FUNDAMENTALS OF COLLECTIVE UNDERGRADUATE SUCCESS
FOCUS is a culminating “action planning” section included in every copy of Higher Learning, designed to help students put the book’s principles in motion and lay out a strategy for success on campus. “FOCUS” stands for Fundamentals of Collective Undergraduate Success. As the name implies, it is not about individuals, but small clusters of students – typically three or four – working together in what I call a “FOCUS Group.”
Why is the collective element so critical? As discussed throughout Higher Learning, college is a social process. From student groups and friendship networks to the various academic and social support services on campus, it is the interaction with others that ultimately shapes the collegiate experience. Ironically, it is the lack of social engagement in key areas that can cause serious student retention and achievement concerns. For many students, college becomes a very personal and private burden. Students with several good friends on campus, dozens of close peers through student groups, and hundreds of people connected to them via online networks may still consistently feel isolated and overwhelmed. Studying, exam preparation, homework, balancing their lives, figuring out what’s the best fit for a major, finding a job, and staying on top of everything all become daily issues that consume every student, adding the weight of their multiple worlds to their shoulders, and theirs alone. It doesn’t have to be that way. FOCUS helps to change this, and creates an opportunity for students to work together to support each other throughout their college careers in an extremely fluid and meaningful way.
This website section will soon provide additional resources for you and your FOCUS group to get the most out of the FOCUS experience. Please read through the FOCUS section of Higher Learning in detail, along with the ten strategies, so that you understand the full scope of the FOCUS program.
