The First-Year Experience at Midland Lutheran College
Midland Lutheran College will provide a foundational first-year experience that allows students to lay claim to their unique gifts and talents.
Midland Lutheran College believes that the first year of college is central in developing the knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviors for the successful completion of a college degree, becoming a life-long learner, becoming an active and ethical participant in a diverse world, and living a life of service. Midland and its students share responsibility for a positive first-year experience. Thus, the College initiates the learning and the student becomes an engaged learner. The first college year lays the foundation for students who live out our mission to learn and lead in the world with purpose and advance our core institutional values of faith, learning, quality, respect and stewardship.
Midland Lutheran College supports the campus-wide organizational structure, policies and practices that will result in the highest quality first-year experience. We will
- support curricular and co-curricular programs that promote full engagement in learning
- respect and address the varied academic, personal and social development needs of all students
- develop faculty and staff to work effectively with first-year students
- assess our comprehensive first-year experience for improvement
Our students will
- understand the academic expectations of the College
- demonstrate the foundational skills for academic success including reading, writing, speaking and critical thinking
- take responsibility for their own learning
- appreciate that the role and purpose of a liberal education includes liberating and opening the mind and preparing students for responsible action
- participate in academic and co-curricular activities to experience a diversity of ideas, world views and cultures
- be aware of and use the support resources of the College
- develop behaviors to support a physically, spiritually and socially healthy lifestyle