BAYLOR UNIVERSITY PARENTS LEAGUE Students Say Goodbye with LEGACY to Baylor A PUBLICATION FOR BAYLOR PARENTS Volume XV, Spring 2006 n 1919, it was a portrait of Robert Browning. From 1996 I to 2001, it involved donations to the Immortal Ten Enhancing the memorial fund. And last year, it was their most ambitious project in Baylor’s history: the Dr. Ray Wilson and Professor Bob Jones Memorial Garden. It is the senior class gift—an opportunity for the Learning Curve graduating class to leave a legacy to their time at Baylor. espite Einstein’s genius, tutoring options around campus Each year, seniors choose a project that not only provides a even he might have offered by various offices, clubs monument to their college experiences, but enhances the Baylor The Class of 2006 hopes to raise enough funds to provide an Outdoor D needed some tutoring to and programs, but there was not a community as well. Meeting and Social area near Russell Hall, ideal for informal student surf the Internet for the first time. central office for free tutoring for “By offering people the choice between a capital improvement and gatherings. The area will include barbecue pits, picnic tables and overhead Conversely, though Baylor all Baylor students.” a scholarship enrichment program, we were giving them balanced lighting. Other features may include a sand volleyball court, horseshoe pits students are quite adept at The program’s student tutors options,” Ryan Jackson, senior class president, said. The class of 2006 and an outdoor fireplace. negotiating the Web, most have are available Monday through chose their gift, the Outdoor Meeting and Social Area near Russell not reached Einstein’s level of Thursday for one-on-one Hall, by voting online. universities to great success. brilliance when it comes to scheduled appointments or “The voting strongly indicated people were excited about the “We’re following the model of other schools like Georgetown, calculus. That is where the walk-in sessions in subjects project,” Ryan said. “There’s nothing like this on campus where Notre Dame and Penn State,” Mark Richardson, director of the Success Center’s new tutoring ranging from chemistry to people can get together, throw hamburgers on the grill and play sand Baylor Fund, said. “Since it is a fundraiser, it’s handled through our program comes in handy. Spanish. Kocian encourages volleyball—just spend some time in fellowship outdoors. The office.” “We started mid-fall with an students to use the Success response to the concept has been great.” According to Ryan, the seniors are more than halfway to their emphasis on classes that are Center’s tutoring program as a In the past, seniors were able to contribute to the gift in two ways: goal, but donations are still needed. historically rigorous and provided complementary resource to the directly and via the Traditions Fund. The Traditions Fund consisted “This is a great way to honor their time at Baylor and the whole 261 hours of tutoring. This tutoring some academic of each student’s $100 general deposit paid prior to freshman year. In transformative process of the Baylor experience. It’s something that semester we’ve added tutors and departments offer; Smarthinking, 2001, that deposit was automatically credited to the student’s tuition, will continue to give back to the Baylor community in the future.” increased our hours and courses an online tutoring program; and creating a need for new avenues of fundraising. During the past three For more information on the senior class gift or if you would like offered,” Mari-Anne Kocian, Supplemental Instruction, a group years, the senior class officers have received fundraising help from the to contribute in honor of your students, visit academic support services review session program also under university development office, a move that is modeled by other www.baylor.edu/seniorclassgift. coordinator, said. “A student the Success Center umbrella. retention taskforce committee Garrett Phillips, a pre-med decided that Baylor needed more University Scholars senior from Tutoring is beneficial not only to students who have fallen behind in tutoring on campus. There were Continued on page 3 classes, but also to those who want to raise their grades from ‘B’s to ‘A’s. pril To-Do List for Freshman Students: Make a List, Check It Twice A Tuition installment paid? Check. Attended tutoring session? Check. FAFSA • Pay April tuition installment at filed? Uh-oh… https://bearweb.baylor.edu. Baylor students have a lot to do. From classes to athletics, club meetings to • File your taxes, file your FAFSA. For more working out, spare moments can be difficult to come by. However, fitting in information, visit www.baylor.edu/finaid/fafsainfo. administrative duties such as filing the FAFSA