Upon entering into their first semester as a college, transitioning from a high school environment to a full-time student can be a difficult adjustment for them. This transition is typically harder on students who are originally from a much farther distance from campus than others and don’t have the option of going home every weekend like many Waynesburg students do. Often times, incoming freshman know very few other students, very few professors and faculty and have very few connections around the university. That is where the Fiat Lux class comes in.

According to Dr. Marie Leichliter-Krause, assistant provost, Fiat Lux is a “first year experience course.” The goal of the course is to help them get acclimated to Waynesburg University and the people around them.

“The idea of most first year experience [classes] is to bring students to campus and help them become university students,” said Leichliter-Krause.

One of the main components of the “experience” portion of the class encourages freshman to go out and explore different aspects of what makes Waynesburg unique and different activities they can be involved with. Every year students are encouraged to go to at least one day of Chapel. In years past, all the Fiat Lux classes would go on the same day and it would be a mass experience. However, this year’s approach is two have each professor try to take the classes to chapel during different weeks so that each group can have their own unique experience of what Chapel is actually like. The activities that students could participate in to fulfill the experience requirements were much more limited in years past whereas this year, students are being encouraged to explore what interests them. Some are going to club meetings, sporting events or special lectures to fulfill this requirement. This broader array of options helps to tailor the class more to each student’s interests.

“We really want students to have the opportunity to experience Waynesburg University,” said Leichliter-Krause. “The instructors are tailoring the course around the students in their class.”

Fiat Lux has also shifted to focus on bonding between students to form friendships because many walk on to campus not knowing a single person ahead of time. One defining trait of each Fiat Lux class is the special project, this year’s being defined loosely as a digital story telling project. The reason it’s defined loosely as such is because instructors are encouraged to tailor the project to their individual classes.

“All of the instructors are very much encouraged to tailor what they are doing for their class because every Fiat Lux class is so unique,” said Lechliter-Krause. “some of the sections where every student happens to be from out of state; we have classes where all of the students are locals. Each section can be very different.”

Because of this wide range of different students, instructors are allowed to give “more latitude” with how they are going to present these projects.

“It’s basically a project in which the student will tell the story of their first semester at Waynesburg University,” said Lechliter-Krause.

Fiat Lux is a class meant to help orient new students to the university in way that are beneficial to their methods of learning and is tailored to their particular needs and interests. The class is meant to help transition them to college life and introduce them to what their next four years will be like.