Frontiers was designed to give students the “pioneering” spirit and tools to successfully navigate college life and beyond through the engagement with Pacific Union College’s Institutional Student Learning Outcomes of WISDOM. 

The course will have a series of short inspirational talks each day from key faculty and staff members across the campus that help students understand the importance of engaging with college life as part of their success in college and careers. Students will meet weekly with their small FUSION groups and go over topics learned in class.

The class was first piloted in Fall 2022. After assessing the course and getting feedback, Milbert and his team made a few changes to the curriculum and taught the course for the second time in Fall 2023. The only requirement needed for this class is for students to be first-year college students at PUC, so all freshmen take Frontiers.

“We wanted to make sure students did not feel alone in this venture,” said Milbert Mariano, dean of arts, humanities, & professions and Frontiers professor. “Part of the success of this course is to build a community and support system within this course.” 

Milbert graciously answered some questions for us to learn more about the Frontiers class.

Has PUC had a similar class to Frontiers in the past?

Not quite. There have been several iterations to engage and orient first-year students to PUC. Some have been more successful than others. But with new generations of students come different needs. Since we’ve had to be nimble, creative, and innovative, we created Frontiers to fulfill the needs of GenZ. This is our latest and, what I hope to be, most successful first-year experience … experience. 

When I was at PUC decades ago, we had a “class” called “Choices.” This course had small groups led by faculty and staff at their homes or on campus. Some of those students who were in my Choices group are still friends with me today. We then had other orientation experiences over the past few decades that eventually led to FUSION. For a time, FUSION orientation would go off campus for a few days of bonding at a campground an hour or so away, and that was it. 

While Fusion is good, we wanted to improve upon it, so Frontiers was just what it needed. We also had a course in the theology department called “Holistic Living,” then renamed “Thrive” that taught our WISDOM ISLOs and other initiatives that helped orient students to college. Now, Fusion and Frontiers work hand in hand to give freshmen the orientation and bonding they need throughout their first quarter of college.

What was your inspiration behind this class and what was the process like putting it together? 

Working with the Student Success Council for several years and finding out what student needs have been large for student persistence and success, and a course just like this one was a key solution. So, before Fall 2022, we met with various groups of faculty and staff, along with the student success council, to help brainstorm, shape, and form this course. It was even presented to the board as a concept and was well received. 

It is still constantly being worked on as we continue to look at course evaluations and feedback. One thing that we thought went well from last year was the group project where the Fusion groups would create a pitch to a panel. FUSION Groups presented a “PUC Pitch” for a campus initiative that supports one of the WISDOM ISLOs. The best pitch had up to $500 donated to that initiative.

How have the students responded to this course? 

The response has been largely positive, and if we look at the data from last year to this year, we had a freshman to sophomore retention rate of over 90%, which is very high. While we can’t attribute all of it to Frontiers, it is an important piece of the puzzle for student persistence at PUC. The other deans and I will constantly look at the feedback to make tweaks to make sure that student experience in this course is continually maximized for the best possible first-year experience course that PUC can have. 

Have there been any surprises to you when teaching this course and interacting with the students? 

The “PUC Pitch” project has been a really great surprise in how students can creatively think together to come up with big and small ways to improve their college experience. We’ve had initiatives or pitches from Puppy Therapy to International Food Days and Umbrellas. Last year, the pitch that won was the Umbrella project, which was both a great concept and pitch.  

What is your favorite thing about teaching Frontiers? 

How the students can creatively think about how they can have a hand in making PUC truly their school.