Cardinal First Events

• September - Time management (using a planner/calendar) & organizing for success
• October - Taking advantage of campus opportunities
• November - Preparing for final exams: study skills & reducing test anxiety; academic integrity
• January - Stress management/life balance
• February - Building a winning résumé
• March - Classroom and campus etiquette (including email etiquette)
• April - Working with your advisor/registering for classes; understanding your program evaluation in Merlin
• May - Making the most of your three college summers; building your network
• June - Goal setting and preparing to go home

Interactive, one-hour suppers held twice per trimester with a first-generation faculty or staff member serving as table host with 8-10 sophomores per table. Each table host brings a picture of him or herself when they were a sophomore in college. The format is a 40-minute supper and fellowship followed by a 20-minute interactive workshop, concluding with table groups competing in a trivia contest guessing which quiz statement applies to which first-generation faculty or staff guest. At the end of the year, the first-generation sophomores have a Halfway to Graduation Celebration with half-sandwiches, half-cookies and Arnold Palmers, and each attendee receives a “Halfway There” half-mug.

Interactive lunch workshops for first-generation juniors offered twice per trimester at three consecutive times. Topics include planning for the summer after junior year, making yourself distinctive and interesting by building your skills and experiences, managing imposter syndrome and more.

Interactive lunch workshops for first-generation seniors offered twice per trimester at three consecutive times. The culminating activity is the Cardinal First Graduation Recognition & Pinning Ceremony held the day before Commencement. At this event, each first-generation graduate asks a faculty or staff member who was an important part of his or her college journey to present the graduate with a Cardinal First pin that will be worn at graduation.

A series of four interactive lunch workshops for first-generation transfer students during their first term at North Central. These workshops introduce the new transfer students to one another and to the valuable resources, student organization, and other high-impact opportunities that are available to them. Student leaders in this program are first-generation upper class students who also transferred to North Central.