as the semester progressed, courage took on new meaning. Students began speaking up in class, trying new things, and discovering who they were becoming.

"This whole semester has pushed me to be more courageous… by embracing my true self and not worrying about what others think."

Creativity

For 101 students, Creativity was the theme that best captured their growth during Freshmen Academy. As the weeks unfolded, their understanding of creativity expanded. It became about thinking differently, taking risks, and expressing identity in new ways.

"Creativity grows in spaces where we’re willing to experiment and take risks"

Collaboration

Even students who were skeptical of group work at the beginning came to value the relationships they built in their small groups that worked together all semester long. 58 students chose collaboration as their central theme, but its impact stretched far beyond that number. Students spoke about learning to trust others, discovering new perspectives, and realizing that meaningful work is rarely done alone.

"The idea of collaboration used to feel like a burden… but this semester I realized how essential it is."

Curiosity

Though only 43 students selected curiosity as their primary theme, it surfaced as one of the most introspective and personally significant. In Freshmen Academy, curiosity became a skillset for navigating not just academic challenges, but emotional and social ones as well. For many, especially first-generation college students, curiosity wasn’t just a nice-to-have. It was essential. One student shared, “I’m an Aggie First Scholar… I kind of had no clue what I was getting myself into… but I’ve been reaching out to professors, going to their hours… I didn’t even know that was a thing.”

"As kids, we were always running around just naturally curious… as I got older, I kind of lost some of my curiosity… but this semester has really changed that."

Why It Matters

The core themes of Courage, Creativity, Collaboration, and Curiosity weren’t assigned. They surfaced naturally, from the students themselves. That’s the real impact of Freshmen Academy. It doesn’t just teach; it listens, reflects, and reveals. It shows students who they can be before the world tells them who they’re supposed to be.