Champ 101

Part of our InSight Program’s wellbeing theme, Champ 101 is a 10-week program designed specifically for incoming first-year students. The goal? Help you find your footing as you enter college life.

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Master the transition to Champlain with Champ 101

Immersing yourself in a new environment can be both exciting and overwhelming. We’re here to help you adjust to your new life on campus. Each week, you’ll join one or two short workshops focused on building community with your peers and supporting your academic, social, and personal transition.

Champ 101 is a required program that will empower you to become a resilient, college-ready success story. You will:

  1. connect to campus resources, people, and opportunities;
  2. examine your role in creating an inclusive Champlain community;
  3. explore how to care for your personal health and wellbeing; and
  4. learn how to navigate Champlain’s policies and procedures.
Students laughing in the vista room of the library on campus

Who? You!

You’ll be grouped in a cohort of 20 students and required to attend noncredit-bearing sessions once or twice per week with an assigned staff or faculty facilitator and a peer facilitator.

Are you a transfer student? We encourage you to take part in our Transfer Connections program, a six-week workshop series tailored to creating a sense of belonging and fostering academic success among transfer students.

female students meet in the sarah ramsey lab

What? The Good Stuff.

You will take part in workshops that offer concrete, practical skills and strategies designed to support your successful transition to Champlain.

Some topics are more personal and social in nature like “identity development in college years” or “managing homesickness.” Other topics are more practical and transactional such as “what’s in the Smart Space?” or “how to prepare for advising appointments.”

There’s no homework—all you need to do is show up, engage, and think about how to use this info in your new everyday life!

three students stand up posing for a photo with their arms around each other at a networking event

Why? So You Can Win Big!

If we’re being real, college is a big deal. Without the right preparation, it’s not a given you’ll be successful. We’re not saying this to alarm you but to be real with you. We are prepared to give you the resources you need to succeed, and we want you (beg you!) to take advantage of them. Think of Champ 101 as the CliffsNotes for Champlain College.

We are committed to setting you up for success from the very start, so you feel empowered to continue your education at Champlain and remain a valuable member of our community for many years to come. Champ 101 is your first-year InSight wellbeing milestone. (Yes, attendance is required to graduate!)

Program Topic Samples

  • A few program highlights of academic topics covered during Champ 101 workshops:

    • What is an add/drop week?
    • Who is your Academic Specialist? What do they do? How can they help? Where can you find them?
    • Intro to the SMART Space: academic support and coaching
    • How and when to use email
    • How to use Canvas
    • How to use Student Central
    • Communicating with professors (office hours, emails, accommodations, etc.)
    • How to access and interpret midterm grades
    • How to prepare for next semester, register for classes, and use Student Planning
    • Are you questioning your major? Learn about resources for support, including your Faculty Advisor, Academic Specialist, and Career Coach. Understand how to change your major and add minors. Explore how to create the best academic experience for yourself and get the most out of your degree.
    • How to prepare for advising appointments, complete your advising checklist, make appointments with advisors, and evaluate midterm grades.
    • How to set yourself up for a successful end to the semester: Recognize gaps in time management, plan for big end-of-semester assignments, revisit resources such as the SMART Space and tutors, and get guidance on how to ask faculty for help.

  • A few program highlights of personal health and wellbeing topics covered during Champ 101 workshops:

    • Who is my support team, and what are their roles?
    • Identity development in college years
    • How to assume responsibilities for self
    • Advocating for your wants and needs while balancing others’ wants and needs
    • Distress Tolerance Planning: What are my triggers, what are signs that I am spiraling, and how do I manage them?
    • >What resources are available where: Counseling Center, Student Health Center, and IDX Student Life Center
    • Science of habit-making and routines, and developing healthy and useful habits
    • Identifying your limits and boundaries
    • Challenges of basic self-care in the college setting (eating, sleeping, hygiene)
    • Basic body health and sexual health
    • Neuroscience of physical-mental health
    • Science behind exercise and sleep

  • A few program highlights of social topics covered during Champ 101 workshops:

    • Searching for a peer group
    • Isolation
    • Homesickness
    • Community building
    • Engaging with a diverse population
    • Emotional IQ awareness/tolerance: recognizing conflict is not always bad and learning when/how to ask for mediation/resources
    • Healthy friendships, relationships, roommates, consent and boundaries, and how trust is built over time
    • Establishing boundaries around alcohol and other drugs
    • Psychoeducation around changing friendship groups
    • Changing dynamics related to both friends and family
My facilitators from Champ 101 made my entire college transition process so much easier and less daunting.
Anna Tompkins ’27
two students make a heart with their joining hands and hold up a sign that says "first day of school"

More Inside InSight Program

  • Champ 101 

    Part of our InSight Program’s wellbeing theme, Champ 101 is a 10-week program designed specifically for incoming first-year students. The goal? Help you find your footing as you enter college life.

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