Increasing first-semester student engagement: a residential community retention study

The purpose of this study was to increase first year residential student engagement and participation in residence hall programs during the 2011 fall semester at the Downtown Phoenix Campus of Arizona State University. Six upperclassmen (Taylor Place Leaders) residing in a residence hall (Taylor Place) were matched by academic major with 17 first year students residing in Taylor Place. During the first eleven weeks of the fall semester 2011, first year students met regularly with their Taylor Place Leader to discuss residence hall program participation, living in Taylor Place, attending Arizona State University, and adjusting to their academic responsibilities. All 23 program participants completed a pre-survey inquiring about their satisfaction with their decision to attend Arizona State University, residence hall involvement, and knowledge of university services. The researcher met with Taylor Place Leaders throughout the study to learn about their experiences with mentoring the first year students. At the conclusion of the study, participants met with the researcher to complete a post-survey inquiring about the same information as the pre-survey and participated in individual interviews discussing their experience in the study. Two major findings were identified. First, participants reported that the Taylor Place Experience peer mentoring program assisted first year students in adjusting to college through identifying student support resources. Second, participants reported that living on campus during the freshman year, with mentoring support, could promote academic success, compared with living at home due to the close living proximity of their peers. Taylor Place also saw an increase in residence hall program participation during the 2011 fall semester in comparison to the 2010 fall semester. However, six of the seventeen freshman study participants decided to move out of Taylor Place and live at home by the end of the 2011 fall semester, for various reasons, such as family and employment obligations as well as being homesick.