and registering for classes is a necessary aspect of college life, and meeting deadlines is crucial. • Register for summer and fall ’06 classes. Early “We want students to focus on school and fun, but these tasks have to be registration begins for most freshman students on done so we want students to be able to do them in the least frustrating way,” April 7. For more registration tips: Ashley Thornton (BA ’83), director for Professional and Organizational http://schedule.baylor.edu/checklist. Development, said. With that in mind, a task force charged with finding ways to increase student • Learn the rules for transfer credit. If you plan to retention rates started sending monthly to-do lists to all freshmen this past fall. take classes at another school this summer, be sure Instead of searching all over the Baylor website to find out when to apply for campus to mention that during your advising appointment. housing for next year or to make the next tuition payment, the list serves as a For more information, visit resource of the most important dates gathered in one place. In addition, the lists www.baylor.edu/admissions/transfer_credit_policies. include information such as study abroad information sessions, tutoring opportunities and fun, inexpensive activities of which students might want to partake. www ylor .ba entsleague .edu/par ADDRESS SER ADDRESS VICE REQUESTED VICE • Attend a Preparing for Finals workshop at the Paul Next year, the task force will continue sending out the freshman list as well as W , aco TX 76798-7026 TX L. Foster Success Center. Choose your most developing a to-do list for sophomores, expanding each year until they have lists for One Bear Place #97026 Place Bear One challenging course and bring ALL course materials all classes. In the meantime, anyone can access the lists at to this free workshop. You will receive tips and www.baylor.edu/success_center/todo, allowing upperclassmen and parents to keep strategies to help with final exams and you’ll develop tabs on what students need to be doing. a study plan and study guides specific to your course. “The more we make Baylor a great place to go to school, the more likely www.baylor.edu/support_programs/workshops students are to stay,” Thornton said. “We want students to know that we care about them and make this easy for them.” A WORD FROM THE DIRECTOR Tutoring Program ENHANCES Success Through the Perspectives newsletter it and for the past 25 years has served two major universities in the is our goal to keep you abreast of campus role of president—21 years at Penn State Erie and four years at Continued from page 1 news, events and information that have the University of Nevada, Reno. I hope you enjoy reading Round Rock, Texas, enjoys tutoring his peers in a wide variety of an impact on your student’s career at Dr. Lilley’s letter in this issue and the article on page three about subjects. While he emphasizes the importance of communicating Baylor. Whether your student is looking Mrs. Lilley and her aspirations for involvement in the Baylor with professors when having trouble in a class, he also sees the forward to graduation this spring or community. They both have a deep and abiding care for Baylor benefits of student tutors. experiencing Baylor as a freshman, we and her students. We welcome them and look forward to the “I believe that students can often sense precisely why a fellow hope they are enjoying their time at future under Dr. Lilley’s leadership. student has difficulty understanding a new idea,” Garrett said. “This Baylor and are taking advantage of what The university has seen a dramatic increase in applications for understanding can allow the student to directly address the other the university has to offer academically, admission for the 2006-07 academic year. In fact, we have received student’s difficulty, perhaps by expressing the concept in a different socially and spiritually. more than 21,000 applications for the fall semester—a 54 percent way.” Occasionally students need help to increase from last year. Out of that application pool, we will select “I decided to go to the tutoring sessions because I needed extra maximize their academic pursuits. In this issue there is a class of approximately 2,800 freshmen and transfers to join us in help with my schoolwork, and it was free—how many people would information about tutoring services that are available to the the fall. I mention these figures to let you know that a Baylor turn that down?” Nichollette Jones, a pre-med forensic science student body. If perhaps your student is struggling in a particular education is very much in demand. How proud we are that your freshman from Fort Worth, Texas, said. “I already have class, I hope you will share this information with him/her.