Recent High School Graduates: A Connection Over the Phone
From November 2 to December 18, theUM is launching a unique telephone support program for students who have recently graduated from high school. Its name: Connect: First Contact. Its mission: to listen to, inform, and guide students, and then identify any difficulties they might face. Why is it unique? Because it’s based on a peer-to-peer relationship. Its success was already evident just ten days after it launched.
Due to the health crisis, the 2020 edition of JANE—New Student Orientation Day—could not take place this year. However, there was no question of leaving the 5,387 high school graduates at theUM on their own during this challenging time of transition from high school to college. In light of this, and drawing inspiration from an initiative launched at the University of Sherbrooke—a partner of the “UM ”—the Student Life Office (part of the Campus Life Division) and Alexis Vandeventer, student vice president, devised a concept that is both original and unprecedented in France: the “Connect” telephone support service, run by students, for students. “ We thought these young students would find it easier to talk with their peers than with staff members " explains Jérémy Estèves, head of the student life department.
Forty students from various departments—seven in this pilot version—were therefore recruited. Their mission: to individually contact recent high school graduates enrolled in the same academic programs as themselves, in order to first assess their knowledge of student services and campus life and thus address any information gaps that may arise. The second objective—which is particularly important given the current situation—is to identify students facing difficult financial, social, or psychological circumstances in order to better refer them to the appropriate services, such as the Handiversité service or preventive health services, or to help them apply for financial assistance through the Solidarity and Student Initiative Development Fund…
A comprehensive questionnaire
“The students received training to help them feel more comfortable with this process, and it was very important to us that only law students, for example, contact recent high school graduates enrolled in law school, because they will be better equipped and feel more qualified to give them practical advice,” explains Jérémy Estèves. To better guide them throughout these calls, the Student Life Office developed a comprehensive six-point questionnaire. First, there is a training section aimed at assessing the student’s mindset and motivation. Was their enrollment their first or second choice? Are they satisfied with it? The second section focuses on daily life, where issues such as housing, financial resources, health, or disabilities can be addressed.
Information about services—beyond SUAPS or medical care, which are generally well known to recent high school graduates—comes in third.“It’s sometimes important to remind them that they have access to all facilities, not just those on their respective campuses,” explains Jérémy Estèves. Next come the communication channels students prefer to use to interact with the university, their current concerns—which generally center on COVID-19 and lockdown—and, finally, their evaluation of the Connect system.
"Very positive" feedback
After ten days of operation and 2,312 calls placed, the initial results“are very positive,” the manager reports with satisfaction. As for the recent high school graduates, many of them expressed their“delight at knowing that the University cares about its students’ well-being,” Jérémy Estèves continues. “None of them expressed any negative feedback.” The students recruited to make the callsareequally satisfied.“They’re very committed, and we support them on issues involving sensitive topics such as housing difficulties or disabilities. All of this proves to us that this initiative truly meets a need. ” The Student Life Office is already planning to repeat the initiative next year, in addition to the highly anticipated return of JANE.