Increasing sophomore engagement

The Heavener School of Business knew it had layers of engagement for most of its students. Juniors and seniors are constantly on campus for classes and student organization meetings. Freshmen take a Warrington Welcome class to learn more about the business school and the vast number of opportunities, resources and groups available to them. 

But for sophomores, there wasn’t much. If they didn’t become engaged using the resources they learned about as freshmen, they rarely came to the business campus for any reason.  

The Heavener Second-Year Experience was designed to fill that gap.  

Created by Heavener’s experiential learning department, Heavener Second-Year Experience consists of four one-day, corporate and on-campus retreat-style events to grow student connections and immerse students into the culture of Heavener.  

Sometimes that happens in iconic locations on the UF campus, like Emerson Hall or the Champions Club at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Other times, students travel to learn about a business in-person, like previous trips to Citigroup or Universal.  

“We want to take students to interesting places,” said Ashton DeMarse, the current program coordinator. “The goal is to deliver professional development curriculum, strengthen peer-to-peer networking and make it fun.” 

Students on the retreat learn from company leaders, often building on the lessons they’ve already learned in their business classes. At Universal, Senior Director of Talent Orchestration Dan Donovan spent more than an hour deepening students’ knowledge and skills in CliftonStrengths, which students first experienced as freshmen during their Warrington Welcome class.  

At Citigroup, Western Hemisphere Human Resources Director Christline Boone gave the opening keynote focused on the journey from student to professional. Many Warrington alumni have participated in the on-campus experiences. 

“We’re focusing on engaging content and student development while we’re at these locations,” DeMarse said. “It’s fun to see the deep relationships that come from the retreats.”  

Before each experience, students go to a pre-retreat meeting to get familiar with the content they’ll be learning. After the experience is over, they come back together for a post-retreat meeting to network together and learn how to apply their knowledge to their time as a student and professional. 

The data shows the experiences are reaching their targeted audience. Of the students who participate, 36 percent of them had never participated in a Heavener experiential learning program at Heavener and 29 percent of them had only taken the Warrington Welcome class as a freshman.  

Those students are now being plugged into the Heavener experience, meeting other students and becoming engaged at a new level because of the Heavener Second-Year Experience. They’re growing to become career ready leaders. 

“It’s helping them realize there’s way more to Heavener than they thought,” DeMarse said.  

Students leave the retreats with a new view of their future. Whether it’s an impactful story an alumnus told about how their career developed or a new connection made with a peer in a student organization, students have a deeper understanding of Heavener and the opportunities ahead of them. 

“I really enjoyed the alumni panel,” Sabina Niedrick (BSBA ’28) said. “I thought it was very helpful in answering questions I had and giving me more knowledge on the entire process. I really enjoyed getting to know the speakers and alumni. It was cool seeing former Gators and their path after graduating.”