Summer Reading Program Promotes Lifelong Learning through Literature

One of the building blocks of the first-year experience is the Summer Reading Program. Created with the purpose of engaging incoming first-year students with topics of leadership and citizenship, a committee made up of faculty and peer mentors annually selects one book for the entire class of first-years to read before the beginning of the fall semester.  In addition to the Summer Reading Program, Rollins Explorations sponsors an essay contest on the chosen text. For Fall 2010, the committee has selected No Impact Man: The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal Who Attempts to Save the Planet, and the Discoveries He Makes About Himself and Our Way of Life in the Process by Colin Beavan.

"New students arrive on campus facing so many fears and unknowns," said Explorations Student Coordinator Laura Berk (Class of 2012). "Explorations gives first-year students the basics for not only surviving but thriving in the first semester and beyond."

Designed to empower new students with the information and tools to kick-start a rewarding, stress-free and academically successful first year, Rollins Exploration’s first-year programs provide fresh scholars with a strong foundation from which to blossom in the ensuing academic year and beyond.