First Year Experience

Our Mission

The First Year Experience team exists to integrate first-year students into higher education and communal living while forming their spirits into the image of Christ. We exist to help first-year students find their belonging and community at SEU. This team is made up of student leaders who work hard to produce social, spiritual, and academic programming for all first-year students.

Who We Serve

• We serve all FTIC (First Time in College) and transfer students. Whether a student is classified as an academic freshman or not, we serve all students in their first year at Southeastern University.

Social Programming

As all incoming students are brand new to our campus, it is our goal to create spaces for first-year students to be able to connect with each other, with our team, as well as with other staff and faculty on campus. We understand that it can be intimidating being the new one on campus, so we try our best to help create connections throughout your first year of college. We will create large spaces for you to get to know each other as well as more intimate spaces to connect with other students. In all that we do, our goal is to make every freshman and transfer feel as though they are family.

Events include but are not limited to: Family Dessert, The Bash, Family Dinners, Lost in Lakeland, and Mystery Bus Ride.

Spiritual Programming

Because Southeastern University is a Christ-centered university, everything we do on campus flows from a Biblical perspective. With that in mind, we understand that all students come from many different walks of life. There are students who were raised in the church and other students who barely know the name of Jesus. Not only that but there is also a large range of culture and diverse denominations represented on campus. As an FYE Spiritual team, our goal is to create programming that gives space for all incoming students to comfortably navigate Christianity. We want to allow spaces for you to ask the hard questions, to be discipled, and to get connected with a local church. It is our goal that every first-year student will find and grow in their relationship with Jesus while they are at SEU and a part of FYE programming. We would love to help set that foundation for you.

Events include but are not limited to: Local Church Visits, FYE Discipleship Groups, FYE Serve Days, and the FYE Mission Trip through partnership with SEU Missions.

Academic Programming

One of the largest transitions any first-year student has faced up to this point in their life is moving away from home and transitioning from high school to college. At SEU we have many academic offices that support the student like ACE, Academic Advising, ADA Services, etc. It is our goal that we partner with these offices and help our freshmen and transfers become acclimated to the college level of academics. It is our goal that we can be a friendly face to our students as they seek the appropriate support they need to academically succeed.

Events include but are not limited to Track Your Path, Transfer Events in the Fall and Spring, Open Advising Kick-Off, and Meet Your Major.