Once upon a time, students…
“On an immersion program” at the Triolet campus, high school students are in for a real treat. A look at the days designed to introduce them to a different world that might just be their own tomorrow.
Photographer David Richard
February 15, Triolet Campus: About a hundred high school students are setting out to explore university life. A fascinating world to discover, about which they know little or nothing yet…
9:30 a.m.: Gathering in the lobby of the University Science Library. A few dozen young people are waiting to set out on a journey of discovery into a new world, one in which they may find themselves next year. To an outside observer, nothing really distinguishes these high school seniors from first-year college students. Three high schools from the region are visiting today: the Lycée Jules Guesde in Montpellier, the Lycée Pompidou in Castelnau-le-Lez, and the Lycée Gide in Uzès.
“Immersion Day”
“There are still three missing,”says one of the accompanying professors with concern. The latecomers begin to arrive as Sophie Khachni puts her guests at ease:“During class, the professor might say some complicated things; you won’t understand everything. Don’t worry, that’s not why you’re here! The goal today is to get a first glimpse of the university and soak up the atmosphere.”
The high school students are here foran “immersion day”: that’s the term used by the SCUIO-IP where Sophie works. First item on the agenda: attending a lecture. The group of senior science students from Castelnau sets off: heading to Lecture Hall 5 for a general chemistry class. The students walk through a small part of the 20-hectare Triolet campus—enough to make anyone dream… The mood? A bit lost, but calm, the high school students…
– There’s even an ATM!
– It’s bigger than high school, I’m telling you!
– Did you see that! You have to take an Uber to get to a different lecture hall! (laughs)
– You’ll see this morning in class—we won’t understand a thing.
A prophecy that seems to be coming true as the group finally takes their seats in Lecture Hall 5, where enigmatic questions echo:“What is the influence of the 10s electron cloud on the behavior of the 1s electron?” In the vast lecture hall, with its 250 seats, a deep silence reigns.
Uncertainties with four months to go before the SAT
Outside, another group surrounds Thomas Bessède,a“student ambassador.”Along with other volunteers from the University of Montpellier, he’s there to guide these one-day visitors. “You’re going to meet the Professors they’re experts. But sometimes they’re hard to follow! Sometimes you think you won’t make it. But with hard work, it’s doable.”A few years ago, when he was still in high school, Thomas was in the same shoes as the students he’s talking to now.“I felt lost the day I visited the university. It looked tough,”he recalls.
Standing before an audience hanging on his every word, he paints a quick picture of life at the university. With four months to go before the baccalaureate exams, his listeners seem rather uncertain about their immediate future. What will we do next? It’s not easy to say yet… Only two high school students have clearly made their choice: one is heading to a technical college, the other to medical school. The rest of the group doesn’t really know yet what the coming year will bring…
"High School Students at University" Initiative
At the University of Montpellier, the “High School Students at the University” program helps students envision their future. The idea is to welcome them during specific periods to give them a taste of university life, for a full day or a half-day. It’s a chance to discover this new world and start getting familiar with it.
As an occupational psychologist, Virginie Baudelot is in charge of this initiative. According to her, high school students experience the post-baccalaureate period as a real leap into the unknown.“University? High school students have no idea what that entails! It encompasses many different fields and programs. What they sometimes know are certain parts of the university: an engineering school like Polytech, the science or medical faculty, or even the IUT.”
Explore the campus
Classes come with their teachers: more and more of them are signing up for this program, which was launched in 2006 in partnership with the Montpellier School District and high schools in the region. The program includes lectures, as well as discussions with student volunteers who share their personal experiences—a particularly popular part of the event.
“We focus mainly on the first year, emphasizing the new challenges they’ll face. We provide practical information: student jobs, scholarships, housing.”Above all, the goal is to explain the different academic tracks and types of programs in detail, to help each student find the path that suits them best. But it’s also about challenging certain misconceptions:“We’re not here to sell a fantasy, but to set the record straight: Is college easy because there’s no admissions process? False! Are the job placement rates good? True!”
In total, nearly 600 high school students participated this year, registered by their teachers. The first major discovery: “the need to be independent and organized, to define one’s own path, and to take the initiative oneself,”within a campus perceived as“a small town within the city, with its own cultural, social, community, and athletic life.”
According to a study conducted in 2016–2017, nearly all of these high school students say they are satisfied or very satisfied with having been able to participate, particularly because it gives them a glimpse of the demands of higher education and encourages them to reflect on or rethink their career paths. Teachers, for their part, report being very satisfied with the organization and the welcome they received.
Nicolas Maillet, a chaperone for students from Pompidou High School in Castelnau-le-Lez, works as a laboratory technician.Having “attended the Faculty of Sciences at the University of Montpellier from 1998 to 2004,” he understands the importance of“immersion days,” which help ease the transition from high school to college.
“High school students discover a new reality: university is an open environment where you are fully in control of your own path. It’s nothing like high school, where students are still heavily supported. The culture shock can be significant… Here, for example, the professor doesn’t dictate: it’s up to each student to figure out how to take notes.”
What is the main purpose of these days? “To shed light on the path: we help them form a slightly more realistic idea of pursuing higher education. So we have to show reality as it is: the journey isn’t necessarily easy, and you don’t necessarily end up in the future you had envisioned.”
Any advice for future students? “Start thinking about your future early on. College is very diverse and offers many possibilities. You need to have a clear vision of your path from the start; otherwise, you risk getting lost. It doesn’t happen overnight. But it can help!”